The Family Guide

Memory Lane is a private memory bank for someone you love who is living with memory loss. You and your family add memories, stories, photos, the people and places that mattered, and your loved one can ask about their own life and hear those stories read back to them, in a simple screen made just for them.

What it is not: it is not a medical device, it does not diagnose or treat anything, and it never makes up stories. Everything your loved one hears comes from memories your family put in.

Getting started, about 5 minutes

1. Open the link in your invitation email and set up your family account. Memory Lane is invitation only while we are in this phase, so the link is what lets you in.
2. Tell us who we’re remembering for, their name and a little about them.
3. Add your first memory. One good story is enough to start: what happened, roughly when, who was there. A photo helps but isn’t required.
4. Invite one family member. They get an email with a private link. Each invitation works only for the email address it was sent to.

Adding memories

• Don’t worry about writing well. Choose “Help me tell this story” and a friendly assistant will ask you two or three questions, then put your answers together into a draft. It only uses what you said, it never adds details you didn’t share.
• Approximate dates are fine. “Summer, sometime in the 70s” is a perfectly good answer.
• Good memories to start with: holidays, weddings, a first car, the local shop, songs, Sunday routines, friends’ names. Small everyday things often land the deepest.

What your loved one sees: their own screen

Their screen is a calm, full-screen view that opens straight into their photographs, already playing as a slow slideshow. A tap on any one of them reads that memory back in a warm voice. Underneath sit up to four large buttons, and you choose which of them appear.

• When a search does not find a match, they can choose another familiar story. There are no quizzes or answers to get right.
• Story playback uses approved family memories. The optional companion generates live replies from family context; those replies are not reviewed word for word and can contain mistakes. You can leave it off and enjoy stories together.
• To come back to your dashboard, tap the top-left corner of the screen three times.

You are always in charge: reviewing family contributions

When a family member adds a memory, it does not go straight to your loved one. It comes to you first:

• You’ll see it on your dashboard under “Awaiting your review.”
• Memory Lane reads each one and gives you a gentle heads-up if a story might be upsetting, for example if it mentions a loss. This is advice only.
• You decide, approve it or not. Nothing reaches your loved one without your yes.

About the AI pictures

Some memories have no photograph, that’s normal for stories from decades ago. Memory Lane can paint a soft, watercolor-style picture to go with the story.

• These pictures are always labeled “AI illustration” so no one mistakes them for real photographs.
• They are deliberately painterly, never realistic faces of real people.
• If you don’t like one, you can generate a new one or leave the memory without a picture.

Your privacy: what we store and who can see it

What we store

• The memories your family writes: stories, dates, names of people and places mentioned.
• Photos you choose to upload, and any AI illustrations you create.
• Your loved one’s first name, year of birth, and the profile details you enter.
• Simple usage notes, which memories were listened to and when, so you can see which stories resonate.

Who can see it

• Only your family circle. You, and the people you personally invited. Each invitation is locked to one email address.
• Photos are kept in private storage. The app uses temporary links to show them to family members with access. Treat those links as private, too.
• Other pilot families cannot see your memories, and you cannot see theirs.
• The pilot team uses service records to run and support Memory Lane. Optional usage analytics need your permission and exclude story text, photos and recordings. See the privacy policy for details and your choices.

How we protect trust

• We never sell your data or use it for advertising.
• AI illustrations are labelled. Check AI-assisted text before sharing it: a model can make mistakes, and family knowledge comes first.
• Story playback uses approved memories. Optional live companion replies are generated in the moment and are not reviewed word for word by the family.

A note for the pilot: Memory Lane is not yet a certified medical-records system. Please don’t enter medical details (diagnoses, medications, doctors’ notes), it’s a memory bank, not a health record.

How to delete your data

It’s your data, always:

• Delete one memory: open it from your dashboard and choose delete. Its photos and illustrations go with it.
• Remove a family member: remove them from Family Circle, their access ends immediately.
• Delete everything: email the pilot team (contact below) and we will permanently delete the whole account, profile, memories, photos, invitations, and usage history, within a few weeks of your request, and confirm when done.

Leaving the pilot is always okay, no questions asked.

Gentle ways to get started

• Aim for 8 to 12 memories in the first week, that’s when their screen starts to feel rich.
• Invite the family storyteller. Every family has one.
• Sit with your loved one for the first session; after that, many can use it on their own.
• Check Insights after a week to see which memories resonate, then add more like those.