Face Touch Alert App

Face Touch Alert App - get alerts when you touch your face

Inspiration :

After reading a news article which mentioned that WHO & CDC have recommended that we should avoid touching our eyes, nose, ears and mouth to prevent risk of COVID-19 infection, I observed that many of us touch our face without perception. So I thought of developing a web app which can give an alert whenever we try to touch our face can be a great way to minimize and avoid touching our face.

What it does :

This app is very helpful during current lock-down & work from home situation. App will play a sound (No-No) whenever you touch your face or if your hand is near to your face. It will not give alert if you touch any other body part. App will tell you about Number of Face Touch and Last time of Touch. Keep running this app in background and continue to do your work on computer/laptop.

Features :

No information is shared externally - no images are transmitted and all the processing is done locally in the browser.
This app alert users by playing a sound (No-No).
It will not give alert if you touch any other body part.
App will tell you about Number of Face Touch.
App displays Last Time of Face Touch.
Even if users continue to do their work on computer/laptop they can just keep running this app in background so that they get an alert.
This app also works on mobile browser.

How I built it :

I have built this app using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I am using webcam to detect a face touch. I tracked my progress over time and delegated tasks using Slack task app. I have focused heavily on the user experience in ensuring that application made it clear what it can do, as well as addressing privacy concerns.

Challenges I ran into :

The biggest challenge for me was to find out a way through which face is detected and not any other body part. Given the short period of time I could not implement all features, but I believe the key capability for application is to alert users when they're touching their face.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of :

I have built a fully functional web app in very less time which is totally free for use. I hope this helps lot of people and help prevent the risk of COVID-19 infection. I am proud that I am able to bring innovation to help in these unprecedented times. The best situation is the one where I am able to bring awareness to a user to stop touching their face which is otherwise very difficult.

What I learned :

I have learned a lot of new things while building this app like face detection method, sound alert implementation, etc. Due to strict timeline to develop this application, I have spent the majority of days coding. Throughout this process I have learned a lot about implementing new technologies.

What's next for Face Touch Alert :

I will improve the UI and will also add more features in the web app like more sound option for users, browser alert notification and more accuracy. I want to continue improving the application. There are many features which I didn't end up implementing but could really make a difference in users' lives. I hope to get feedback from users and continue to improve this application.