Whenever something is meant to help with an ageing parent, the kindest thing you can do is be honest about its edges. Overpromise, and a family leans on it for something it was never built to hold. So before the gentle version, here's the plain one: what My Companion is, and — just as important — what it isn't.
What it is
It's a calm, private way for a family to know an older parent is okay, day to day. The person taps a simple daily check-in on their own phone; the family sees that all's well. If a day drifts by with no check-in, the app nudges them gently, then lets the family know — so no one is left wondering, and no one is left hovering. There's also one quiet place for the family to arrange everyday help among themselves — a lift, the shopping, an errand.
It runs on the ordinary smartphone your parent already owns, it's set up in a few minutes, and it's private by design: their name and photos stay on the family's own phones and never reach our servers. It's a small paid subscription, with a free trial — software you pay a little for, not a free tool that quietly pays for itself by selling data.
What it isn't
It isn't a medical or emergency device. If a check-in is missed, My Companion tells the family the person has chosen — never the emergency services. It doesn't replace a pendant alarm, a personal-alarm line or a care service, and it isn't a fall detector. Anything you rely on for a real emergency should stay exactly where it is; this sits alongside it, it doesn't stand in for it. (We hold that line firmly, for the same reason we explain in why our Help button isn't an emergency button.)
It isn't surveillance. There's no tracking, no location, no camera and no listening. Your parent checks in by choice, and you see reassurance — not where they are or what they're doing.
It isn't a replacement for a phone call. A daily yes is a wonderful thing to have in the background, but it doesn't tell you how their mood was, or what they didn't want to worry you with. The calls it saves you should turn back into the calls worth making.
It isn't free, and it isn't magic. It won't stop anyone falling, catch every bad day, or make a difficult decision for you. It does one modest thing well.
Why we draw the lines this way
A product that promised more would sell more, and help less. A button that swears it will rescue you and only rings one relative is a dangerous promise; an app that "watches over" a parent is one that's stopped treating them as an adult. We'd rather be the small, honest thing that does exactly what it says — in the same spirit as the other page we keep, what My World can't do.
If that modest, honest version is what your family actually needs — a calmer way to know they're okay without hovering — then it's for you. If you need more than that, we'd rather tell you plainly, and point you to what will.