When several family members help an aging parent with medication, the hardest bug isn't a crash. It's a record that says something that isn't true. "Missed" when nobody actually checked. "Given" when someone only meant to give it. Two siblings both logging the same dose.
We built DoseBeacon around one principle: the history should only ever say what someone actually reported. Here's how that shaped the design.
Four honest buttons for the person taking the medicine
Senior Mode shows one large, high-contrast card at a time with four choices: LOG AS TAKEN, LATER, NOT SURE and I NEED HELP. "Not sure" is a first-class answer, not an error state. Read-aloud, Dynamic Type and VoiceOver are supported, reminders are scheduled on the device so they work offline, and Senior Mode never shows ads or purchase screens.
"Not confirmed yet" instead of "missed"
A dose nobody has reported is shown as Not confirmed yet, never "missed". Absence of data is not evidence of a missed dose, and a scary word on a parent's screen helps nobody.
A claim is not a dose
Tapping "I'm handling this" tells the rest of the care circle who is on it. That claim is never displayed as a dose given. Only a report is a report.
Conflicts get flagged, not overwritten
If two people report the same dose, it's marked Needs review rather than last-write-wins. Every report keeps who made it, on which device and when. Corrections append to the history; nothing is silently erased.
Care circle permissions
A circle code only sends a join request. The parent's manager approves it, picks a role (manager, dose-logging helper or read-only family) and can revoke any device. Every screen shows when it last updated, so nobody mistakes stale data for current data.
Setup that rewards honesty
"Beacon Quests" light up a lighthouse as you get organized: add medications, choose a helper, review the emergency card. Quests reward honest records, including "Not sure" and asking for help. No streaks, nothing to lose, and never a nudge to take more medication.
Also included: pharmacy-label scanning with on-device text recognition (every field is checked by you before a reminder turns on), refill estimates, 7/30/90-day PDF reports for doctor visits and a printable emergency medication card.
DoseBeacon: Pill Reminder on the iPhone App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dosebeacon-pill-reminder/id6796910918
If you've built shared-state apps for families: how do you handle two people editing the same real-world event?
