Frequently Asked Questions

Kedara builds software that makes caring for aging parents simpler. It is built for family caregivers, most often adult children who coordinate a parent's care while working and raising their own families. We offer two products. Kedara Guide is a free, anonymous AI assistant for finding local aging care resources. It searches a curated knowledge base of city, county, state, federal and private services across the nine SF Bay Area counties. You ask in your own words and get specific local answers. No account is needed. Kedara Guide is available now. Kedara App is a full care coordination hub for the whole family. It keeps medications, appointments, vitals, tasks, documents and care circle updates in one place, so everyone who helps with care stays up to date, including hired care workers. A built-in 24/7 assistant supports you and your family. Kedara App is available now by invitation through our Founding Families Program. We are onboarding 100 families so we can support each one closely as we grow. Founding families use the app free for three months. Apply to join the Founding Families Program. Both products are in English today. Voice and support for more languages are on our roadmap.

Kedara Guide helps you find what exists near you and whether your parent is likely to qualify. It is free and covers the nine Bay Area counties. There is no account and no app to install. It works in any phone or computer browser. Ask in your own words, such as "my mother needs someone a few hours a day in Fremont" or "what does the county offer for respite." Guide answers with named local programs, agencies and senior services, and what we know about their eligibility, cost and languages served. Guide does not ask who you are and is not designed to collect health information about you or your parent. Kedara App helps your family keep care coordinated week to week. It is where your family's care circle lives: a shared timeline, tasks, appointments, vitals, and documents such as power of attorney and insurance cards. Its AI assistant draws on your family's information and on local resources. Kedara App is available now to families in our Founding Families Program.

Kedara brings together words from multiple cultures. It began as a blend of the English word "care" with "dhara," from the Sanskrit and Hindi word "aadhar" (आधार), meaning foundation and support. The name also carries meaning in other languages: a fertile cultivated field in Sanskrit, strong and powerful in Arabic, a place of growth and spiritual significance in Hindi and Nepali tradition, to remain in place in Spanish, and to be calm in Portuguese. Across cultures and continents, the name points to the same things: care, support and cultivation. That felt right for a company built to help families from every background.

No. We do not provide caregivers or medical staff. We provide the software infrastructure that helps family members and professional caregivers work together more effectively.

No. Kedara builds software that simplifies aging care for families. Kedara Guide helps you find local aging care resources, and Kedara App helps your family coordinate care. Neither one gives medical diagnosis or treatment. For questions about your parent’s health, please talk to their doctor, primary care physician or specialist.

Kedara Guide has been fully live since August 2026. It is free for all families across the nine SF Bay Area counties. We keep improving it based on the questions families ask and the feedback they send. Kedara App is in early access. A small group of invited families is using it through our Founding Families Program, and their feedback shapes what we build next. We are onboarding families slowly so we can support each one closely. Apply to join the Founding Families Program.

Kedara was built by a team with deep roots in AI and a personal connection to aging care. Our resource database is curated by a multidisciplinary team. We are not affiliated with any care provider or insurance company, so we have no financial incentive to steer you toward any particular service. Our only goal is to help you find the right resources and build support for your family.

Kedara Guide uses AI to understand your question in your own words and to search our curated knowledge base of Bay Area aging care resources. Kedara App uses AI in its built-in assistant, which draws on your family's care information and on local resources. We also use AI to organize large public datasets of health and service providers. We test our AI against a set of evaluation questions before each update, and we will share more as our products grow.

Kedara Guide and Kedara App are in English today. We are building a multilingual voice interface over the next three to six months. Kedara Guide can already help in one way. It knows which languages each provider or program serves, so an English-speaking adult child can find a Cantonese-speaking home care agency for their mother today. If you or your parent need help in another language now, call 211. It offers free interpreters in more than 150 languages. This matters to us. Kedara began with our founder's family caregiving across continents, with family members who speak languages other than English.

Most families use Kedara Guide on behalf of a parent or relative, so your parent does not need a device of their own unless they would also like to search and find answers on their own. Kedara Guide needs no app and no account, and it works in the browser on any phone or computer. For people with no device at all, we will explore partnerships with local community nonprofits, as well as text messaging and a voice assistant over a regular phone line.

No. Kedara does not sell your information or share it with care providers, insurers, government agencies or advertisers. You may choose to receive updates about new features and partner programs that can help you manage care and respite. Kedara Guide needs no login, and you do not need to share who you are. In Kedara App, your family and the people you invite see your information. That can include care workers you hire. Kedara does not share it outside your care circle, except with service providers that help us run Kedara, as described in our Privacy Policy. We are building more consent steps for when you want to invite other providers from your network.

Kedara is a consumer service that families use directly. We do not receive information from health systems, and we do not send information to healthcare providers, insurers or payers, so we are not a HIPAA covered entity. Our Privacy Policy treats health information as sensitive personal information under California law. Kedara Guide is not designed to collect health information about an identified person. In Kedara App, we protect your family’s information this way: • Information is encrypted in transit and at rest, and access controls limit which Kedara staff can see it. • Information in a care group is visible only to members of that group. • We do not use your content to train AI models. • If you delete your account, deletion is permanent after a 7-day grace period. Backup copies are deleted within 30 days. Care records you added to a shared care group may remain available to that group. For details, see our App Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Account Deletion Policy.

Kedara Guide has no account tracking and does not know who you are. If you ask Kedara Guide to email the conversation to you, that is the only time you consent to receive email from Kedara. A newsletter opt-in appears next to it and is unchecked by default. On Kedara App, we are building consent steps for family caregivers. A caregiver will be able to add a power of attorney, or similar approval from the person they care for, before bringing that person's information into the app or sharing it with family members or outside care providers.

Kedara Guide conversations are not linked to you. We look at the kinds of questions people ask, such as which services families look for and where, and which ones we don't answer well yet. This helps us improve coverage and answer quality. We do not use data from Kedara App or its caregiving conversations to train AI models.

We are currently exploring referral and product partnerships. If you represent an organization interested in improving the caregiver experience or delivering home healthcare, please contact us at [email protected].

We welcome conversations with investors aligned with our mission. Please reach out through the Contact Us page or email [email protected].

We'd love to hear from you. Please send any questions to [email protected] and a member of our team will reply within 48 hours.

Kedara Guide is a free chat assistant that helps family caregivers find local aging care resources fast. You type a question, like "How do I get in-home support services for my mom?" or "What memory care options are near me?", and Kedara Guide gives you a grounded, specific answer with real phone numbers and resource names. No account needed.

Yes, completely free. There is no subscription, no sign-up and no hidden fees. Kedara Guide is free for all families. We currently support San Francisco Bay Area residents only.

No. There is no account, login or password. You open the Kedara Guide chatbot and start interacting. Your conversation is anonymous, and we do not know who you are unless you choose to share your email. If you want updates when we add new features or counties, you can sign up for updates. It is optional, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Not at all. Most people who use Kedara Guide are in your situation, figuring this out for the first time, often under stress. You do not need to know any medical or government terms. Describe your situation in your own words, the way you'd explain it to a friend. Kedara Guide will ask follow-up questions if it needs more information.

Anything about aging care in the San Francisco Bay Area. For example: • "How do I apply for IHSS for my dad in Alameda County?" • "What is a PACE program and is my mom eligible?" • "My parent was just diagnosed with Alzheimer's. What are my next steps?" • "Can a family member get paid to be a caregiver?" • "What housing options are there for a senior who can't live alone?" If Kedara Guide can't answer, it will tell you and point you to a service agency or provider who can.

No. Each Kedara Guide conversation starts fresh. Guide does not use details from your earlier conversations. If you come back, start with a short summary of your situation, such as “My 82-year-old mother with Parkinson’s lives in Alameda County.” That gives Guide the context it needs quickly. If you want an assistant that knows your family’s situation over time, use Kedara App. It keeps your family’s care information in one place, so its AI assistant can draw on it in every conversation.

Your conversation is private and anonymous. Kedara does not sell your data. Kedara Guide does not ask who you are, and conversations are not linked to you. We keep logs and traces of the conversations to improve Guide’s accuracy, so please avoid sharing names or other personal details in your messages. See our full privacy policy at https://kedara.care/privacy.

Yes. Kedara Guide can help you find government programs for seniors in your county, such as IHSS, Medi-Cal, Medicare, PACE and SSI. It gives you a short description of each program and the agency to contact. Only the program or your county agency can confirm whether your parent qualifies, so check with them directly.

Yes. Kedara Guide covers all 9 SF Bay Area counties: San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano. Tell it which county your parent lives in, and it will look for local resources and phone numbers there. Please confirm details with the provider before you act.

Kedara Guide can help you find in-home care options in your county, including IHSS, private home care agencies and non-profit programs, and the county resources that give referrals. It does not book caregivers or make placements. It also cannot tell you whether an agency is taking new clients, so contact the agency directly.

Kedara Guide can give you a general description of programs like Medicare, Medi-Cal and PACE, and point you to the agencies that answer coverage questions. It does not explain your parent’s specific plan or benefits. For free, personal Medicare counseling, contact HICAP, California’s Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program.

Yes, by helping you find local resources. Kedara Guide can point you to memory care programs, adult day programs, caregiver support groups and the Alzheimer’s Association’s local services in your county. Kedara Guide does not give medical advice. For questions about symptoms, diagnosis or treatment, please talk to your parent’s doctor. If you’re unsure where to start, Guide can help you find a geriatric specialist or a county health clinic.

Kedara Guide is not an emergency service. If your parent is in immediate danger, call 911. For suspected elder abuse, contact your county’s Adult Protective Services. Kedara Guide can help you find that number. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988.

Yes. Kedara Guide can help you find programs for family caregivers in your county, such as respite care, support groups and caregiver mental health resources. Our coverage in this area is still growing, so some listings may be incomplete or out of date. Please confirm details with the provider.

Yes. You don't fill in a form. Just tell Kedara Guide what you need in your own words. Kedara Guide asks for your location first, because good answers depend on your city or county. It picks up the rest from the conversation, such as language, type of service and care setting. Our data records which communities each provider serves, so Guide can answer a request like "a program that serves the South Asian community in Sunnyvale." You get a short list of named options. Kedara Guide narrows it using what you tell it and our own quality checks. Kedara App goes further. It keeps your family's care information in one place, so its AI assistant can tailor answers to your family.

No. Kedara Guide covers only the nine SF Bay Area counties. For other areas, call 211, which is free and available nationwide, or the Eldercare Locator at (800) 677-1116.

No. Kedara Guide cannot diagnose conditions, interpret medical test results, or recommend medications or treatments. For medical questions, please contact your parent's doctor. Kedara Guide can help you find geriatric specialists or county health clinics if you need a referral.

No. Kedara Guide is not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice. It can explain what a durable power of attorney is, why an advance health directive matters, and when conservatorship becomes necessary, and then point you to free legal aid organizations in your county. For anything legally binding, please consult an elder law attorney.

No. Kedara Guide gives you local resources and phone numbers, and you make the calls. Please confirm details with the provider when you call. We plan to build an assistant that can contact providers on your behalf. Before it can, it needs your family’s permission and accurate information about your situation. Kedara App, with its consent and privacy controls, is where we will build this.

When you ask a question, Kedara Guide searches our curated knowledge base of Bay Area aging care resources. It narrows the results to your county and the kind of help you need, then uses AI to give you a clear, specific answer. We keep adding to the knowledge base and improving it.

Most directories ask you to pick a category and a ZIP code, and then they give you a long list. A web search gives you even more results to sort through. Both work best if you already know what the service is called. Most caregivers only know their situation and where they live. Kedara Guide works from your question in your own words. It narrows the results to your city or county and gives you a few specific options instead of a long list. We focus only on aging care in the nine Bay Area counties. That lets us record details a general directory does not, such as eligibility, cost, languages served and cultural affiliation, where we have them, and use them to filter results. If our information on a topic is limited, Guide tells you rather than padding the list.

A directory gives you a list. Kedara Guide helps you answer these questions. Is it the right service? Kedara Guide asks follow-up questions to narrow the options to your situation. Try it yourself. Your feedback helps us improve it. Do we qualify, and what does it cost? We store eligibility and cost for each listing, so Kedara Guide can tell you, for example, "This one is county-funded and based on income. This one is private pay, at roughly this price range." Not every listing has these details yet. We are filling them in. Is the service still available? We build our knowledge base from public licensing and registration records. Some records are out of date, so our team rechecks listings, starting with the ones families ask about most. How long is the wait? We don't have waitlist information yet. We are talking with providers and service agencies to add details like this to our knowledge base.

Kedara Guide answers from our curated knowledge base of Bay Area aging care resources. We build it from public records and other sources, and our team keeps reviewing and improving it. We also test Guide's answers before each update. If our information on a topic is limited, Guide will tell you. Programs, phone numbers and eligibility rules change. Always confirm details with the organization before you act. If you find something wrong, use the thumbs-down button in the chat and we will review it.

Use the thumbs-down button on any response in the chat. Our team will review that conversation and correct our information where needed. You can also email us at [email protected]. Your feedback helps us keep our information accurate.

If Kedara Guide doesn't have a good answer, it will say so and suggest who to contact instead, usually 211 (free, 24/7, many languages), your county's Area Agency on Aging, or a specialist. It will never make up an answer.

Kedara Guide does not replace a human care navigator. If you need personalized guidance, we recommend: 1. Your county's Area Agency on Aging, which has free care managers. 2. 211, which connects you to local social services and live specialists. 3. The Alzheimer's Association helpline at (800) 272-3900 for dementia-specific guidance. Kedara Guide will always point you toward a person when the situation calls for it.

Most families coordinate care across group texts, shared calendars, spreadsheets and notes. Kedara App brings all of it into one place, built for care. Medications, appointments, vitals, tasks and documents sit together, and everyone in the care circle sees the same up-to-date information, including care workers you hire. The built-in AI assistant knows your family’s care information and draws on the same local resource knowledge as Kedara Guide. You can ask it what’s coming up this week, or ask it to add a task or appointment, which it creates after you confirm.

Yes. Kedara App works in the browser and as a native app for iPhone and Android. Families in our Founding Families Program are using it now by invitation. The app will be available to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store shortly. Apply to join the Founding Families Program. Kedara Guide does not need an app. It works in the browser on any phone or computer.

Not yet, but it is on our roadmap. Caregivers need support too. In our in-person and online surveys, families asked for help with respite, mental health, menopause and longevity care. We plan to bring partners onto Kedara and add tracking and guidance so caregivers can manage their own health and life. This is part of our longer-term goal of supporting longevity as well as aging care.

Yes. A care circle can include more than one person receiving care, such as both parents, or a parent and an aunt. Medications and vitals are recorded for each person receiving care. Tasks are assigned to the caregivers who do them, whether that is several family members or one primary caregiver. We are also improving support for people who manage their own care with help from a relative, such as an adult child who lives farther away.

The person who creates the care circle becomes the manager and decides who joins it. Access is by invitation, not by family relationship, so each family can include whoever fits their situation: one adult child, several siblings, a niece, a partner, a close friend or a paid care worker. Each person has a role, such as manager, caregiver or care receiver, which decides what they can see and change. Your conversations with the AI assistant are private to you. We are adding fine grained role-based access control, so each person sees only what they need. For example, a paid care worker could see the tasks for her shift, and a sibling in another state could see the schedule without the full health record.

Yes. A care circle is a group of invited people, not a family tree, so it can include spouses, partners and friends. Our focus is aging care: caring for parents, an older sibling, a spouse or another older relative. Our knowledge base and AI are built for aging care questions. We know caregiving also includes chronic illness, cancer, immune conditions and recovery from accidents. We will consider these situations once we serve aging care families well.

A person enters vitals in Kedara App. This can be the person receiving care, if they are able to, or a family caregiver or care worker on their behalf. Everyone in the care circle can then see the readings in one place. We do not provide wearables today. Connections to health apps and wearables are on our roadmap, so readings can be added automatically.

You can store the documents your family needs to coordinate care, such as power of attorney, insurance cards, a driver’s license, or onboarding information for hired care workers. Everyone in your care circle can view them. Only managers can upload or delete them. Coming soon: • Role-based access, so you can choose who sees each document. • AI assistant support for sorting your documents and using them to answer questions about your family’s care.

A family member enters appointments today. Calendar connections for Google, Apple and Outlook are on our roadmap, along with connections to other health apps, so appointments stay in sync both ways.

Today, medication is entered by hand as a task. There are no separate fields yet for dose, frequency, prescriber, side effects or refills. There is no pharmacy or e-prescribing connection, so the app knows about a change only if someone enters it. Better medication tracking and pharmacy connections are on our roadmap. Kedara is a consumer app, not a medical provider, so we will rely on information from health providers to keep this accurate and easy for your family and care workers to find.

Kedara is not a medical provider and does not give diagnosis or treatment advice. We are building an AI assistant in Kedara App that can summarize your family's information and point you to trusted medical sources, so you can prepare questions for the doctor. It will run on a secure, encrypted platform, and its conversations will be logged for audits.