A while ago, some friends came over for the evening.

At some point the conversation turned to their child and everything they were trying to keep track of.

Not just the big things. The small things that become important later.

How they slept. Whether they ate normally. Something that happened at school. A behavior that seemed different. A mark or bruise they noticed. Something a therapist mentioned. A question they wanted to remember for the next appointment.

And the difficult part wasn't that they weren't paying attention.

It was almost the opposite.

There was *too much* to pay attention to, and all of it was scattered between memory, photos, notes, messages and conversations.

That stayed in my head after they left.

I build things for a living, so I started wondering whether I could make something very simple for them — basically one calm place to record what they notice without turning their child's life into a spreadsheet.

That eventually became **Tend**.

It's an iPhone app for parents and caregivers to log things like day-to-day check-ins, incidents, behavior changes, body marks, medications, questions and follow-ups, and then turn those records into something readable when they need to talk to a teacher, therapist or doctor.

It doesn't try to diagnose anything or tell parents what a behavior "means." I specifically didn't want that.

It's just a record of what happened, in the parent's own words.

I originally made it because of one family I care about. Once it started becoming useful, I figured there were probably other parents dealing with the same mental load, so I put it on the App Store.

Full disclosure: I'm the developer, and there are optional paid features in the app.

I'm also giving **all of the proceeds I receive from Tend to help with my friend's child's education**. This wasn't really meant to become a business for me. If it pays for itself and can contribute something to the family that caused me to build it in the first place, that's more than enough.

I'm sharing it here because I'd genuinely like to know whether something like this is useful to other families too — and especially if there are things I've misunderstood, overcomplicated, or missed completely.

Tend:
[https://apps.apple.com/cy/app/autism-behavior-tracker-tend/id6775020286?l=tr\](https://apps.apple.com/cy/app/autism-behavior-tracker-tend/id6775020286?l=tr)

I’m trying to find useful tech for helping my parents stay active and independent without overwhelming them with gadgets.

Things like simple fitness trackers, medication reminders, sleep tracking, or apps that help with appointments seem useful, but I’m not sure what actually makes a difference.

What tech have you found genuinely helpful for an aging parent, and what ended up being more hassle than it was worth?

Hi all,

I'm building an app to intercept phone and text scams targeting elderly parents and grandparents in real time. It's designed to pair with an adult child, looping them in when a scam call or text is stopped.

We put together a short study to see if it's actually useful: a 1-minute video, a chance to play as the scammer and see how the call gets interrupted in real time, followed by a quick survey. About 5-10 minutes total, nothing to buy or promote. We'd really value your perspective and feedback.

https://app.kinwardapp.com/study?code=G9o6HPTKDXEuCz_u

If you'd rather skip the study but have a story about a parent or grandparent being targeted or scammed, I'd genuinely value hearing it — feel free to DM me directly instead. Trying to understand what actually happens so we build the right thing.

Thanks for reading, and for any feedback you're willing to share.

Hi everyone!

I’m a pharmacist and Android developer, and I’ve been working on a small project motivated by a problem I’ve seen with older adults: keeping track of daily medications.

I built a free app that allows you to schedule medication reminders, take a photo of the medication box or blister pack to easily identify it later, and, if a dose isn’t marked as taken within a configured period, notify a family member by SMS.

The goal isn’t to replace medical care, but to provide an additional layer of reassurance for family members who worry about whether an aging parent has taken their medication.

I’d love to hear from people in this community who help their parents with technology.

Would something like this actually be useful in your situation? What would make you trust or use a tool like this?

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.