Sit down with your parent, and set it up together.

What your parent gets: Shaterian

• They tap once and talk. What they say is written down and kept on their own iPhone, with no account to create.
• Each day, Smith asks one question about their life, such as where they grew up or the music they loved when they were young. They answer just by talking.
• Reminders and routines for their pills and their day, with a Taken button on pill reminders.
• Later, they can ask about their own life in their own words.

What you get: Shaterian Caregiver

• You see the routines and reminders they choose to share, when they press Taken, and only the memories they pick.
• You can suggest a reminder or routine. It starts on their iPhone once they say yes.
• They can stop sharing, or take you out of their circle, at any time. It goes through their own iCloud, never through a server of ours.

How to do it at the table

1. Sign up below and choose “My parent or relative”. We email you two links: a free month of Shaterian for their iPhone, and a free month of Shaterian Caregiver for yours.
2. On their iPhone, open the first link. Shaterian downloads and their free month starts. Let them tell it a first story.
3. On your iPhone, open the second link. Your free month starts, and Shaterian Caregiver downloads.
4. In Shaterian, they go to Settings (the last button at the bottom of the screen), then Your circle, then Invite someone, and send you the link. Or they ask Smith to invite you. Tap the link on your iPhone.
5. Then, in Your circle, under What they see, they switch on Routines and reminders, and Memories you choose. Nothing is shared until they say yes to each.

Both iPhones need iOS 18 or later and to be signed in to iCloud.

Three questions to start with

• What was Thanksgiving like when you were a child?
• Who taught you to cook, and what did they make best?
• Is there a family recipe that was never written down?

More: Questions to ask your parent at the Thanksgiving table.