Help

What Carol is

Carol is an iPhone app for an older parent. At times the family chooses, she says what the family wrote: “Have you fed the dog?”, “It’s Mia’s birthday today.”, “Have you had your morning tablets?”. Your parent presses one large green button, then family photos play. Each Sunday the family sees which days were answered.

Carol isn’t a real person. Her face is a painting and her voice is the iPhone’s own. It’s worth telling your parent that when you set her up.

Setting up

Setup takes about 15 minutes on a visit, and Carol walks you through it. It’s done on your parent’s own iPhone, with them beside you. Families who buy Carol are sent a step-by-step setup guide they can print or email to a brother or sister.

Open the setup guide

Your code and the family console

Lost your code? Search your email for “Carol Says: your code”, or write to [email protected] from the address you bought with and we’ll resend it.

The family console. Sign in at carolsays.com.au/giver with the email you used at setup.

Changing a reminder later

On your parent’s phone, open Carol, tap This week, then Family setup.

Why only on the phone? The family console shows exactly what’s set, but it can’t change it. That’s deliberate, for two reasons:

• Safety. If someone ever got into a family member’s email, they couldn’t put words in Carol’s mouth. To change what Carol says, you have to be holding your parent’s phone.
• Reliability. Reminders live on the phone and work without the internet. A change made from a distance that quietly failed to reach the phone would be the worst kind of fault.

If Carol can’t be heard

• The volume may be down. Press the volume-up button while Carol is on screen.
• Notifications may be off: Settings > Notifications > Carol.
• Carol shows a short note on her screen when she can tell something is in the way.

Deleting the family account

What it is. The family account is the part we hold on our server: the household, your email address, the family’s messages, and the record of which days were answered. It’s what makes the weekly email and the console work.

Why you might delete it. You no longer want the weekly email, your parent has asked you to stop, or you’d simply like us to hold nothing about your family.

What happens. Everything we hold about the household is removed, permanently, and the weekly email stops. Carol keeps working on the phone: her reminders and photos stay exactly as they are. Deleting the account doesn’t switch off anything on their phone.

How. On your parent’s phone: Carol > This week > Family setup > Delete the family account. Or email us and we’ll do it for you.

To stop just the weekly email, use the stop link at the bottom of any weekly email. To remove Carol completely, touch and hold her icon, tap Remove App, then Delete App.

Contact

[email protected]. A person reads every email.