The night gets blurry.
We don't.

Polarys keeps track of how long you've been at the bar so you don't have to think about it. When you leave, it puts Uber, Lyft, a friend, or the bus in front of you, whatever's actually realistic that night. It's not trying to lecture anyone. It just tries to make the easy option the obvious one.

Join the beta See how it works →
0.5 pts / minbackground risk model
100mgeofence radius
4 tapsto a safe ride
exited geofence — paddy's irish bar
54%

of drunk driving trips start at a bar, restaurant, or some other licensed venue. More than anywhere else, by a lot.

SRC — NIAAA epidemiology review
1 / 44

someone dies in an alcohol-impaired crash in the U.S. roughly every 44 minutes.

SRC — NHTSA, 2024
29%

of drivers in fatal crashes who'd been drinking are 21 to 24. That's most of a college campus, not some far-off demographic.

SRC — CDC, 2022 data
How it works

Four questions. One tap. That's it.

When you walk out of a bar's geofence, Polarys walks you through a short check-in. Short enough that you can answer the whole thing while you're still standing on the sidewalk.

01

Are you leaving?

A quiet notification pops up confirming you've stepped out. Say no and Polarys just goes back to watching in the background.

geofence exit
02

Getting home how?

Driving, riding with a friend, or you've already got a sober ride lined up. Pick sober ride and the check-in ends right there.

drivingfriendsober ride
03

How many drinks?

Just a quick, honest check with yourself. Say zero and that's it, no more questions after that.

01–33–55+
04

Here's how to get home.

One tap and you've got Uber, Lyft, transit, or a text already typed out for a friend. If your phone connects to a car's Bluetooth while you're on this screen, every option turns red.

uberlyftbluetooth warning
01 You exit a bar's geofence
↓
02 Your phone connects to a car's Bluetooth audio
↓
⚠ Treated as high risk of impaired driving
unless →
✓ You've told Polarys you had 0 drinks tonight
Why Bluetooth matters

The one signal that changes everything.

Polarys pays attention to one specific thing: whether your phone connects to a car's Bluetooth audio. That's basically the same handoff your phone makes right before you actually start driving, so it's a pretty reliable hint.

If that connection shows up after you've already left a bar Polarys was tracking, it assumes the worst by default. Your status jumps to high risk and every option on the check-in turns red. The only way around that is if you already told Polarys, earlier in that same check-in, that you had zero drinks.

To be clear, Polarys can't actually tell if you're impaired. Bluetooth connecting is just a strong hint, and the app leans on it so the decision is harder to ignore, not so it can make the decision for you.

Your dashboard

Risk, without the number staring back at you.

Your home screen only ever shows low, moderate, or high. If you actually want to know why it says what it says, tap it and you'll get the breakdown: how long you were there, whether you've been moving, and if Bluetooth picked up a car.

⚠️

Safety alert

Preview what your check-in will look like before it happens.

🕐

My options

Every safe way home, one tap away, any time you need it.

📄

Got a DUI?

Plain-language next steps if you or a friend needs them.

🏠

State laws

DUI laws and penalties for Iowa, in plain English.

Anay Shah

Anay Shah — Iowa State University

About

Hi, I'm Anay.

I'm a student at Iowa State, and I built Polarys after watching one too many friends make a risky call at 2am. Not because they wanted to, but because in the moment, it just felt like the easiest option.

The name comes from Polaris, the North Star. It's the one point in the sky that stays put while everything else seems to move around it, the thing people have used for centuries to find their way home in the dark. That's the whole idea behind the app. A night out can get confusing fast, but Polarys is meant to be the one steady thing pointing you toward the safer option anyway.

Now in beta

Testing at Iowa State this semester.

Right now Polarys is only out to a small group of ISU students who are testing it. Drop your email below and I'll send a TestFlight invite as soon as a spot opens up.