Frequently asked questions
Short, plain answers to the things caregivers ask most. Each one links to a page where you can read more.
About CareHaven
What is CareHaven? CareHaven is a private iPhone app for families caring for someone with complex needs — autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, dementia, and more. Caring for someone is a second job nobody sees. Every dose, every appointment, every detail lives in your head. CareHaven helps carry that load. Jot things down as they happen. Then send a summary to a sitter, a doctor, or a co-caregiver. There's no account to make, and we never sell your family's care information. The free iPhone open beta is coming soon. Coming soon See What is CareHaven? and Who CareHaven is for.
Is CareHaven just a fancy calendar? No. A calendar holds the plan. CareHaven also logs what happened: meals, meltdowns, seizures, rough nights. You can set dose reminders. When the sitter comes, it builds a handoff from your records, with appointments, medications, and emergency contacts. Before a doctor visit, it makes a Care Report PDF you can share. A calendar tells you when. CareHaven helps you carry the rest. Available See Daily tracking, the Create a handoff for a sitter, Generate a Care Report (PDF), and Set medication reminders walkthroughs.
Privacy
Is my data private? Yes. Everything you log — daily notes, the diary, photos, medications, the seizure log, milestones, emergency info — lives on your device and, if you turn on sync, you choose which caregivers to invite and which sections to share. Today, we don't have access to the care log stored on your device or in your private iCloud. No trackers in the app, and we never sell your family's care information. Available More in Privacy comes first.
Does anything get sent off my phone? Some things, and mostly by your choice. If you turn on sync, your care log goes to your own iCloud, and the parts you share go to caregivers you invite. If you turn on Apple Calendar sync, your appointments can also sync to iCloud, Google, or Outlook, with as much detail as you choose. A few features send a small piece when you use them, like a medicine name for a lookup or a feedback note. If you allow location, your location goes to Apple so the app can learn your country and, in the US, your state. The app also downloads help and safety updates, which send none of your care log. CareHaven works on its own with no internet at all. Smart help is private by design: obvious identifying details — like the name of the person you care for — are stripped on a best-effort basis before any request leaves your device. Available See Privacy & security (in depth), and the privacy page for more detail.
Can I lock the app? Yes. You can set a PIN, unlock with Face ID, and have the app lock itself after a quiet stretch — set it up at menu icon (top left) → Settings → Privacy & Lock → Set Up Unlock PIN. The most sensitive plans, like a crisis plan or a Letter of Intent, are also kept out of your phone's system-wide search. Available See Privacy & security (in depth).
Getting started
Do I need an account? No. There is no sign-up, no password to create, and no email to hand over. You open the app and begin. Available See Setting up for the first time.
How much do I have to fill in to start? Only a name. Setup is one calm screen at a time, and the birthday, sex, and diagnoses are all skippable. Anything you skip waits for you on a Home card so you can finish later. Available See Setting up for the first time.
Can I look around before I add my own person? Yes. You can load a sample profile to see what a fully set-up family looks like, with months of activity already filled in (the most recent two weeks are the richest). It's added alongside your own — your real Persons and entries are never edited or deleted, and you can remove the demo any time. Contacts are the one exception; see Exploring with demo data for how that works. Available
Is there a walkthrough? Yes. A self-teaching tour points out the + button, the menus, and search the first time each one matters, and ends back on Home. You can replay the whole walkthrough any time at menu icon (top left) -> Settings -> About & Help -> Walkthrough. Replaying never changes your saved data. Available See Setting up for the first time.
Devices
What devices do I need? An iPhone or iPad running iOS 17 or later. There is also an optional Apple Watch app for quick logging from your wrist. Available See What you need to run CareHaven.
Does it work offline? Yes, fully. The core app needs no internet connection. A few smart helpers need to be online the first time, but things like growth percentiles are figured out right on your device, and the provider lookups and plain-language explainers are saved for offline use after the first time you open them. Available See What you need to run CareHaven.
Is there an Apple Watch app? Yes. The Watch app lets you quick-log a moment, dictate a note, and glance at the day. The full app on your iPhone does everything; the Watch is there for when your hands are full. Available See Across your Apple devices and the Using the Apple Watch app walkthrough.
Can I use it hands-free in the car? Yes. With CarPlay, you can log a moment and ask CareHaven things by voice through Siri while you drive. Available See Across your Apple devices.
Features
Which conditions does it support? CareHaven is built for families caring for someone with complex needs, including autism, ADHD, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, feeding challenges, and more. The app quietly reshapes itself to fit the conditions you add and hides the tools meant for someone else's situation. Available See Support tailored to a diagnosis.
Does CareHaven diagnose anything? No. CareHaven is not a doctor and does not diagnose. It helps you notice patterns, keep good records, and build something a clinician can read. Smart helpers like the vital explainer are written to never diagnose and to point you toward emergency help when it matters. Available See Medical.
Is the seizure timer real? Yes. The seizure log has a built-in stopwatch with a gentle five-minute consider-911 warning, and it shows up on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island so you can stay with your child while it runs. Open it at Main Menu -> Medical -> Seizures, then tap the stopwatch. Available See the Log a seizure with the timer walkthrough.
Can it help in a hard moment? Yes. The Calm Tools include guided breathing and grounding cards for you, and the In-the-Moment Coach offers calm say, skip, and why cards for situations like meltdowns or a panic attack — both at Main Menu -> Caregiver. Available See Caregiver tools (for you).
Can I keep notes for more than one person? Yes. CareHaven holds up to 12 people, each with their own profile, logs, and settings. You switch between them by tapping the name pill (top center of the screen). Available See Finding your way around.
Sharing
Can two people share care? Yes. You can invite a co-caregiver to edit a specific person's profile, and their changes sync to you. When two edits clash, the most recent one wins. Invite them at Main Menu -> Team -> Shared with -> Invite someone. Available See Sharing care with others (sync) and the Invite a co-caregiver walkthrough.
How do I hand off to a sitter? You build a handoff packet that lays out today's plan, cues, emergency info, medications, and what's coming up. The app can add a short friendly note on top and even translate it. Available See the Create a handoff for a sitter walkthrough.
Can I share something with a doctor or a school? Yes. You can generate a Care Report PDF with the sections you choose at Main Menu -> Caregiver -> Reflect (Recap + Wins) -> Care report PDF, and visit briefs pull your logged data into a doctor-ready summary you can read aloud or share. Available See Sharing & reports.
Cost & availability
How do I get CareHaven? Not yet. The free iPhone open beta is coming soon. Join the beta list and we'll email you when the open beta starts. Coming soon The public App Store release is on the way. Coming soon See Getting CareHaven (TestFlight & App Store).
What does it cost? The iPhone open beta will be free, and every feature will be unlocked for testers. The open beta is coming soon. Coming soon See Getting CareHaven (TestFlight & App Store).
How do I report a problem or send feedback? Tap Send Feedback in Settings → About & Help → Send Feedback (it needs iCloud signed in). If it shows an error, email feedback@carehaven.org instead. You can also use TestFlight. See Giving feedback.
My question isn't here. Try the Full feature catalog for what the app can do, Troubleshooting if something isn't working, or the Glossary for any unfamiliar terms.