A Big, Calm Clock That Tells Someone With Dementia What Day It Is

"What day is it?" can be asked many times an afternoon. Day Clock (Dementia Day Clock) answers it for you, in huge words, on an old tablet or phone that simply stays on.

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The problem

When memory fades, the day, the time of day and the date are often the first things to slip away. Waking up unsure whether it is morning or night can be frightening, and family and carers end up answering the same question again and again. Most digital clocks show tiny numbers and nothing else, and most reminder apps need an account, a subscription, and a setup that is too complicated for the person who actually has to look at the screen.

How Day Clock (Dementia Day Clock) works

• Put Day Clock on an old tablet or phone, plug it in and leave it where the person can see it.
• The screen says the day of the week, whether it is morning, midday, afternoon, evening or night, and the date, in very large words whose colours change through the day.
• Hold the top corner for 3 seconds to open settings. An optional 4-digit PIN stops settings from being opened by accident.
• Add a reminder such as "Take the blue pill with a glass of water" at 8:00, and a photo of someone they love with a name beside it.

What you get

• The day, said plainlyLarge words show the day of the week, the part of the day and the date. The time is optional, in 12-hour or 24-hour style, and the clock follows the device's own time zone.
• Reminders with a Done buttonA reminder appears on screen at the time you set, with a Done button. Free keeps up to 3 daily reminders. Pro has no limit and lets you pick the days or a single date.
• A photo and a nameShow a photo of a loved one with their name and who they are, for example "your daughter". Free shows 1 photo. Pro lets several photos take turns beside the clock.
• Calm and always onColours soften at night, and the clock works without internet. Day Clock asks the browser to keep the screen on; on some devices you also need to set the screen timeout to Never and keep it plugged in.
• Pro, for $1 oncePro adds reminders read aloud and repeated up to 3 times if not marked Done, a high-contrast face and tap-to-hear. Reading aloud uses voices already on the device.

Private by design

Reminders, photos and settings are kept only in this browser on this device. There is no account and nothing is sent to us or anyone else. Photos are re-encoded on the device, which removes location and camera data. Because there is no server, reminders cannot be set or checked from another phone, and clearing site data or losing the device without a backup file loses everything. You can back up to a file from settings.

Free vs Pro