Inspiration
India has 1.4 billion people but fewer than 300 air monitors, so most towns get no warning before a bad-air day. I asked a simple question: what if the alert reached a mother on the one app she already opens — WhatsApp — in plain words she can actually act on?
What it does
Vaayu is a WhatsApp air-alert service. You message "Hi," share your city, and every evening you get one alert predicting tomorrow's air and telling you exactly what to do - mask up, keep the kids inside, or just breathe easy. It works on any phone, for ₹20 a month, less than a cup of chai.
How we built it
I pull PM2.5 and PM10 from the free Open-Meteo API, then convert them to the official CPCB Indian AQI using standard breakpoint interpolation. The result picks the category, which generates one plain WhatsApp message delivered straight to the user.
Challenges we ran into
Most of India has no monitor, so I used satellite- and weather-based data instead. AQI categories like "Satisfactory" confuse people, so we translated each one into a clear action. And to reach basic-phone users I chose WhatsApp over yet another app — funding it with a ₹20/month fee plus CSR rather than a paywall.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
It reaches the people dashboards never did, works on the cheapest phone, uses the official Indian AQI, and stays affordable at ₹20/month - all simple enough to deploy in weeks.
What we learned
Impact beats flashy tech. The hard part isn't building another model - it's getting the right words to the right person before the bad-air day arrives. Free public data is more than enough to build something real.
What's next for Vaayu Air Alert
Hindi and regional languages, source tags for firecrackers/crop-burning/dust, a school and clinic bulk-alert mode, and partnerships with pollution boards plus CSR "sponsor a district" funding.
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