A Toolkit
for Stronger
Neighborhoods
and Networks
Buoy.Earth is a pay-what-you-can app that replaces scattered group chats, buried posts, and disconnected alerts with a clear picture of what’s happening in your community.Create a Buoy for your family, street, mutual aid group, or city to stay connected, plan ahead, and respond to the unexpected, together.
SCROLL TO LEARN MORE
What buoy.earth Does
Five simple tools that work together to help you and your Buoy stay oriented, connected and organized.
Map
See what’s happening, where it matters
On the map, trusted public alerts and weather data appear alongside updates, resources and observations from nearby Buoys, all grounded in real people and places.
Instead of jumping between apps or scrolling for context, you can see what’s happening, who it affects, and how it connects.
Every Buoy you’re part of adds signal to the map, not noise
Madrona City CRB
ALERT
Flood Risk Advisory
Local flood advisory in effect until 8pm. Stay...
Dashboard
All your tools, at a glance
Your dashboard is your personal home base in Buoy.It brings together your profile, Buoys, calendar, inbox, and saved items in one place, so you don’t have to jump between tabs or apps to stay oriented.
Customize your dashboard with simple drag-and-drop widgets, choosing what matters most to you and how it’s arranged.
Sara Richards
3 HOURS AGO
Lifetime Trust
1750
Skills
First Aid
Gardening
Orgs
MC Mutual Aid
YOUR BUOYS
CALENDAR
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
ANALYTICS
Activity
Stay connected, without the noise
In Activity, updates, observations, discussions, plans, and requests from your Buoys live in a single, clear stream.
The feed is easily filtered, and ordered by what’s new or relevant, not by likes or algorithms.
It works just as well for everyday coordination as it does when something urgent comes up, with no switching tools and no scrambling.
Alex Rivera
EVENT
Community Potluck
Sunday 4pm
Maya Chen
DISCUSSION
Street lighting on Oak Ave
Has anyone heard when the city is planning to fix the...
Jordan Lewis
EXCHANGE
Extra Power Banks
I’ve got a couple spare USB-C power banks if anyone....
Sam McAdams
PLAN UPDATE
Backup power plan edits
Added notes about battery options and where to store...
Madrona City CRB
ALERT
Flood Risk Advisory
Local flood advisory in effect until 8pm. Stay...
Rosa Martínez
OBSERVATION
Heavy rain starting early
Rain just picked up here near 5th and Pine. Streets are...
Library
Get organized, get prepared
Your Library shows everything you and your Buoys have saved.Keep track of contacts, tools, supplies, places, and shared knowledge so everyone knows what’s already in place.
Then use integrated design tools to build resilience together, from setting up a go-bag to building preparedness plans for your Buoy.
Wildfire Plan
Shared plan for wildfire season: communication, evacuation routes, and check-in points.
Vehicle
2018 Subaru Outback — silver
VIEW
DISCUSS
EDIT
Family Go Bag
Primary go-bag for quick evacuation or overnight displacement.
LOCATION
At home: Hall closet, top shelf
CONTENTS
2x
Rechargeable Headlamps
1x
Phone charger + battery pack
3x
Copy of ID + Passport
1x
First Aid Kit
3x
N95 Masks
HUD
Always oriented, never overwhelmed
The Heads Up Display keeps essential context close at hand.
Safety status, focus mode, alerts, weather, and urgent actions are always available, without interrupting what you’re doing. Most of the time, it stays quietly in the background.
When something changes, you’ll see it right away, and the tools you already use are ready.
STATUS
SAFE
HELP
SOS
CURRENT CONDITIONS
16°
Partly Sunny
30% Chance of Rain
RECENT ALERTS
WILDFIRE NEARBY
27% Containment
ACTIONS
BUOY CHECK IN
37 Minutes Ago
Ride the Rising Tide
Buoy.Earth is a community-powered project that evolves with the people who use it. Join the beta to help shape a calmer, more human way to connect and grow with your neighborhood and network.
Request an Invite
How It Works
Buoy is built from the ground up for resilience.
Simple Building Blocks
Everything you share in Buoy is stored as small, independent pieces, each encrypted on its own.
Only the people you choose can read your information, not the developers, not advertisers, not anyone else. There’s nothing for us to mine, track, or sell.
Because each piece is independent, information can move securely across the network without ever being exposed.
A Flexible Network
Buoy isn’t built around a single central system.
Once we release the native apps, your Buoy’s data will be able to live on your own devices and sync directly with other members. This allows the network to keep working even when connections are limited or unreliable.
Individuals, neighborhoods, or entire cities will be able host their own data, while staying compatible with the wider Buoy.Earth network.
An Independent Mesh
When the internet is available, Buoy connects normally.
When it’s not, devices will be able to connect directly using Bluetooth or long-range radio.
Items will be able to move from device to device, with each one keeping its own encrypted copy, so Buoy can continue working even during outages.
The Roadmap
We’re a small independent team on a limited budget, so we’re building Buoy in stages, with each step along the way intended to be useful on its own.
Each step reduces dependency on corporate services while putting more control in the hands of Buoy members.
Coming Soon
Buoy Web
Browser based platform that works on any device, supports planning, discussion, check-ins, and coordination within your Buoys
Next 6 Months
Buoy App
Apps for iOS, Android, PC, Mac and Liunux that will add support for encrypted local storage, offline access, and peer-to-peer syncing
Next 12 Months
Buoy Mesh
Firmware to support both Bluetooth and LoRa connections, allowing real-time updates between devices without internet
Next Year
Buoy Hardware
Buoy Mesh devices and microservers that will allow the entire Buoy.Earth network to be community hosted
Where buoy.earth is Going
Buoy is built from the ground up for resilience.
The Open Core
Our goal is to build Buoy as a community first, open and safe project that works for everyone.
Starting Small
Buoy is being developed by a small invite-only group of contributors, while we stabilize the architecture and core features. This keeps development focused and fast.
Building in the Open
As the platform matures, we will open source the stack, starting with the data model and security, so Buoy members can review, audit, and build together.
Safeguarding the Future
Our end goal is to establish a non-profit foundation to steward the platform, maintain open hardware standards, and work to keep Buoy open and accessible forever.
Want to be a part of our early contributor network? Join the Buoy discord to get involved.
Keeping Buoy Afloat
Running a useful communication platform doesn’t actually require selling attention or personal data.
The Signal Foundation, for example, supports more than 70 million users on roughly $50 million per year. This translates to a total cost well under $1 per user annually.
Buoy is designed to drastically reduce cloud service reliance over time as we roll out the Buoy Mesh, further reducing our costs.
We don’t need big-tech margins, forced subscriptions, or surveillance to keep Buoy online.
Buoy will be self-sustaining in two simple ways:
Pay-what-you-can
We’ll ask Buoy members to support Buoy at a level that works for them.
This is an optional monthly membership, with no paywall or pressure if you can’t pay right now.
A single $10/month membership could help cover infrastructure for over 100 others.
Useful gear, not random ads
Buoy will never run ads or track you.
Instead, if you are planning and realize you need an item, we’ll have a list of genuinely useful tools from long term partners that you can pick from to help support us.
Purchases will support both Buoy and independent businesses making high-quality, long-lasting gear.
Together, these streams will allow Buoy to stay accessible, independent, and privacy first without ever needing to sell data or put up a paywall.
Who’s Building Buoy
Buoy is a new project from...
At Ria our goal has always been to build practical tools for stronger, more resilient communities.
Our Story
We’ve lived through wildfires, floods and storms. The Buoy team has escaped war zones or experienced disasters and lived through power outages and disasters. This is not abstract for us, people need safety nets now that they control themselves.
We’ve spent years developing disaster-resilient basic needs systems, supported by community investors and the Scottish Government.
Why Buoy
Being ready means having the tools and people you can rely on ready to go when you need them.
When we lost our home in a fire during Covid, it was our community that helped us get back on our feet.
So we built Buoy, a way for communities to stay connected, build trust, collect tools, and coordinate wherever they are.
Our Motivation
Along the way, we’ve seen how often values are compromised for profit. People are tired of being products. We, collectively, need an anti-algorithm where people can share information and build communities on their own terms.
We have not and will not fund Buoy by selling data. That is why our big idea was to let people pay what they can to keep it running or help us by buying things they need anyway.
Our goal is to work towards being able to fund the manufacturing of our resilient hardware projects, which range from energy systems, to water systems, to a fully self-contained modular home that is better to live in and adaptable for when things get rough.
Do we have big dreams? Yes. But we are stubborn and will work towards them step-by-step with support from the people on this big Buoy Earth.
Build buoy.earth with us
Stronger neighborhoods and networks aren’t built all at once.
They’re created through everyday use, shared context, and people showing up for each other.
We are still at an early stage, and every new member makes a big difference in how fast we learn and grow.
Join the Buoy beta and help shape a tool designed for real people, real places, and real life.
Request an Invite
buoy.earth is a community powered project from Ria Living Systems.
RIA and RIA LIVING SYSTEMS are trade names of: KIONNALI LIVING SYSTEMS LTD
LIMITED COMPANY REGISTERED IN SCOTLAND
COMPANY NUMBER: SC746009
REGISTERED ADDRESS:
Enterprise Centre
Aberdeen Science And Energy Park
Bridge Of Don, Aberdeen
Scotland, Scotland, AB23 8GX
ALL CONTENT Copyright © Kionnali Living Systems LTD 2025
A Toolkit
for Stronger
Neighborhoods
and Networks
Buoy.Earth is a pay-what-you-can app that replaces scattered group chats, buried posts, and disconnected alerts with a clear picture of what’s happening in your community.Create a Buoy for your family, street, mutual aid group, or city to stay connected, plan ahead, and respond to the unexpected, together.
SCROLL TO LEARN MORE
What buoy.earth Does
Five simple tools that work together to help you and your Buoy stay oriented, connected and organized.
Map
See what’s happening, where it matters
On the map, trusted public alerts and weather data appear alongside updates, resources and observations from nearby Buoys, all grounded in real people and places.
Instead of jumping between apps or scrolling for context, you can see what’s happening, who it affects, and how it connects.
Every Buoy you’re part of adds signal to the map, not noise
Madrona City CRB
ALERT
Flood Risk Advisory
Local flood advisory in effect until 8pm. Stay...
Dashboard
All your tools, at a glance
Your dashboard is your personal home base in Buoy.It brings together your profile, Buoys, calendar, inbox, and saved items in one place, so you don’t have to jump between tabs or apps to stay oriented.
Customize your dashboard with simple drag-and-drop widgets, choosing what matters most to you and how it’s arranged.
Sara Richards
3 HOURS AGO
Lifetime Trust
1750
Skills
First Aid
Gardening
Orgs
MC Mutual Aid
YOUR BUOYS
CALENDAR
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
ANALYTICS
Activity
Stay connected, without the noise
In Activity, updates, observations, discussions, plans, and requests from your Buoys live in a single, clear stream.
The feed is easily filtered, and ordered by what’s new or relevant, not by likes or algorithms.
It works just as well for everyday coordination as it does when something urgent comes up, with no switching tools and no scrambling.
Alex Rivera
EVENT
Community Potluck
Sunday 4pm
Maya Chen
DISCUSSION
Street lighting on Oak Ave
Has anyone heard when the city is planning to fix the...
Jordan Lewis
EXCHANGE
Extra Power Banks
I’ve got a couple spare USB-C power banks if anyone....
Sam McAdams
PLAN UPDATE
Backup power plan edits
Added notes about battery options and where to store...
Madrona City CRB
ALERT
Flood Risk Advisory
Local flood advisory in effect until 8pm. Stay...
Rosa Martínez
OBSERVATION
Heavy rain starting early
Rain just picked up here near 5th and Pine. Streets are...
Library
Get organized, get prepared
Your Library shows everything you and your Buoys have saved.Keep track of contacts, tools, supplies, places, and shared knowledge so everyone knows what’s already in place.
Then use integrated design tools to build resilience together, from setting up a go-bag to building preparedness plans for your Buoy.
Wildfire Plan
Shared plan for wildfire season: communication, evacuation routes, and check-in points.
VIEW
DISCUSS
EDIT
Vehicle
2018 Subaru Outback — silver
VIEW
DISCUSS
EDIT
Family Go Bag
Primary go-bag for quick evacuation or overnight displacement.
LOCATION
At home: Hall closet, top shelf
CONTENTS
2x
Rechargeable Headlamps
1x
Phone charger + battery pack
3x
Copy of ID + Passport
1x
First Aid Kit
3x
N95 Masks
HUD
Always oriented, never overwhelmed
The Heads Up Display keeps essential context close at hand.
Safety status, focus mode, alerts, weather, and urgent actions are always available, without interrupting what you’re doing. Most of the time, it stays quietly in the background.
When something changes, you’ll see it right away, and the tools you already use are ready.
STATUS
SAFE
HELP
SOS
CURRENT CONDITIONS
16°
Partly Sunny
30% Chance of Rain
RECENT ALERTS
WILDFIRE NEARBY
27% Containment
ACTIONS
BUOY CHECK IN
37 Minutes Ago
Ride the Rising Tide
Buoy.Earth is a community-powered project that evolves with the people who use it. Join the beta to help shape a calmer, more human way to connect and grow with your neighborhood and network.
Request an Invite
How It Works
Buoy is built from the ground up for resilience.
Simple Building Blocks
Everything you share in Buoy is stored as small, independent pieces, each encrypted on its own.
Only the people you choose can read your information, not the developers, not advertisers, not anyone else. There’s nothing for us to mine, track, or sell.
Because each piece is independent, information can move securely across the network without ever being exposed.
A Flexible Network
Buoy.Earth isn’t built around a single central system.
Once we release the native apps, your Buoy’s data will be able to live on your own devices and sync directly with other members. This allows the network to keep working even when connections are limited or unreliable.
Individuals, neighborhoods, or entire cities will be able host their own data, while staying compatible with the wider Buoy.Earth network.
An Independent Mesh
When the internet is available, Buoy connects normally.
When it’s not, devices will be able to connect directly using Bluetooth or long-range radio.
Items will be able to move from device to device, with each one keeping its own encrypted copy, so Buoy can continue working even during outages.
The Roadmap
We’re a small independent team on a limited budget, so we’re building Buoy in stages, with each step along the way intended to be useful on its own.
Each step reduces dependency on corporate services while putting more control in the hands of Buoy members.
Coming Soon
Buoy Web
Browser based platform that works on any device, supports planning, discussion, check-ins, and coordination within your Buoys
Next 6 Months
Buoy App
Apps for iOS, Android, PC, Mac and Liunux that will add support for encrypted local storage, offline access, and peer-to-peer syncing
Next 12 Months
Buoy Mesh
Firmware to support both Bluetooth and LoRa connections, allowing real-time updates between devices without internet
Next Year
Buoy Hardware
Buoy Mesh devices and microservers that will allow the entire Buoy.Earth network to be community hosted
Where buoy.earth is Going
Buoy is built from the ground up for resilience.
The Open Core
Our goal is to build Buoy as a community first, open and safe project that works for everyone.
Starting Small
Buoy is being developed by a small invite-only group of contributors, while we stabilize the architecture and core features. This keeps development focused and fast.
Building in the Open
As the platform matures, we will open source the stack, starting with the data model and security, so Buoy members can review, audit, and build together.
Safeguarding the Future
Our end goal is to establish a non-profit foundation to steward the platform, maintain open hardware standards, and work to keep Buoy open and accessible forever.
Want to be a part of our early contributor network? Join the Buoy discord to get involved.
Keeping Buoy Afloat
Running a useful communication platform doesn’t actually require selling attention or personal data.
The Signal Foundation, for example, supports more than 70 million users on roughly $50 million per year. This translates to a total cost well under $1 per user annually.
Buoy is designed to drastically reduce cloud service reliance over time as we roll out the Buoy Mesh, further reducing our costs.
We don’t need big-tech margins, forced subscriptions, or surveillance to keep Buoy online.
Buoy will be self-sustaining in two simple ways:
Pay-what-you-can
We’ll ask Buoy members to support Buoy at a level that works for them.
This is an optional monthly membership, with no paywall or pressure if you can’t pay right now.
A single $10/month membership could help cover infrastructure for over 100 others.
Useful gear, not random ads
Buoy will never run ads or track you.
Instead, if you are planning and realize you need an item, we’ll have a list of genuinely useful tools from long term partners that you can pick from to help support us.
Purchases will support both Buoy and independent businesses making high-quality, long-lasting gear.
Together, these streams will allow Buoy to stay accessible, independent, and privacy first without ever needing to sell data or put up a paywall.
Who’s Building Buoy
Buoy is a new project from...
At Ria our goal has always been to build practical tools for stronger, more resilient communities.
Our Story
We’ve lived through wildfires, floods and storms. The Buoy team has escaped war zones or experienced disasters and lived through power outages and disasters. This is not abstract for us, people need safety nets now that they control themselves.
We’ve spent years developing disaster-resilient basic needs systems, supported by community investors and the Scottish Government.
Why Buoy
Being ready means having the tools and people you can rely on ready to go when you need them.
When we lost our home in a fire during Covid, it was our community that helped us get back on our feet.
So we built Buoy, a way for communities to stay connected, build trust, collect tools, and coordinate wherever they are.
Our Motivation
Along the way, we’ve seen how often values are compromised for profit. People are tired of being products. We, collectively, need an anti-algorithm where people can share information and build communities on their own terms.
We have not and will not fund Buoy by selling data. That is why our big idea was to let people pay what they can to keep it running or help us by buying things they need anyway.
Our goal is to work towards being able to fund the manufacturing of our resilient hardware projects, which range from energy systems, to water systems, to a fully self-contained modular home that is better to live in and adaptable for when things get rough.
Do we have big dreams? Yes. But we are stubborn and will work towards them step-by-step with support from the people on this big Buoy Earth.
Build buoy.earth with us
Stronger neighborhoods and networks aren’t built all at once.
They’re created through everyday use, shared context, and people showing up for each other.
We are still at an early stage, and every new member makes a big difference in how fast we learn and grow.
Join the Buoy beta and help shape a tool designed for real people, real places, and real life.
Request an Invite
buoy.earth is a community powered project from Ria Living Systems.
RIA and RIA LIVING SYSTEMS are trade names of: KIONNALI LIVING SYSTEMS LTD
LIMITED COMPANY REGISTERED IN SCOTLAND
COMPANY NUMBER: SC746009
REGISTERED ADDRESS:
Enterprise Centre
Aberdeen Science And Energy Park
Bridge Of Don, Aberdeen
Scotland, Scotland, AB23 8GX
ALL CONTENT Copyright © Kionnali Living Systems LTD 2025
A Toolkit
for Stronger
Neighborhoods
and Networks
Buoy.Earth is a pay-what-you-can app that replaces scattered group chats, buried posts, and disconnected alerts with a clear picture of what’s happening in your community.Create a Buoy for your family, street, mutual aid group, or city to stay connected, plan ahead, and respond to the unexpected, together.
SCROLL TO LEARN MORE
What buoy.earth Does
Five simple tools that work together to help you and your Buoy stay oriented, connected and organized.
Madrona City CRB
ALERT
Flood Risk Advisory
Local flood advisory in effect until 8pm. Stay...
Map
See what’s happening, where it matters
On the map, trusted public alerts and weather data appear alongside updates, resources and observations from nearby Buoys, all grounded in real people and places.
Instead of jumping between apps or scrolling for context, you can see what’s happening, who it affects, and how it connects.
Every Buoy you’re part of adds signal to the map, not noise
Dashboard
All your tools, at a glance
Your dashboard is your personal home base in Buoy.It brings together your profile, Buoys, calendar, inbox, and saved items in one place, so you don’t have to jump between tabs or apps to stay oriented.
Customize your dashboard with simple drag-and-drop widgets, choosing what matters most to you and how it’s arranged.
Sara Richards
3 HOURS AGO
Lifetime Trust
1750
Skills
First Aid
Gardening
Orgs
MC Mutual Aid
YOUR BUOYS
CALENDAR
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
ANALYTICS
Alex Rivera
EVENT
Community Potluck
Sunday 4pm
Maya Chen
DISCUSSION
Street lighting on Oak Ave
Has anyone heard when the city is planning to fix the...
Jordan Lewis
EXCHANGE
Extra Power Banks
I’ve got a couple spare USB-C power banks if anyone....
Sam McAdams
PLAN UPDATE
Backup power plan edits
Added notes about battery options and where to store...
Madrona City CRB
ALERT
Flood Risk Advisory
Local flood advisory in effect until 8pm. Stay...
Rosa Martínez
OBSERVATION
Heavy rain starting early
Rain just picked up here near 5th and Pine. Streets are...
Activity
Stay connected, without the noise
In Activity, updates, observations, discussions, plans, and requests from your Buoys live in a single, clear stream.
The feed is easily filtered, and ordered by what’s new or relevant, not by likes or algorithms.
It works just as well for everyday coordination as it does when something urgent comes up, with no switching tools and no scrambling.
Library
Get organized, get prepared
Your Library shows everything you and your Buoys have saved.Keep track of contacts, tools, supplies, places, and shared knowledge so everyone knows what’s already in place.
Then use integrated design tools to build resilience together, from setting up a go-bag to building preparedness plans for your Buoy.
Wildfire Plan
Shared plan for wildfire season: communication, evacuation routes, and check-in points.
VIEW
DISCUSS
EDIT
Vehicle
2018 Subaru Outback — silver
VIEW
DISCUSS
EDIT
Family Go Bag
Primary go-bag for quick evacuation or overnight displacement.
LOCATION
At home: Hall closet, top shelf
CONTENTS
2x
Rechargeable Headlamps
1x
Phone charger + battery pack
3x
Copy of ID + Passport
1x
First Aid Kit
3x
N95 Masks
STATUS
SAFE
HELP
SOS
CURRENT CONDITIONS
16°
Partly Sunny
30% Chance of Rain
FORECAST
RECENT ALERTS
WILDFIRE NEARBY
27% Containment
ACTIONS
BUOY CHECK IN
37 Minutes Ago
HUD
Always oriented, never overwhelmed
The Heads Up Display keeps essential context close at hand.
Safety status, focus mode, alerts, weather, and urgent actions are always available, without interrupting what you’re doing. Most of the time, it stays quietly in the background.
When something changes, you’ll see it right away, and the tools you already use are ready.
Ride the Rising Tide
Buoy.Earth is a community-powered project that evolves with the people who use it. Join the beta to help shape a calmer, more human way to connect and grow with your neighborhood and network.
Request an Invite
How It Works
Buoy is built from the ground up for resilience.
Simple Building Blocks
Everything you share in Buoy is stored as small, independent pieces, each encrypted on its own.
Only the people you choose can read your information, not the developers, not advertisers, not anyone else. There’s nothing for us to mine, track, or sell.
Because each piece is independent, information can move securely across the network without ever being exposed.
A Flexible Network
Buoy isn’t built around a single central system.
Once we release the native apps, your Buoy’s data will be able to live on your own devices and sync directly with other members. This allows the network to keep working even when connections are limited or unreliable.
Individuals, neighborhoods, or entire cities will be able host their own data, while staying compatible with the wider Buoy.Earth network.
An Independent Mesh
When the internet is available, Buoy connects normally.
When it’s not, devices will be able to connect directly using Bluetooth or long-range radio.
Items will be able to move from device to device, with each one keeping its own encrypted copy, so Buoy can continue working even during outages.
The Roadmap
We’re a small independent team on a limited budget, so we’re building Buoy in stages, with each step along the way intended to be useful on its own.
Each step reduces dependency on corporate services while putting more control in the hands of Buoy members.
Coming Soon
Buoy Web
Browser based platform that works on any device, supports planning, discussion, check-ins, and coordination within your Buoys
Next 6 Months
Buoy App
Apps for iOS, Android, PC, Mac and Liunux that will add support for encrypted local storage, offline access, and peer-to-peer syncing
Next 12 Months
Buoy Mesh
Firmware to support both Bluetooth and LoRa connections, allowing real-time updates between devices without internet
Next Year
Buoy Hardware
Buoy Mesh devices and microservers that will allow the entire Buoy.Earth network to be community hosted
Where buoy.earth is Going
Buoy is built from the ground up for resilience.
The Open Core
Our goal is to build Buoy as a community first, open and safe project that works for everyone.
Starting Small
Buoy is being developed by a small invite-only group of contributors, while we stabilize the architecture and core features. This keeps development focused and fast.
Building in the Open
As the platform matures, we will open source the stack, starting with the data model and security, so Buoy members can review, audit, and build together.
Safeguarding the Future
Our end goal is to establish a non-profit foundation to steward the platform, maintain open hardware standards, and work to keep Buoy open and accessible forever.
Want to be a part of our early contributor network? Join the Buoy discord to get involved.
Keeping Buoy Afloat
Running a useful communication platform doesn’t actually require selling attention or personal data.
The Signal Foundation, for example, supports more than 70 million users on roughly $50 million per year. This translates to a total cost well under $1 per user annually.
Buoy is designed to drastically reduce cloud service reliance over time as we roll out the Buoy Mesh, further reducing our costs.
We don’t need big-tech margins, forced subscriptions, or surveillance to keep Buoy online.
Buoy will be self-sustaining in two simple ways:
Pay-what-you-can
We’ll ask Buoy members to support Buoy at a level that works for them.
This is an optional monthly membership, with no paywall or pressure if you can’t pay right now.
A single $10/month membership could help cover infrastructure for over 100 others.
Useful gear, not random ads
Buoy will never run ads or track you.
Instead, if you are planning and realize you need an item, we’ll have a list of genuinely useful tools from long term partners that you can pick from to help support us.
Purchases will support both Buoy and independent businesses making high-quality, long-lasting gear.
Together, these streams will allow Buoy to stay accessible, independent, and privacy first without ever needing to sell data or put up a paywall.
Who’s Building Buoy
Buoy is a new project from...
At Ria our goal has always been to build practical tools for stronger, more resilient communities.
Our Story
We’ve lived through wildfires, floods and storms. The Buoy team has escaped war zones or experienced disasters and lived through power outages and disasters. This is not abstract for us, people need safety nets now that they control themselves.
We’ve spent years developing disaster-resilient basic needs systems, supported by community investors and the Scottish Government.
Why Buoy
Being ready means having the tools and people you can rely on ready to go when you need them.
When we lost our home in a fire during Covid, it was our community that helped us get back on our feet.
So we built Buoy, a way for communities to stay connected, build trust, collect tools, and coordinate wherever they are.
Our Motivation
Along the way, we’ve seen how often values are compromised for profit. People are tired of being products. We, collectively, need an anti-algorithm where people can share information and build communities on their own terms.
We have not and will not fund Buoy by selling data. That is why our big idea was to let people pay what they can to keep it running or help us by buying things they need anyway.
Our goal is to work towards being able to fund the manufacturing of our resilient hardware projects, which range from energy systems, to water systems, to a fully self-contained modular home that is better to live in and adaptable for when things get rough.
Do we have big dreams? Yes. But we are stubborn and will work towards them step-by-step with support from the people on this big Buoy Earth.
Build buoy.earth with us
Stronger neighborhoods and networks aren’t built all at once.
They’re created through everyday use, shared context, and people showing up for each other.
We are still at an early stage, and every new member makes a big difference in how fast we learn and grow.
Join the Buoy beta and help shape a tool designed for real people, real places, and real life.
Request an Invite
buoy.earth is a community powered project from Ria Living Systems.
RIA and RIA LIVING SYSTEMS are trade names of: KIONNALI LIVING SYSTEMS LTD
LIMITED COMPANY REGISTERED IN SCOTLAND
COMPANY NUMBER: SC746009
REGISTERED ADDRESS:
Enterprise Centre
Aberdeen Science And Energy Park
Bridge Of Don, Aberdeen
Scotland, Scotland, AB23 8GX
ALL CONTENT Copyright © Kionnali Living Systems LTD 2025