In development, not on sale yet
When the internet goes down, your survival manual still answers.
Survival know-how from official emergency guides and military survival manuals, in one offline library on your laptop. You'll ask in your own words, and the assistant is meant to find the pages that apply and point you to them.
What's in the library
When the network is down you can't search, and help can be hours away. The Dutch government advises households to be ready to manage the first 72 hours on their own1. Waystone is built for that stretch: the right pages, already on your laptop, and an assistant that helps you use them. Most of it you'll hopefully never need. Some of it is vital the moment you do: when to stay with a stuck car, how to make water safe without boiling, how to keep someone warm until help comes.
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Water
Finding water and making it safer to drink, even without a filter: boiling, disinfecting, storing.
The tap water isn't safe and we can't boil it. What now?
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Fire
Making it and using it safely, from damp kindling to cooking outdoors.
Everything's wet. How do we get a fire going?
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Shelter and warmth
Staying dry and out of the wind, and staying warm when the heating stops.
We're stuck in the car in the snow. Do we stay or walk?
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Power when the grid is down
Solar panels, car batteries, power stations, and running a generator safely.
Can we run the generator in the garage if the door is open?
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Food
Storing it, keeping it safe, finding it, and cooking without power.
The fridge has been off since last night. What can we still eat?
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First aid basics
What to do until help arrives. In an emergency, call 112 first.
He's shivering and confused, and we can't get through to 112. What do we do?
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Finding your way
Navigating and signalling for help without a phone or GPS.
No signal, no map. How do we find our way back?
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The first 72 hours
Of a power cut or emergency: what to do first, in order.
The power's out across town. What do we do first?
Built from official emergency guides and public-domain survival manuals: US Army survival and first aid manuals, FEMA and Ready.gov, the CDC, and public advice from the Netherlands, Belgium and France. We pick what goes in, so it won't hold every survival book ever written. The full list of contents and sources will be published before sale.
- 1 Denk Vooruit, Dutch government: Noodpakket, frequently asked questions (in Dutch).
- These organizations don't endorse Waystone. We name them for context.
Product concept visualization
Watch the concept film
In about 105 seconds: what's in the survival library, how you set it up once, how an answer shows the page it comes from, and where the limits are.
How it's meant to work
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01
Download it while you're online
Install the app, the AI model and the library at home. It's a large download, and you can't get it once the network is gone, so do it well before you need it.
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02
It lives on your laptop
The assistant, the library and the search run on your own computer, so your questions stay there. After setup, it's designed to work without any connection.
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03
Ask, then check the page
Describe what's happening in your own words. It's designed to show you the page every answer comes from, and for safety steps, such as treating water, the source's own words.
One package, one planned price
The Waystone app, a local AI model and the survival library, paid once. No subscription.
Still being decided Exact computer requirements, the full library and its sources, languages beyond English, update and support terms, and the release date.
What you'll need, and what it can't do
It still needs power. So what if the power is out for days?
Power can be found. Answers can't.
It's usually the first question people ask, and it's a fair one. Waystone runs on a laptop, and a laptop needs power, but only for a few minutes at a time. Switch it on, ask, read the page, and switch it off again.
And even with a flat battery, it's worth having with you. On a bad night, one page on it could be the most important thing you read all year. Sooner or later you'll reach a car, a power bank or a neighbor's generator. What you can't find in a blackout is the answer itself: there's nothing to look up and no one to ask. You can't count on finding a signal. You can count on what's already on your laptop.
A charged phone, no signal
You can't search anything, and there may be no one to ask.
A flat laptop with Waystone
Once it has some charge, the answer and the page it comes from are already on it.
Where you'll find power
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A car With a laptop car charger. Never run the engine in a garage.
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A power bank Yours, or one you borrow. Pick one made for laptops.
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A neighbor With a generator, solar panels or a power station.
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A compatible laptop
Runs on your own laptop (needs power and a compatible computer). First target: recent Macs with Apple silicon and 16 GB of memory. Exact requirements after testing.
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No live information
It can't see alerts, weather, road closures or news while you're offline. Keep a battery radio for official updates.
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A guide, not a rescue service
In an emergency, call 112 first (911 in the US and Canada). The assistant can make mistakes, so check the source page and follow official advice.
Questions
Is Waystone available now?
No. Waystone is in development. What you see is a concept preview, not a released product. There's nothing to download or buy yet.
How will I get it, and does it really work offline?
The plan is a download. You install it once while you're online; after that, the app, the AI model, the library and the search are designed to run on your laptop with no connection. We're testing this now, and we'll publish what we find.
It's a large download, so do it at home, well before you need it. You'll be able to keep a backup copy on your own drive.
How long will the battery last in a power cut?
That depends on your laptop, and we'll measure it on real laptops before release. You won't need it running all day, though: switch it on, ask, read the page, and switch it off again. When the battery runs low, a car charger, a power bank or a neighbor's generator can top it up. And even with a flat battery it's worth having with you: you'll find a way to charge it, and the answers are already on it. Why that's enough, or work out how long a power station runs a laptop.
Is the AI always right?
No. Language models make mistakes, including ones that sound confident, and our early tests showed small models can get safety numbers wrong. That's why every answer is designed to show the page it came from, and why the plan is to show safety steps, such as treating water or running a generator, in the source's own words. Seeing the source lets you check an answer; it doesn't make it right.
Why $100, when free options exist?
Free open-source servers, phone apps and plug-in drive kits already exist, and one of them may suit you better. The planned $100, paid once with no subscription, is meant to pay for a library chosen and cleared for this use, an app calm enough to use on a bad night, setup that doesn't mean maintaining a server, and answers built around the page they came from. We're testing whether that's worth $100 to you before anything is sold; the interest form asks exactly that.
What happens to my questions?
Waystone is designed to run on your laptop, so your questions stay on your laptop. That's a design goal for a product in development. We'll describe exactly how it works before release.
Will there be a phone version, or other languages?
Not at first. We're starting with laptops, which have the screen, memory and battery for a larger model and a readable library. English comes first; Dutch and French are in testing.
Register early interest
The time to set it up is before you need it.
You can't download a library once the network is gone. Register your interest: two minutes, no payment. We'll tell you when there's something to test, and your answers decide what we build first, which computers we test, and whether $100 is right.
We only use your details for this. Read the privacy notice.
Run a preparedness shop or make kits, radios or power stations? Register partner interest or read the partner overview.
Free now
Free guides and calculators
Useful today, with or without Waystone. Every number links to its official source.
- CalculatorHow long does food last in the fridge without power?A timer based on USDA rules: food in a closed fridge stays safe for up to 4 hours, a full freezer for about 48 hours. Enter when the power went out.
- CalculatorHow long will a power station run a laptop?Enter battery watt-hours and laptop watts to see the hours of use. We explain the 0.85 conversion factor makers publish and how to find real laptop watts.
- CalculatorHow much water to store for emergenciesEnter people and days to see how many gallons of drinking water to store, using the 1 gallon per person per day rule from Ready.gov and the CDC.
- Buyer's guideThe offline survival computer: six ways to get one, with real pricesRaspberry Pi, Project N.O.M.A.D., PrepperDisk, USB sticks, phone apps or your laptop: what each offline survival computer costs and needs. Checked 23 Oct 2026.
- ComparisonOffline survival AI apps compared, with prices checked on 23 October 2026OffGrid AI ToolKit, Off-Grid AI, OffGrid Drive, Prepper AI, Gridsend and more: price, platform, what each page claims, and what we could not verify.
- ComparisonProject N.O.M.A.D. alternatives, checked on 23 October 2026Project N.O.M.A.D. is free and popular, but it needs Linux and a PC of your own. Alternatives for Mac and non-Linux users, with prices read from each product page.
- Guide72 hour kit checklist: what the US, EU and five countries actually ask forThe US, EU, Dutch, German, French, Swedish and UK kit lists in two tables: days, water, cash, radio, medicines and documents, each figure from the official page.
- GuideCan ChatGPT work offline? An honest answer for a blackoutChatGPT needs a connection. We read OpenAI's help pages, checked the AI models that do run offline, and report what a small one got right and wrong in our test.
- GuideFree printable emergency binder for your householdA free emergency binder to print and fill in by hand: medical details, contacts, meeting places, shutoffs, documents, supplies, water and power cuts, with sources.