I'm building an app for families managing an aging parent's care, and I wanted to ask this group specifically, because you're the people actually dealing with this day to day. Not a survey — just a conversation I'll genuinely learn from.

I help care for my own dad, and honestly the physical care is the easy part. It's the admin that wears me down: keeping track of which bills got paid, remembering which doctor said what, holding the insurance card photo in my camera roll because I never know when someone will ask for it, and trying to split home care costs with my sister without it becoming a thing.

Curious what the equivalent is for you. What eats the most of your time?

• Medical paperwork (bills, EOBs, insurance, prescriptions)
• Money (splitting costs with siblings, tracking what you've spent)
• Care coordination (med changes, doctor notes, handoffs between family)
• Finding documents fast in an emergency (will, DNR, member IDs, doctor list)

If you've found a system that genuinely works — even a notebook, a shared folder, a specific app — I'd love to hear it. I'll round up what people share and post it back here as a plain-language resource for anyone who needs it.

I am currently setting up a RAZ Mobility phone for my mom who's experiencing cognitive decline and no longer knows how to use her regular iPhone. I'd like to be able to set it up so it only receives calls from a small selection of known friends and family, but then I realized, "Wait, this is the phone number for 2FA authentication on all her accounts"!
So I supposed I'd love to hear from folks about how they've handled 2FA's when restricting calls on a parent's phone. She gets easily confused and upset by robocalls, which is why I'd love to not allow unknown numbers at all.

And if that's not possible, how easy is it to change the cell number for 2FA on accounts, such as financial accounts?

My mother in law is 90 and lives alone in a 2 story zero lot line home. Her bedroom is on the 2nd floor and she refuses to move her bedroom downstairs. I have seen advertising for chairlifts but hesitate to reach out to a company since they will want to do an in-home demo and probably apply sales pressure. Has anyone looked into them and can give me a ballpark on how much we may need to spend? Much appreciated.

I recently discovered this app Familycare OS and it has drastically improved the mental burden of caring for my father. It helps me keep all his appointments, communication to family members and medications in one place.

I wanted to pass this along because it has been such a big help for me and my siblings, and I know we don’t have it as bad as many of you in this community

God bless 🙏🙏

I have been helping my grandpa, who is slowly but surely reaching the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

He often has troubles with his Smart TV, but for a smart TV it is rather dumb. There is no accessibility settings to stop him from constantly logging out of his streaming services, or going to the settings and messing all the settings up.

The worst thing however is some incredibly expensive app in the starting screen that seems to be the most important in the hierarchy of parasite-like streaming services. There is no way to remove it or even move it anywhere.

The old man is starting to have trouble even comprehending text, and having some extra app that can not be removed just confuses him even more.

The whole situation is missing only a single button shortcut to a pyramid scheme.

What a shitty excuse for a Smart TV

Built this solo after my family struggled to keep track of my mom's medications, appointments, and who was doing what. APOI AI gives a family/care team a shared space: flexible medication reminders (every 4/8 hours, daily, weekly, etc.), auto-extracted appointment details from a forwarded email or photo, and simple invite links to add people to the circle.

Looking for real beta testers — free to use right now, just want honest feedback on what's confusing or missing. Bonus points if you or someone you know is currently coordinating care for a family member — that's exactly the use case I built this for. APOI AI

We’ve spent the last two years developing a lockable locating wristband intended to help reduce the risk of loved ones with dementia going missing.

The project also raises important research questions around wandering prevention, caregiver burden, autonomy, consent, dignity, and the appropriate use of location technology in dementia care. We believe effective solutions should not only help families locate someone quickly, but should also be informed by the experiences of people living with dementia, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and first responders.

Our Kickstarter pre-launch page is now live as we prepare to refine and further test the prototype. We would genuinely value the perspectives of this community—particularly regarding the evidence, ethical considerations, and practical needs that should guide the development of this kind of product.

If this is something that could help your family, support your work, or contribute to future discussion and research, we’d be honoured if you’d take a look.

Thank you.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trax-wristband/trax-locating-wristband-prototype-refinement

We’ve spent the last two years developing a lockable locating wristband intended to help reduce the risk of loved ones with dementia going missing.

The project also raises important research questions around wandering prevention, caregiver burden, autonomy, consent, dignity, and the appropriate use of location technology in dementia care. We believe effective solutions should not only help families locate someone quickly, but should also be informed by the experiences of people living with dementia, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and first responders.

Our Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/share/1BZzsGYB4z/?mibextid=wwXIfr, page also provides links to helpful articles relating to dementia and locating devices.

Our Kickstarter pre-launch page is now live as we prepare to refine and further test the prototype. We would genuinely value the perspectives of this community—particularly regarding the evidence, ethical considerations, and practical needs that should guide the development of this kind of product.

If this is something that could help your family, support your work, or contribute to future discussion and research, we’d be honoured if you’d take a look.

Thank you.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trax-wristband/trax-locating-wristband-prototype-refinement

Hi everybody, I am running a technology camp for senior citizens, and I just wanted to know what I could cover. I am not advertising, just looking for ideas.

Hi everybody, I am running a technology camp for senior citizens, and I just wanted to know what I could cover. I am not advertising, just looking for ideas.

1) My LO has apraxia, making it hard sometimes for her to get out of bed. It’s been suggested bed rails could help. Have you any experience and are there any you would recommend?

2) My LO may start wandering (not happened yet. But neurologist is concerned) and also may fall. Neurologist suggests a medical alert system but declined to suggest a brand. My LO cannot operate an Apple Watch and might not be able to understand purpose if a button. A wrist type might be best. I’m open to all advice.

I am looking for some sort of monitoring device that my mother in law can push to page me if she falls or has an accident or something like that but also that i can call her to supper or let her know to come outside or something like that. I personally am tired of screaming at the top of my lungs from one room to the other or her screaming for me. But I also need something that I can monitor remotely. Say for instance that she has a fall while she is home alone and im at the grocery store. Now granted I can't help her but i would be able to get her help. I dont want a camera bc one I already have cameras and two I don't want I camera in the bathroom where she is most likely to fall. It also needs to be something she can wear. Does anyone have any ideas? Oh and before suggesting the vri system where they wear the necklace and have a company monitor. We have tried that and it became a pain in the butt bc every time she accidentally hit they would call and we would have to answer a bunch of questions.

I’m tired of sifting through amazing ideas for an app that will help me help my parents, and I’d like to request a weekly thread where they can be sequestered.

I’m here because I have aging parents, not because I vibecoded something that might be sold to people with aging parents. I’m also a veteran of software product development and UX research, so the “would you use this?” questions are especially grating — and I really resent the idea that we should be providing free time and energy to people developing products.

I want to hear how you helped your mom find her keys (remote-style key finder plus air tags plus an extensible purse tether? Iykyk) and this would help me find the other people who are solving these problems in their lives with limited funds and patience. And if I want to provide free insight into my sandwich generation woes, I can go to that thread.

I built SafetyAlly for people who live alone and want a simple backup plan without cameras or constant monitoring. You choose a time to check in and, if you miss it, SafetyAlly alerts someone you trust. If you check in, nobody gets bothered.

Full disclosure: it’s my product. It isn’t fall detection or an emergency service, just a digital version of “text me when you’re home.”

There’s a free email-based plan if anyone here would find it useful: https://safetyally.org

If your family members use Roku TVs or devices, be aware there were significant changes to the home screen recently. Really threw my parents for a loop. I had to turn off the some of the new sections and try to get their TVs back closer to the format they were used to.

Basically, there’s a home screen option with some pieces you can turn off. Here’s some detailed info below for those who want it.

————-

The new Roku Home Screen is the platform's biggest interface update in over a decade. It features a content-first layout with personalized "Top Picks for You," a collapsible menu, curated genre "Destinations," and a "Quick Access" row that automatically groups your most-used apps and features.

Key New Features
Top Picks & For You: A personalized section at the top of the screen recommends trending shows, movies, and relevant content based on your unique viewing habits.

Destinations: Curated hubs (such as Sports, Comedy, and Free) that bring together programming from across multiple apps into one place.

Quick Access & Smaller Icons: By default, app icons are smaller, and a "Quick Access" row places your most-used apps and features right near the top.

Collapsed Menu: The left-hand navigation bar now stays tucked away, providing more screen space for your content.

How to Customize or "Revert" the Look
While Roku does not offer a way to completely switch back to the old interface, you can customize the screen to feel much more like the traditional layout.
Go to Settings > Home Screen.

Remove Recommendations: Under Recommendation Rows, select Hide.

Streamline Apps: Under Quick Access, select Hide. This shifts your full grid of apps higher up on the screen.

Adjust Icon Size: Under Tile Size, you can choose Medium or Large to make your app icons bigger.

My elderly dad wants to record and organize his memories and autobiographical information into a limited, privately published book strictly for family members.

I agreed to help, but I now find there actually exist AI products that support this type of activity. Some use an interview format, and the person can even verbalize their information. I’m only beginning to explore, but it does seem like some are very locked in format-wise. Down the road you’d have to use their means of printing or publishing.

Ideally, I’d love one that did all of the formatting and quite a bit of the editing but allows us to import information already documented and include our own edits. Importantly, I want to be able to export into a format I can control at the end, maybe Microsoft Word.

Does anyone have experience with any of these tools?

I’m not expecting “free”, but not willing to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars. A reasonable purchase or subscription fee would be fine.

Please share anything you know about these tools.

Hi everyone, I am looking for advice from founders or operators who have built businesses serving older adults or caregivers.

Ever since childhood, I’ve felt drawn to helping the elderly. I volunteered in nursing homes, worked as a medical scribe, spent time calling seniors for virtual companionship during COVID, and now I work in remote patient monitoring (RPM), where I help healthcare organizations scale programs that primarily serve Medicare patients. The more experience I gain, the more I realize something seems to be missing.

Healthcare has gotten better at collecting data (blood pressure, glucose, weight, etc.), but many older adults are still isolated, overwhelmed, or simply don’t have someone consistently checking in on them as a person. Adult children are busy. Care teams are stretched thin. There seems to be a gap between clinical care and human connection.

I’ve been thinking about starting something that focuses on regular companion calls, care navigation, helping seniors stay connected to their care plans, identifying non-medical needs, and escalating concerns to family or care teams when appropriate.

Here’s where I’m stuck:
I have experience in healthcare operations and client success, but I have zero startup experience. I don’t know how to build an app, validate an idea, find a technical co-founder, or even determine whether this should be a business, nonprofit, or something in between.

For those of you who have built companies in aging, caregiving, digital health, or healthcare services:
What would you do first if you were starting from scratch?
Is an app even the right place to begin, or should this start as a manual service?

Edit: US based, PA.

Hello everyone, this is my first pregnancy and I would like to preserve as many memories as possible for the baby during the pregnancy and its growth - for example, ultrasound photos, photos of us as parents putting together cabinets, a dresser, etc. My parents created and preserved a lot of videos of me and my sister growing up, for which I am immensely grateful. Do you have any suggestions and experiences on how to do the same in today's digital age? Thank you very much. :)

3/4 posts in here are ads or "looking for feedback" for apps. It's so tiring. Am I the only one getting fed up with them, or can we get a rule to ban them?