Helpful Caregiving Apps

Caring.com list of “Best Caregiving Apps of 2023”

You may find some of these apps helpful in caring for your loved one. For more information visit: https://www.caring.com/articles/best-caregiving-apps

In 2023, as many as 82.2% of the U.S. population owns a smartphone, and the bulk of U.S. adults’ smartphone usage is spent on mobile apps – including some that can help with your caregiving duties. The demands of caring for a loved one can be exhausting and overwhelming, so family caregivers need all the help they can get. Fortunately, help is available at your fingertips with caregiving apps.

Caregiver apps can help caregivers stay organized, make their daily tasks more manageable, and relieve some of the burdens of family caregiving. The best caregiver apps can help caregivers with various tasks such as medication reminders, activity logging, managing appointments, coordinating a team of caregivers, and more. However, there are dozens of caregiver apps for iPhone and Android devices, so finding the best ones can take time and effort.

To help you find the best caregiver mobile apps, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most impressive and helpful apps for managing a loved one’s care. Disease-specific apps (for those with a loved one who has Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, for example) are also available. You may find that a single app doesn’t offer everything you need, so feel free to try a few. Most are free or reasonably priced, and they can help make your caregiving life much easier.

CaringBridge is just that — a bridge that allows you and your loved ones to stay in touch.

Best App for Easy Communication with Family and Friends

It’s a perfect app for a family that rallies around a loved one in need of care, and for those who are facing surgeries, rehabilitation, and procedures that go along with conditions such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. The app offers a space for multiple caregivers and family members to share pertinent information, such as updates, encouragement, and arranging care. There’s a guest book offering a place for journal entries, medical updates, photos, stories, and tributes.

This is a wonderful addition to caregiver apps and unique in that it creates a place for more than managing a loved one’s care — you can uplift, stay in the loop and help each other through a difficult time.

What’s Great About CaringBridge:

CaringBridge specializes in keeping loved ones connected. By focusing on this important goal, the app’s designers have created a product that not only passes along information but is also a holding place for good thoughts, encouragement, and photos as well as medical and caregiving updates. These features make CaringBridge a uniquely thoughtful and comprehensive tool.

The sensitive nature of this information would make anyone nervous about sharing it digitally. Fortunately, CaringBridge has taken measures to secure users’ information, leaving users stress-free when communicating about their loved ones’ needs. These features make CaringBridge a uniquely thoughtful and comprehensive tool.

Get the app:

iPhone/iPad (free)
Android (free)

Lotsa Helping Hands is a caregiving app that helps you create a community of care around your loved one.

Best App for Care Coordination

You can invite family, friends, volunteers, and care aides to join and then manage everything from sitters and errands to appointments and family gatherings using an interactive calendar.

There’s also a section of the app called “Helping Hands,” which serves as a message board and a well-wishes wall where caregivers, family, and friends can leave messages of encouragement for the person receiving care or for someone else in the care circle. This app lets you choose a coordinator and a community member page where you can update contact information, birthdates, and list the best times to call. These features make Lotsa Helping Hands a good resource for creating a vibrant care community.

What’s Great About Lotsa Helping Hands:

Lotsa Helping Hands has much to offer caregivers and their loved ones. The webpage offers real support, stories from other caregivers, a newsletter, and additional features that complement the app.

Get the app:

iPhone/iPad (free)
Android (free)

The Caring Village app is designed specifically for family caregivers to help them easily coordinate and keep track of their loved one’s care.

Best App for Information Storage

Caring Village CEO and Co-founder Mike Behrman says he was inspired to launch the app after he and his wife became caregivers for his mother-in-law, who has dementia. “We realized that the most important thing we needed to do was communicate effectively with other family members, her care professionals and neighbors,” he said in a news release.

The app is meant to enable family caregivers to do just that via a secure messaging system where users can create “villages” among friends and relatives to help coordinate the specifics of a loved one’s care. Caring Village users can create customizable care plans for their loved ones plus personalized to-do lists. The app’s features also include a centralized calendar, document storage, a place to list medications, and a wellness journal that allows you to share entries with the rest of your “village.”

What’s Great About Caring Village:

Reviewers say the app is easy to use and gives them peace of mind about staying on top of their loved one’s care plan. As AARP’s Anne Marie Kilgallon was quoted as saying in a Tech Crunch article earlier this year, “[Caring Village is] all about the connection between family, care givers and care recipients.”

Get the app:

iPhone/iPad (free)
Android (free)

First Aid: American Red Cross

Best App for Emergencies

The unfortunate reality of caring for someone is that an accident can happen at any time. No matter how cautious you are, normal challenges that come with aging like reduced mobility and balance can lead to accidents and injuries. When these things do occur, you need to address the issue quickly and you don’t want to rely on intuition alone. This is when the First Aid: American Red Cross app can be an essential tool in caring for your loved one.

This app offers its users professional advice, helpful videos, step-by-step instructions, and integrated 9-1-1 calling.

What’s Great About First Aid: American Red Cross:

First Aid: American Red Cross is not only rich in information, but all that information is available offline. If you are in the woods without signal or have your phone in airplane mode during your flight, the tools you need are still readily available. This can be life saving in an emergency situation where there’s no one nearby to help.

Get the App:

iPhone/iPad (free)
Android (free)

eCare21

Best App for Health Monitoring

It provides round-the-clock patient monitoring through wireless and wearable devices such as a smartwatch or FitBit. You can track the wearer’s glucose, heart rate, activity, medication, weight, calorie intake, and sleep. You, your loved one, other family members, and doctors can access this useful information no matter where they live or work.

eCare will be most helpful for caregivers as they manage their loved one’s schedules and meet their health needs, but it may take several apps or websites to tackle more complex caregiving challenges such as pain management, medication interaction, financial and end-of-life issues.

What’s Great About eCare21:

eCare21’s latest technology allows you to monitor your loved one’s care needs without being intrusive. It’s ideal for a working or long-distance caregiver and by providing vital health data, which means better and quicker response. Forbes offered a favorable review of eCare21 stating, “The patients’ doctors, loved ones and caregivers can keep an eye on them and provide proactive care, even from hundreds of miles away.”

Get the app:

iPhone/iPad (free)
Android (free)

Medisafe

Best App for Medication Management

Any caregiver knows the frustrations and concerns involved in medication management. You have to remember when the medication should be taken, whether or not to take it with food, avoiding double dosage, any side effects to watch out for, and make sure to track the medication for benefits or drawbacks. Medisafe Meds & Pill Reminder can help alleviate some of these concerns with reminders, helpful and practical information, and connecting caregivers, seniors, and the medical community together to provide cohesive care.

While some users noted frustrations with loading several medications at various time intervals, it should also be noted that MediSafe receives high marks for customer support. Each online review concern is addressed by the app’s support team.

What’s Great About Medisafe:

Medisafe is unique in that it’s not only a medication reminder but also educates people about their condition and the medicines they’re taking. Medisafe can help to remind, track progress, and will even find coupons and other incentives. Medisafe is designed for users of any age, for caregivers involved in medication monitoring, and is also beneficial for physicians who want to connect with their patients through the Medisafe app. Medisafe has been featured on CNBC and in Reader’s Digest.

Get the app:

iPhone/iPad (free)
Android (free) 

Ianacare

Best App for Self-Care and Caregiver Support

Amidst the demands of caring for loved ones, caregivers are at a greater risk of stress and burnout, as well as negative impacts to their physical and mental health. The Ianacare (iana means “I am not alone”) app was designed to equip and empower caregivers with the resources and support they need. The app provides the ability to organize caregiver teams and request or receive help from family and friends. For instance, you can ask for assistance with transporting your loved one to an appointment, and someone from your social circle can accept your request via the Ianacare app.

The main draw of the Ianacare smartphone app is its focus on helping people with their caregiver journey. Ianacare promotes the idea of taking care of your physical and mental well-being by providing high-quality expert content and connecting you with various caregiving support groups and communities. This helps you become a better care provider in the long run.

What’s Great About Ianacare:

Ianacare is one of the few platforms that focuses on helping caregivers cope while caring for a loved one. For example, caregivers can use the app to find curated programs and services available in their local area. Plus, the app gives you ways to contact organizations directly. In addition, Ianacare offers Caregiver Navigators, where you can receive 1-1 support from trained caregiver coaches.

Get the app:

iPhone/iPad (free)
Android (free)