--- title: Subdial: The 100 Best Inventions of 2021 description: Find out why Subdial is one of the best inventions of 2021 canonical: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2021/6112595/subdial/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-11-10T11:15:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:56:38.628Z og:title: Subdial: The 100 Best Inventions of 2021 og:description: Find out why Subdial made this year's list og:url: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2021/6112595/subdial/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt025893e817867650/698a1e98e76ad2d2e263962e/best-inventions-2021-subdial.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Subdial: The 100 Best Inventions of 2021 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Subdial: The 100 Best Inventions of 2021 twitter:description: Find out why Subdial made this year's list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt025893e817867650/698a1e98e76ad2d2e263962e/best-inventions-2021-subdial.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 10, 2021 # The 911 Alternative Subdial by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  Americans know to call 911 when dealing with an emergency. But whom do you call when neither law enforcement nor paramedics are the right choice for the problem at hand? Griselda Viteri, then a finance manager at the design firm Big Human, came up with a solution: [Subdial](https://subdial.app/), a free app offering direct access to resources that can help users with issues relating to mental health, domestic violence, hunger and more. On the app, users can view cards that contain information about local and national resources relevant to their situation. The cards include phone numbers—with the option to immediately place a call—and directions to organizations’ physical locations, as well as links to their websites. The app’s database has more than 1,000 resources, all vetted and verified by the Subdial team. _—Jason Cipriani_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2021/6112595/subdial/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2021/6112595/subdial/"},"headline":"The 911 Alternative","datePublished":"2021-11-10T11:15:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:56:38.628Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2021/6112595/subdial/","keywords":["list","franchise","best inventions","Best Inventions 2021"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt025893e817867650/698a1e98e76ad2d2e263962e/best-inventions-2021-subdial.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt025893e817867650/698a1e98e76ad2d2e263962e/best-inventions-2021-subdial.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2021/6112595/subdial/","name":"The 911 Alternative"}}]}] ```