One in seven adults are carers. They don’t always call themselves that – they just see themselves as looking after someone who needs their help. It could be an older friend or relative, a partner or a child with a disability.

Many young people are carers, too. They combine looking after a parent or relative with going to school or college.

Some carers live with the person they care for while others have their own home, in some cases many miles away.

Very often, the people they look after don’t need round the clock supervision. They can get around the house, maybe go to the shops or local cafes. This independence is incredibly valuable.

But carers worry about them all the time.

• What if they have an accident while I’m out shopping?
• Will they take their medicine at the right time?
• How can I remind them about the doctor’s appointment if I’m at work or school?

The Carers’ Resource, a charity based in Yorkshire, England, has developed App4Care for exactly this situation.

App4Care is a pair of smartphone apps – one for the carer and one for the person they look after. Seven easy-to-use functions help carers stay connected with the people they care for, providing reassurance and supporting independence.

App4Care will be available in most countries around the world. Versions are available for iOS and Android. It works across platform too – it’s no problem if one user has an iPhone and the other an Android device.

Why we need your support

App4Care has been fully developed and tested.

As a social enterprise purely funded by a charity, however, we made a classic mistake. We under-estimated the initial development costs, leaving us short of working capital to guarantee a successful launch.

We want to have customer support in place from day one.

We need to run the app on secure, stable servers. We need insurance, too.

We need capacity to maintain and extend App4Care’s functions.

And of course, we need to be able to tell people about App4Care.

All this costs money which we simply don’t have. That’s why we need your help.

If the funding goal is reached, we’ll be able to fund the all this for at least six months. Longer term, sales revenue will make App4Care self-supporting.

What your support will pay for

Pre-launch

• Pre-sales enquiriesHosting App4Care on secure, stable servers
• Insurance
• Support materials including web tutorials and a user guide
• Online and print materials
• Attending health and care events and exhibitions

After the launch

• Telling carers, charities and health and care professionals about the benefits of App4Care
• Customer care and technical support
• Marketing App4Care online and offline
• A maintenance contract with professional app developers
• Extending App4Care’s features.

Visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aptchoices/app4care-caring-for-your-loved-ones-from-a-distanc to understand how this works.