AI apps aim to ease caregiver burden, but obstacles remain

Millions of Americans face caregiver crisis

According to AARP, an estimated 63 million Americans cared for adults or children with a medical condition or disability in 2025. On average, these caregivers spend up to 27 hours per week providing care.

Apps emerge to manage complex care

Caregiver apps are aimed at families supporting seniors, children, or anyone with a diagnosis needing regular management. They help track medications, appointments, symptoms, and enable communication between caregivers and medical professionals.

Medisafe tracks medications and doses

Medisafe, created in 2013, tracks medications and sends reminders so users do not miss a dose. It notifies caregivers if a dose is missed and includes a drug interaction checker for multiple medications.

Caring Village adds AI assistant Julia

Caring Village, founded in 2015, offers an appointment calendar, to-do list, and wellness journal. The app includes an AI assistant called Julia that can answer caregiving questions and help create care plans.

Mejo consolidates medical history

In 2022, Bret Koncak cocreated Mejo, a web-based app that consolidates an individual's medical history into a one-page summary shareable with caregivers, doctors, and therapists.Premium costs six dollars a month or sixty dollars a year.

“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.”

Briggzy helps coordinate shared care

Brett Rowell is creating Briggzy so he and his wife can more easily hand off their son Briggs's care. Briggzy is in testing phase, 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.”

Citizen Health launched Ari AI assistant

Nasha Fitter launched Citizen Health in 2024 to collect and store medical records securely. Six months ago, the company launched Ari, an AI health teammate that lets caregivers track care and symptoms by texting.

Ari accesses records and prepares for appointments

Ari, currently in beta, can access medical records, patient portals, and Google Calendar events. It notices caregiver patterns, prepares patients for appointments by summarizing medical information, and helps navigate insurance and government benefits.

FDA has not reviewed most caregiver apps

According to I.Glenn Cohen, a bioethics and health law researcher at Harvard Law School, most caregiver apps are not medical devices.The FDA has not reviewed them, so their safety and efficacy remain a question mark.

“As such, the FDA has not reviewed them, so their safety and efficacy remain a question mark, or it's the company's word for it that you have to take.”

Privacy protections are limited

Health information entered into these apps is not protected by federal HIPAA statutes because it typically comes from individuals, not covered entities. Users can only rely on contractual promises, which often absolve companies of responsibility.

“If your privacy is important and you care about how the information is used, in some cases, all you can rely on is the contractual promises.”

Apps require constant maintenance

Denise M.Brown, CEO of the Caregiving Years Training Academy, says apps often fail because they are tedious to maintain.Caregivers must upload data while physicians, nurses, and therapists typically do not log in to provide updates.

“We have to upload data to the app (care plans, schedules, tasks), and that's a lot of work.”

Broader systemic solutions are needed

Nicole Howell, director of direct care workforce development at the National Council on Aging, says technology can open doors for better care integration.But solving the caregiver crisis requires government, private sector, and families working together.

“It has to be all hands at the wheel. It has to be government. It has to be private. It has to be family members speaking up.”