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Using Daily View

How to help an older parent feel confident about their day using Daily View

Daily View gives your parent a simple place to look when they want to know what day it is, what they’re doing today or what happens next. Here’s how to set it up so it becomes a useful part of everyday life.

By Phil Martin, founder of Daily View · 5 minute read

1. Start with the questions your parent asks

Before thinking about screens or settings, think about the questions you hear most often. For many families, they sound something like this:

These are completely reasonable things to want to know. Daily View simply gives them one consistent place to be answered — the same place, every time, whenever your parent wonders.

2. Put Daily View where it will be seen

The best screen isn’t necessarily the newest tablet. It’s the one in the right place.

Think about where your parent spends most of their day: the kitchen, beside their favourite chair in the living room, or by the bed. Daily View should be visible without them having to remember to open an app or go looking for a device. If they can see it while making a cup of tea or sitting down after lunch, it’s in a good spot.

Keep the tablet plugged in, propped up on a stand, and ideally somewhere without strong glare from a window. Setting up the Daily View screen walks you through connecting it.

3. Don’t recreate their entire diary

Start small. Add the events that give shape to the day — appointments, visitors, clubs, meals out or regular activities. For example:

Three useful pieces of information are often better than twelve minor ones. A short list is easier to take in at a glance, and it makes the things that matter stand out. Write titles the way your parent would say them — “Clare visiting” rather than “Visit from C. Jones”.

4. Make “what’s next?” easy to see

Your parent shouldn’t have to work out which event matters right now. Alongside the day, date and time, Daily View shows two things:

As the day goes on, NEXT moves along by itself. Once the last event has passed, it simply says “Nothing else planned today.” So the screen answers the next question as well as showing the day’s schedule — your parent can glance up and know what’s coming without reading the whole list.

5. Keep it updated for them

This is one of the most important differences from a traditional calendar: your parent doesn’t have to keep it up to date.

You add or change events from the dashboard on your own phone, tablet or computer, wherever you are. Daily View updates automatically, usually within about a minute, with nothing for your parent to do.

Some people like to feel involved, though. If your parent would enjoy noting down their own plans, you can let them add things in My calendar on the screen — and, if you like, check each addition before it appears. It’s entirely optional; How families manage Daily View remotely explains how.

If Mum’s hospital appointment moves from Tuesday to Thursday, you change it once — and the screen at her house shows the new plan. There’s no crossed-out wall calendar, and no out-of-date note on the fridge.

6. Tell them about important things before the day

Not everything needs advance notice, but some things do: a hospital visit, a family lunch, a birthday, a day trip or someone coming to stay.

For those events, choose Show a reminder on the screen beforehand when you add them. You can pick the day before, a few days before or a week before. When the time comes, the event appears on the screen under COMING UP, along with when it’s happening.

The principle is enough notice to reassure, but not so much that the screen becomes another busy calendar — or that a week’s notice turns into a week of worrying. Regular events, like a weekly lunch club, don’t need announcing in advance at all, and Daily View won’t unless you ask it to.

7. Let other family members help

Where it suits your family, share the job. One brother or sister might look after medical appointments, while another adds family visits. A visiting carer might add their own times.

From the People page you can invite others by email and choose what each person can do. However many people help, there’s still one clear version of the day for the person looking at the screen. How families manage Daily View remotely explains the options.

8. Watch how your parent actually uses it

After a week or two, don’t ask yourself whether you’ve set Daily View up “correctly”. Look at whether it’s answering the questions your parent has.

Make the screen fit the person, rather than expecting the person to adapt to the screen.

If your parent’s confusion increases suddenly, over hours or days rather than months, speak to their GP or call NHS 111.

9. Make it a familiar place to look

The ideal outcome isn’t that your parent “uses an app”. It’s that when they wonder what’s happening, Daily View is the obvious place to look.

You can help that habit form. In the first few weeks, look at it together: “Shall we see what’s on today?” When you’re on the phone, “Have a look at your screen — I’m coming on Thursday” points them back to it. Visiting carers can do the same.

A good Daily View is a simple Daily View

The temptation is to add more information because you can. Resist it.

Daily View works best when it quietly answers a handful of everyday questions: What day is it? What am I doing today? What’s happening next?

If your parent can glance at the screen and answer those questions for themselves, it’s doing its job.

See it for yourself

The demo shows exactly what your parent would see on their screen, including TODAY and NEXT.

Try the demo Already set up? Sign in.

Questions or thoughts on this guide? Email phil@dailyview.org.