Samsung has just released an app that has been proven to slow down some of the effects of Alzheimer’s, by reminding the patient of their relationships with their family members.
The app, called ‘Backup Memory,’ utilizes Bluetooth in order to detect when a family member of an Alzheimer’s patient is nearby. It then sends a push notification to their smartphone that brings up a slideshow reel of various key events in their relationship, with family members able to upload photographs of themselves in order to illustrate these events.
The app needs to be downloaded onto the smartphones of both the patient and the family of the patient, and while it currently uses Bluetooth, Samsung plans to eventually fit it with GPS location functionality. Samsung Electronics Tunisia’s Azer Jaafoura, who worked upon the conceptualization and development of Backup Memory, said of the app: “We wanted to make life easier for Alzheimer’s patients as well as their caretakers, but we were initially unsure of how to go about doing this.
“While Alzheimer’s may be incurable, recent studies have shown that mental stimulation in the form of regular reminders of past events could potentially slow down the progression of the disease. This is where we saw an opportunity.”
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The app has already proven to slow down the effects of Alzheimer’s in test runs, and there are more improvements set to be added further down the line.
Backup Memory can be downloaded through the Google Play store right here. Watch the commercial for the app highlighting its features below:
