How can a family dashboard app help seniors feel closer to family every day?
A family dashboard app can make it easier to stay close to your family from day to day. With Elsy, you get reminders, someone to talk to and your life stories written down. Depending on their level in Your circle, your family can stay informed about how you're doing.
Staying close to your family is part of a good everyday life. When you don't see each other every day, an app can help keep that connection going.
What is a family dashboard app?
A family dashboard app helps family members keep in touch and coordinate with each other. In Elsy, the family dashboard is what your family sees in their own Elsy app and on helloelsy.com. Apps like this can be especially useful for older adults and their families, because they keep track of daily activities and reminders and make it easy to share life stories.
A large 2022 review that brought together 21 research reviews covering 326 studies found that technology can strengthen older adults' social connectedness, especially when it supports the relationships they already have. Communication technology and video calls showed the best results, but the researchers stress that the evidence is limited.
Taking part in family life
With an app like this, you can coordinate everyday tasks with your family and keep in touch, without having to figure out complicated technology. A regular routine can also help you feel connected to your family and understood by them. If someone in your family has the Care partner level in Your circle, for example, they can see your reminders and medicines and help you with them, even when they're not with you.
How Elsy helps you stay close
Elsy is an AI companion, and she can make it easier to stay connected with your family and talk things over with them. She helps you keep track of everyday things like routines and medicines. Say "I take my pills at 8 every morning," and she sets up a reminder. A daily conversation with Elsy can also help keep your mind active. Through those conversations and the life stories you share, Elsy can help build understanding and closeness between the generations, even when your family lives far away. Read more about Elsy and your family.
Life stories for the next generation
When you tell Elsy about your life, she writes it down afterward as life stories, with your own words as quotes. Once you send them to your family, the stories can build a bridge between the generations. See how life stories with Elsy work.
Why time with other people matters
Contact with other people matters for the brain. The Lancet Commission names social isolation as one of 14 risk factors for dementia that can be changed. Elsy does not prevent dementia, and a conversation with her doesn't replace time with other people. Read more about why social connection is good for the brain.
Keeping your family up to date
Elsy gives your family an easy way to stay informed about how you're doing. You can ask her to send a short message to someone in Your circle. Family members with the Wellbeing level or higher also get a short email on the days you talk with Elsy, with what you talked about, in brief. If you turn on Daily recap email, you get your own summary of the day by email in the evening, on the days you've talked with Elsy. That can be especially good for family members who live far away, and regular contact with your family can in turn be good for your own wellbeing and quality of life.
What your family sees from far away
Your family can get a sense of how you're doing, even from far away. Elsy doesn't assess your health, and she is not an alarm. Your family never sees transcripts or recordings of your conversations, apart from the life stories you send them, which contain your own words and may include short excerpts of your voice.
What else they see depends on their level in Your circle. At Stories only, they see only the stories you send them, your name and your photo. At Safety net, they also get an alert if a conversation suggests something might be wrong. At Wellbeing, they also see how you're doing over time, at Care partner also your reminders and medicines, and at Full trust also what Elsy remembers about you. Photos you share from your Photo album can be seen by everyone in your circle above Stories only. If a family member set Elsy up and gave consent on your behalf, everyone in your circle is at Full trust. See more about what your family can see.
Technology that's easy to use
Not everyone has learned to use the internet. In the UK, almost half of people aged 75 and over can't do all the basic things needed to get online, according to Age UK. Elsy is made to be easy to use, so you can get the benefit of modern technology without any technical expertise.
Talk instead of tap
Elsy is designed to be simple to use at any age. You talk with her in whole sentences, and the screens are straightforward, so it's easy to make her part of your everyday life. Still, it can be hard to ask for help with technology. Helge, 72, puts it like this:
“But you know yourself how much the fear of asking limits what you can find out.”
Helge, 72, talks with Elsy (translated from Danish)
How to get started
Download Elsy from the App Store or Google Play, open the app and tap Talk to Elsy. Turn on Daily question in the settings, and each day you'll get a question from Elsy that can get a conversation going. You can try Elsy free for 3 days on your own phone. See how Elsy works step by step.
Frequently asked questions
What kind of app is Elsy?
Elsy is an AI companion made especially for older adults. You talk with her in whole sentences, and she writes down your life stories from what you tell her. When you send the stories to your family, they can bring the generations closer.
Can Elsy remind me to take my medicines?
Yes. Elsy can create reminders that help you keep track of your medicines and daily routines. The reminders arrive as notifications on your phone, and if you haven't responded to a medicine reminder, the app asks again after about 5 and 15 minutes. If a family member has the Care partner level, they can also see your medicines and help you with them.
Are my conversations with Elsy private?
Your conversations are recorded and stored securely so Elsy can remember, and your stored data is hosted in the EU. So that Elsy can hear you, answer and remember, what you say is processed by AI services in the United States. We never sell your personal data, and we don't use it to train general-purpose AI models. Your family never sees transcripts or recordings of your conversations, apart from the life stories you send them, which contain your own words and may include short excerpts of your voice. What else they see depends on their level in Your circle, and at Full trust they also see what Elsy remembers about you. If a family member set Elsy up and gave consent on your behalf, everyone in your circle is at Full trust. Read more in our privacy policy.
What devices does Elsy work on?
Elsy is available for iPhone, iPad and Android. You can try Elsy free for 3 days on your own phone.
This is general information, not medical advice. Every situation is different, so talk to a doctor about yours.