Kinship GuardA family caregiver app: what it does, who needs one, and what ours does not do
A family caregiver app is a private, shared place where everyone helping one older relative can see the same list: what is due today, who is doing it, which medication doses have been confirmed, when the next appointment is, and what happened since they last looked. You need one when more than two people share the care and the group chat has started losing things. You do not need one when a single carer and a calendar are coping, or when what you need is helpers for meals and lifts rather than a shared record. Kinship Guard, made by the people behind this site, is one such app; the comparison below puts it next to two free alternatives, with prices and features read on 27 October 2026, and the last section lists what it does not do.
The five jobs a family caregiver app does
Strip the marketing away and every app in this category is trying to do some of five things. Use the list to work out which ones your family is actually missing.
| Job | What it replaces | The question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Tasks with a named owner | "Can someone call the pharmacy?" in the group chat | Who is doing this, and is it done? |
| A shared calendar | Screenshots of appointment letters | When is the next appointment, and who is taking her? |
| Medication doses confirmed | A tick chart on the fridge | Did Dad get his 8 am tablets, and who gave them? |
| A care journal | Memory, and the sibling who was there | What changed this week? |
| Documents and emergency information | A folder in one person's house | Where is the enduring power of attorney, and what is the GP's number? |
Group chats do none of the five well, which is why families drift from chat to spreadsheet to app; the comparison is in group chat, spreadsheet or care app.
A rule for whether you need one
Work through these in order and stop at the first that applies.
- One person does nearly all the care and is coping. You do not need an app. A paper list and a calendar on the wall are enough; come back if a second carer joins.
- What you need is people to bring meals, drive to appointments or sit with your parent. You need a helper roster, not a care record. Lotsa Helping Hands (free, see below) is built for exactly that.
- Two or three of you share the care, in the same city, and medications are simple. A free tier of a care app, or a shared calendar plus the printable caregiver task list, will do.
- Medication doses must be given by different people and you need to know who gave which. You need dose confirmation that records a person and a time, not a checkbox. That is a care app job, and it is the feature to test first.
- Siblings are in different cities or time zones, and documents or appointments are being lost. A care app with a shared calendar, a document vault and one circle everyone can see. This is the case Kinship Guard was built for.
How to set a care circle up in an afternoon
Whichever app you choose, do the setup in this order so it is useful on day one.
- One person creates the circle and becomes its administrator. Usually the sibling doing most of the care today.
- Enter the facts before inviting anyone: the medication list with doses and times (the medications guide has a template), the next three appointments, the GP and pharmacy numbers.
- Add this week's tasks and give each one a single named owner. "We" is not an owner.
- Invite the family, and give each person the access they need. A grandchild who visits on Sundays does not need the financial documents.
- Agree one rule: if it is not in the app, it has not been arranged.
- Write the first journal entry that evening. Two lines is enough.
Your parent is part of this. Wherever they can, show them the app, tell them who can see what, and ask what they want kept private. A care circle is set up with the person, not around them. See what is a care circle for roles and consent.
Kinship Guard beside two free alternatives
The two other products here are real, were checked on their own websites on 27 October 2026, and are the right choice for some families. Prices are as each site shows them; Caring Village's pricing page gives dollar figures without naming the currency, so check at checkout.
| Kinship Guard | Caring Village | Lotsa Helping Hands | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | A$12.99 a month or A$89.99 a year on the Australian App Store, read on 27 October 2026; one subscription covers the whole circle; eligible new subscribers get a 14-day trial. Google Play shows its own prices before purchase. | Free: 1 "village", 2 members. Circle: $14.99 a month, 2 villages of 5 members. Village: $24.99 a month, 5 villages of 50. Annual billing saves 17%. | Free |
| Tasks with a named owner | Yes, with completion visible to the circle | To-do lists; care plans with daily and weekly schedules | A help calendar people sign up to: meals, rides, visits |
| Shared calendar | Yes; each appointment stores a date, time, time zone and a responsible person | Shared calendar; printable calendar on paid plans; external calendar integration | The help calendar |
| Medication doses | Daily schedules; confirming a dose records who confirmed it and when, and one confirmation cannot silently overwrite another's | Not listed on the pricing page | Not listed |
| Care journal | Yes, shared | Wellness journal export | Announcements and well-wishes |
| Documents | Yes; medical, legal and financial, with member access set by the circle administrator | Document folders; more storage on paid plans | Not listed; photo gallery |
| Members and access | Invitation-only; administrator sets what each member can do | By plan: 2, 5 or 50 per village | Open to whoever the organiser invites |
| Offline | Task completions and dose confirmations queue on the phone and sync later; the full record is not available offline | Not stated | Not stated |
| Platforms | iOS (15.1 or later) and Android | iOS and Android; web sign-in | iOS, Android and web |
Read across the rows that matter to your family, not down the columns. If the help-roster row is the one you need, Lotsa is free and better at it than we are. If two of you need a calendar and a to-do list, Caring Village's free plan covers it. If the medication and documents rows are the problem, compare the two paid options on those rows alone.
What Kinship Guard does not do
The list we would want from any app before paying for it.
- It is not a medical device and gives no medical advice. It records that a dose was confirmed; it does not check doses, interactions or whether a medication is right. Those questions go to the pharmacist or GP, as the medications guide says.
- It is not an emergency service. The emergency information screen holds the numbers; you still make the call.
- It does not connect to pharmacies, GP systems, My Health Record or any clinic software. Everything in it is typed in by the family.
- It does not split costs or track money. Families who need that keep a spreadsheet alongside it.
- Offline access is partial. You can complete tasks and confirm doses without a connection and they sync later; you cannot read the whole record or the document vault offline.
- Notifications are deliberately empty. Dose reminders and circle alerts are off until you turn them on, and when on they never include a name, a medication or any care detail, so a lock-screen does not leak your parent's health.
- Deleting your account does not delete the circle's record. Entries you made stay visible to the other members with your name removed, because the record belongs to the circle, not to one person. Personal information typed inside shared notes or files is not automatically removed.
Everything in that list is from the app's own store description and its privacy policy, which you can read before installing.
Questions families ask before installing
Does everyone in the family have to pay?
No. One subscription covers a care circle, and the people invited join at no extra cost. The payer is usually the administrator.
What happens to the 14-day trial if we do not continue?
The App Store or Google Play shows the trial terms and the renewal price before you confirm, and the subscription is cancelled there, not in the app. If you cancel before the trial ends you are not charged.
Share the work with your care circle
Kinship Guard is the app this page describes: one private care circle, tasks with a named owner, a shared calendar, dose confirmations, a journal and a document vault, on iOS and Android.
Free to download · iPhone, iPad and Android
This guide is general information. It is not medical, legal or financial advice. Rules and services differ by country and state, so check with a qualified professional about your situation.
Related guides
- Group chat, spreadsheet or care app: how should a family share care?Compare group chats, shared spreadsheets and dedicated care apps for coordinating an aging parent's care, with the strengths and weaknesses of each.
- What is a care circle, and how does a family set one up?A care circle is the group of family and friends who share the care of one person. Learn who belongs, what roles to give people and how to keep it working.
- How to keep track of an aging parent's medications as a familyPractical ways for families to keep track of an elderly parent's medications: one up-to-date list, a clear schedule, dose confirmation and who to ask.