PicaPal - Practical memory support, built around dignity

Mum forgot the dog's name again today. Yours should not have to face that alone.

Practical memory support, built around dignity, privacy and independence.

PicaPal is a UK patent-pending wearable pendant design. It is not yet available to buy - this site exists to help move it from design to working prototype.

More than 57 million people worldwide are living with dementia, and many more are experiencing earlier cognitive change - the stage where practical, timely support can make a real difference. PicaPal is being built for that wider space: where everyday life starts to feel less reliable, but independence still matters deeply.

The stage PicaPal is being built for

Cognitive change does not always begin as a crisis. It can begin quietly: a familiar task feels harder, a small household problem becomes distressing, or the next step is suddenly difficult to find.

The person may still be independent, capable and very much themselves, but everyday life has started to feel less reliable.

That is the stage PicaPal is being designed for: calm, practical support before crisis, before formal care, and while independence still matters deeply.

This site is for people who recognise that missing stage and want to help bring PicaPal into existence - families, early supporters, potential patrons, strategic partners, introducers, and people with influence in ageing, dementia, care or health innovation.

If you are a potential patron, partner or introducer, you can jump straight to ways to get involved. If you would like to show your support for what we are doing, you can add your name to our supporter wall.

Why current support is not enough

Much of everyday technology assumes the user can initiate, remember, explain what they need, and manage the interaction themselves.

But those are exactly the things that can become less reliable when cognitive change begins.

Families are often left watching for small signs, repeating explanations, stepping in when they can, and worrying about the moments when they are not there.

PicaPal is being designed for that quiet gap.

What PicaPal is

PicaPal is a UK patent-pending wearable pendant design for people whose memory, confidence or daily continuity is becoming less reliable.

It is being designed to offer spoken support when useful: quiet prompts, calm reassurance and practical help in moments when someone may feel unsure.

It can respond when asked, and it is also being built to offer gentle proactive support when the situation suggests help may be needed.

The aim is not to take over, diagnose, monitor constantly, or replace human care. The aim is to support independence, dignity and confidence in everyday moments.

What PicaPal may help with

PicaPal is being designed for ordinary moments that can become difficult when memory, confidence or daily continuity starts to feel less reliable.

A memory nudge

Someone meant to do something - buy a birthday card, take the fish out of the freezer for supper, make a call, or check something later. PicaPal may offer a calm nudge when that intention might otherwise slip away.

Before leaving the house

Someone may be about to go out and benefit from a gentle prompt: keys, phone, glasses, shopping bag, or a simple reminder to check the door before leaving.

A familiar household problem

A small issue, such as the heating control, a familiar appliance or a routine task, suddenly feels confusing. PicaPal may help the person pause and find the next practical step.

Holding the thread of a task

Someone may start a simple task but lose track part-way through. PicaPal may offer steady, practical support to help them continue without making the moment feel bigger than it is.

Wondering how reminders could be shaped? See the FAQ.

Why I am building PicaPal

Enormous resources go into diagnosis, later-stage care, and the search for cures. Far fewer innovations support people in the earlier, quieter phase - the ordinary everyday moments when memory, confidence or daily continuity start to slip, while independence still matters deeply.

I am watching my mum's memory and reasoning become a little less reliable. Not dramatically, and not in a way most people would notice. Mum is still very independent, capable and very much herself. But there are moments when a small household problem can become genuinely distressing - not because the problem itself is serious, but because the next simple step is suddenly hard to find.

The changes I see are mild, and to most people they may simply look like ordinary ageing. But I know Mum, and I know the difference between getting older and something quietly shifting.

That is where PicaPal matters. It is being built for those moments: when someone is still living independently, still themselves, but needs calm, timely support to steady the situation and help them find the next step - whatever the underlying reason.

I would love to build PicaPal in time for it to help Mum, and that hope is part of what keeps me moving. But this is bigger than one family. Other people's parents and loved ones are facing moments like this now, and they deserve support that is calm, timely and dignified.

From design to first working prototype

PicaPal is not yet available to buy. It is at the stage where a carefully designed concept needs to become a working prototype.

I have designed the concept, defined the product direction, and filed a UK patent application - where the request for accelerated search and examination has now been accepted.

The next milestone is a first working prototype: something that can begin to test the questions that matter - whether PicaPal can offer calm, useful support in ordinary daily moments, whether people are comfortable wearing and using it, and whether the experience feels dignified, practical and trustworthy.

Funding and strategic support would carry PicaPal through development, prototyping, testing and user feedback - the work of turning a patent-pending design into something people can actually wear and use.

Later on this page, supporters can add a name to the PicaPal wall as a small public sign of belief. The wall is not intended to fund the whole build - serious funding, partnership and pilot conversations are being pursued separately. The wall does something simpler: it shows that real people believe this should exist.

For patrons, partners and introducers

PicaPal needs mission-aligned support to move from patent-pending design to first working prototype.

The most useful help at this stage would be one or more of the following: funding for prototype development, a strategic partner, a suitable pilot or evaluation route, senior technical input, care-sector insight, credible media interest, or an introduction to someone able to help make the first working version possible.

Early support would do more than fund a prototype. It could help shape this kind of technology in the right direction from the start - around dignity, privacy, independence and trusted relationships, rather than surveillance, dependency or artificial companionship.

Detailed commercial planning is being developed alongside the build path, and is deliberately not set out on this public page. Where there is a serious basis for discussion, further detail can be shared in stages, under appropriate confidentiality where needed.

If that might be you, or if you know someone relevant, please contact Graham at graham@picapal.co.uk.

The name

PicaPal comes from Pica - the genus that includes the magpie, a member of the Corvidae family, birds long associated with intelligence, recognition and the home nest. Pal speaks to the idea of friendly, practical support - something familiar and close at hand when help is useful. PicaPal is meant to feel simple and dependable, without ever pretending to replace the people who matter.

How PicaPal says thank you

To help fund development, I wanted to offer something back: a personal, visible and gently playful thank-you that might raise a smile without losing sight of why PicaPal exists.

That is where Albert and Tilly come in.

Albert and Tilly at the supporter wall.

See the wall

Albert is a stonemason. Tilly is his dog. My mum has always loved dogs, so Tilly is a small personal nod to the person who inspired PicaPal. The wall is digital. The stone is virtual. The sentiment is real.

Every supporter receives a personalised AI-generated image or video of their chosen display name being carved into Albert's wall.

The wall has a second purpose too. Each name is a small public sign of belief that practical cognitive support should be built around dignity, privacy and independence.

As the wall grows, it becomes more than a thank-you. It becomes visible evidence that this matters to real people - not just to one family, and not just in theory.

To be clear, the wall is not intended to fund the whole build. Moving from design to prototype requires separate, serious funding, partnership and pilot conversations. The wall does something simpler: it is a visible guestbook of belief - a way of saying "this should exist", and a signal to serious supporters that real people already think so.

Albert and Tilly are the playful thank-you. The reason behind PicaPal is serious.

Add your name. Help build PicaPal.

Contribute from £1 and receive a personalised image or video from Albert and Tilly as a thank-you.

Adding a name is not an investment - it is a signature. Every name on the wall helps strengthen the case for the serious build-stage support PicaPal now needs.

1. Choose the wall name you want shown publicly. It does not have to be your real name.

2. Choose your contribution tier and amount.

3. Click "Ask Albert to carve my name".

Choose your wall name - This will appear publicly on the PicaPal supporter wall. It can be your first name, initials, a nickname, a family message, "A well-wisher", or any short display name you are happy to show. Max 25 characters

Choose your contribution

How much would you like to contribute?

Or enter your own: £

I have read and agree to the Terms of Contribution and Privacy Notice

By proceeding you agree that your personalised image or video will be generated and made available immediately. If generation fails, no contribution will be taken.

You are only charged if your personalised image or video is successfully created. A temporary card authorisation may appear during generation. If generation fails, the authorisation will be cancelled and no contribution will be taken.

Albert and Tilly are AI-generated characters. Your image or video is created automatically using the wall name you provide.

About Graham

I have spent over 25 years as a business analyst, project lead and consultant - working across healthcare, FMCG and large-scale business change environments in the UK, Europe and the US.

Much of that time was spent inside the NHS ecosystem. I led compliance, clinical safety and systems delivery work across multiple NHS-connected projects - including work that received congratulations from HSCIC release management as one of their most successfully run projects. I understand how healthcare technology is built, governed, and deployed. I have also seen how easily well-intentioned technology can fail when it is not designed around the real capabilities, anxieties and needs of the people expected to use it. That is a significant part of what PicaPal is designed to address.

PicaPal is deliberately designed to be privacy-conscious, dignity-preserving practical support - not a chatbot, a surveillance-style system, a diagnostic tool, or a substitute for human care.

PicaPal is the most personal thing I have ever worked on - and the most important.

Graham Preater · Founder, PicaPal · graham@picapal.co.uk