Apps for Caregivers Get a Dose of AI, but That Might Not Be Enough

Caregiver apps are getting a dose of AI, yet the technology mostly targets the logistics of care rather than the toll it takes on the people providing it. For families juggling medical specialists, therapies, jobs, and household duties, coordination tools help — but they don't resolve the exhaustion, financial pressure, and isolation that come with long-term caregiving.

Medisafe, created in 2013, tracks medications and sends reminders, alerting a caregiver when a dose is missed. It also logs appointments and symptoms, keeps a list of health contacts and measurements, and includes a drug interaction checker for combining multiple medications. Caring Village, founded in 2015, offers an appointment calendar, to-do list, and wellness journal for symptoms and moods, plus task assignment, care plans, and medication reminders. Its AI assistant, named Julia, answers caregiving questions.

Newer entrants are built by caregivers themselves. In 2022, Bret Koncak cocreated the web-based app Mejo after experiences raising two sons with complex needs; it consolidates a person's medical history into a one-page summary shareable with caregivers, doctors, and therapists. Mejo's premium tier costs $6 a month or $60 a year and adds daily journaling that other caregivers can read, reducing the need to catch up verbally. Information is entered manually today, but Koncak says his team is exploring AI that would help users generate appropriate questions for medical appointments. "A lot of people think that caregiving begins and ends with interactions with the health care system, but a lot of it is about what happens between care visits," he says.

Brett Rowell, whose son Briggs has cerebral palsy, is building Briggzy so he and his wife, who work different hours, can hand off their son's care more smoothly. The app is in testing, with a wider launch hoped for in 2027. "My goal was to bring her mind into a shared space for me, so that way I can be helpful," Rowell says, recalling questionnaires he couldn't answer alone.

What to watch: whether planned AI features — appointment-question generators, assistants like Julia — actually ship and prove useful, and whether these apps can extend past task coordination to address the health, financial, and isolation burdens that define the caregiver crisis.