Dear Omar

‘Will This App Prepare Me for the Apocalypse?’

The Harbor app promises to aid reluctant preppers

Welcome to Dear Omar, a weekly Debugger column from tech expert Omar L. Gallaga answering all the gadget and technology questions you were afraid to ask.

Panic as a lifestyle choice became a mood in 2020. Suddenly, it began to feel like doomsday preppers were making a good point.

As Covid-19 caught the country flatfooted and as stores ran out of toilet paper and other essentials, basement-stocking and bunker-building began to gain more mainstream attention. The preppers were kind enough to share their knowledge and not add, “Told ya so.”

What I have wondered, as I’ve been browsing survivalist websites like The Prepared (sample review headline: “Best emergency candles”) and to take stock of what’s out there to keep my family alive in the event of a cataclysm (another cataclysm) is this: Would I survive an apocalypse? Do I have what it takes? With the help of an app (even in the end times, there will always be “an app for that”), I decided to find out.