Dementia apps

Apps for people with dementia and their carers

Dementia apps

  • There are a variety of apps for dementia.
  • Some apps aim to improve interaction and communication with people with dementia, while others aim to support carers.
  • Find out more about dementia apps.
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Dementia is an overall term to describe a collection of symptoms (eg, loss of memory, language, problem-solving and other thinking abilities) severe enough to interfere with daily life. They affect behaviour, feelings and relationships. Learn more about dementia. 

There are a variety of apps for dementia. Some apps aim to improve interaction and communication with people with dementia, while others aim to support carers.

Here are a few dementia apps reviewed by Healthify

 App name  Description Review

A Walk Through Dementia

A virtual reality app designed to help people get a fully immersive insight into the varied symptoms people with dementia can experience. Read more about A Walk Through Dementia   4 star review

A Better Visit

An app for visitors, friends or family/whānau of people with dementia, to encourage interactions on their visits to residential care.
Read more about A Better Visit
3 star review

Cognicare

An app to support carers looking after people with dementia.
Read more about Cognicare
4 star review

Thinkability

An app to encourage interaction and conversation with people with mild-to-moderate dementia.
Read more about Thinkability
4 star review

Other apps you may find helpful

Carer support apps

Be aware of privacy and security

The issue of adequate security and privacy controls are of particular concern for apps targeting people with dementia, whose cognitive impairment puts them at increased risk of privacy breaches. An analysis of data security and privacy in apps for dementia found that most of the apps lacked a privacy policy. Of the 72 apps assessed, 46% had an available privacy policy. 58% were specific to the app in question, and 76% specified how individual-user as opposed to aggregate data would be handled. Among these, there was a preponderance of missing information, the majority acknowledged collecting individual data for internal purposes, and most admitted to instances in which they would share user data with outside parties.

Read more about privacy and security(external link).

Also read more about things you can do to improve your safety and security when using apps.

References

  1. Brown A, O'Connor S. Mobile health applications for people with dementia – a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies(external link) Inform Health Soc Care. 2020;45(4):343-359 

Disclaimer: The NZ Health App Library is a free consumer service to help you decide whether a health app would be suitable for you. Our review process is independent. We have no relationship with the app developers or companies and no responsibility for the service they provide. This means that if you have an issue with one of the apps we have reviewed, you will need to contact the app developer or company directly.

Credits: Healthify editorial team. Healthify is brought to you by Health Navigator Charitable Trust.