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
Before choosing an app, think about how it will benefit you and what you want it to be able to do.
- An app will only be helpful if you use it, so it needs to be something you like using and find easy to use.
- If you find the app difficult to use, or you don't like the imagery or look of it, or the language it uses, you may want to find another one that suits you better.
- For more guidance on how to choose health apps, see How to choose a health app.
- It's important to remember that apps don’t replace professional help or your doctor’s advice.
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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 |  |
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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 |
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An app for those interested in healthy ageing, or people who may have a health or lifestyle factors that place them a risk of dementia. |  |
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An app to support carers looking after people with dementia. Read more about Cognicare |
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An app to encourage interaction and conversation with people with mild-to-moderate dementia. Read more about Thinkability |
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Other apps you may find helpful
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.
