Community

ParkSOS.

Social radar for Montenegrin drivers — 30-second tow-truck alerts, private photos, ANPR and one-tap paid parking

A social radar for Montenegrin drivers. 30-second alerts, ephemeral private photos, on-device plate recognition and one-tap paid parking — the only app where all of it lives in a fully volunteer ecosystem

5.0 ★stars in the mobile app stores ·
absolute user trust
< 30 seccritical tow-truck alert delivery
to the car owner
100%volunteer project · built by Montenegrin
residents for Montenegrin residents
Mob Appnative app for iOS and Android ·
identical experience and speed on both

The problem

Every driver in Europe knows the feeling: you step away for five minutes, come back, and the parking spot is empty. In Montenegro the tow-truck operation is precision-tuned, but no system to warn the owner ever existed. You learn about the problem only when the car is already at the impound, half a day and €100+ away from being yours again. We wanted a tool that turns random passers-by and neighbouring drivers into a tight community and makes city life a little less stressful.

What we built

ParkSOS is a fully volunteer project that became the go-to mobile companion for drivers in Montenegro. 30-second alerts, secure ephemeral photos, on-device plate recognition and built-in paid-parking so any passer-by can warn a stranger in one tap, and drivers themselves can forget about SMS codes and paper receipts.

A driver community that warns faster than the tow truck arrives.

— From the brief, January 2025

01 / 04

Plate recognition and Report

Any passer-by snaps a photo of a suspiciously parked car, ANPR recognises the plate on-device, and a push lands on the owner's phone. We removed every barrier — no victim sign-up, no long forms, no awkward fields. Two taps from concern to warning.

02 / 04

30-second alert

From the moment a witness spots the tow truck approaching to a push on the owner's phone takes under half a minute. That window is enough to reach the car and resolve it on the spot — no impound trip, no fine, no lost hours.

03 / 04

Privacy and ephemeral photos

Evidence does not sit in the open. Every incident photo lives behind a signed link with automatic expiry — only the car owner gets access, and only for the time needed to react. No profiling, no trackers, no plate data leaking to third parties.

04 / 04

One-tap paid parking

In-app payments for parking zones in Budva, Kotor and other Montenegrin cities. Zone, tariff and SMS code load automatically from your geolocation — no more memorising which number to text in the Crvena or Žuta zone. Map of zones, tariff and timer in a single screen.

Who it serves

01 / 03

Local drivers

anyone parking in Podgorica, Budva, Kotor or Tivat every day and tired of surprises

02 / 03

Tourists and expats

who haven't yet figured out paid zones and tow-truck rules

03 / 03

The mutual-aid community

everyone who believes in horizontal support and warnings from peers

Architecture

Technologies

React Native + Native Modules
One codebase for iOS and Android, with native modules for camera, geolocation and push. Identical experience and speed on both platforms — no compromises, no cold-start lag.
Real-time Push Engine
Lightweight protocols deliver alerts to thousands of users at once. From incident to push on the owner's phone takes under 30 seconds at any load, with priority routing by the incident's geo-fence.
Cloud Media Vault
Photo storage with automatic TTL deletion. Evidence is visible only to the car owner via a signed URL — not a social feed, not a public timeline, not an open bucket.
ANPR / LPR On-device
Plate recognition runs on the phone, with no raw photo leaving the device. Works with Balkan plate formats in any lighting and angle — two taps from snapshot to warning.

Key features

Instant Alerts

push notifications by license plate, prioritised by geo-fence

Tow-truck Tracking

signals about tow-truck movement in key locations

Private Photo Links

evidence sharing without compromising privacy or public hosting

Volunteer Dashboard

tools for active community members and moderation

Paid Parking

in-app payment for Budva, Kotor and other zones with auto-detected tariff

Activity Map

live map of incidents and risk zones by time of day

Stack

React Native
iOS
Android
Real-time Push Engine
Cloud Media Vault
ANPR / LPR
Geo-fencing

Outcome

5.0

stars on App Store and Google Play

ParkSOS is the highest-rated driver app in Montenegro. Today ParkSOS saves drivers hundreds of euros a month, takes pressure off impound lots and makes life in Montenegrin cities noticeably more civil.

parksos.mdsoft.me