Name: GranConnect
Rating: 5.0 (2 reviews)

We built GranConnect for my grandma. Her diagnosis came a couple of years ago, and the family has been coming up with ways to help her. To simplify life, she’s transitioned from computer to iPad. We also reduced the home screen to make things easier, but her contacts were a mess: duplicates, old numbers, tiny text. She sometimes knew who she wanted to talk to but the task of reaching them was hard, and getting harder. We built GranConnect with our family. I did the coding and running the simulator, and my sister did the artwork. We built GranConnect for your family. During development, people who we've spoken to with an older parent have been supportive, and the features came from someone complaining. My uncle lives three time zones ahead, which is how Call Curfew was born: quiet hours when the call button steps aside, while texting keeps working and emergency contacts stay reachable. A friend said “I can’t get my dad to stop emailing, please text me, Dad!”, so each contact carries their own preference. WhatsApp is an option because some families don’t all carry the same phone. The core idea is that the care-giver sets this up and then hands it off to the end-user. Larger pictures and names help those with memory issues find the right person. It should work going back to iOS 17, no need to update. It’s $0.99, one time. No account, no cloud, no analytics: everything stays on the device. If you’ve set up a phone for a parent before, I’d like to know what worked and what was frustrating. What did you end up doing? This is our way of helping our grandma, and we think that other families could use GranConnect too.

GranConnect

Photo phone book for memory loss

Photo phone book for memory loss