Shaterian
Your life, kept on your phone.
Shaterian is a quiet place for your memories, your days, and how you are feeling. It was made for older adults and for people living with Parkinson's, and it is built on one idea: what you tell it is kept on your iPhone.
It is not a medical device and does not diagnose or treat anything.
Two weeks free, then $2.99 a month. For iPhone, iOS 17 or later.
Speak, and it is kept
You do not need to type, sort or fill anything in. Three things happen, in this order.
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Tap once and talk.
Your words are turned into text, tagged, and filed for you. There is nothing to organise and no forms to fill in. Take as long as you like.
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Ask about your own life.
Ask a question out loud or type it. Shaterian answers from what you have actually told it, and shows you which memories the answer came from.
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When it does not know, it says so.
When your own memories do not hold the answer, it says so rather than making something up.
Five rooms
The app is arranged as five rooms, one for each thing it does. The pictures show a demonstration account, not a real person.
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Smith
Ask about your own life. Every answer shows the memories it came from. If you like, Smith reads his replies aloud, in a voice that stays on the phone.
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Today
Good morning, and how are you feeling. One tap to tell it your story, a gentle check-in on your mood and any pain, and a snapshot of today's health.
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Universe
Your memories as a constellation of the people, places, feelings and themes that run through them. Follow a thread, open a cluster, or see where a memory happened on a map.
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Health
Tracking and reflection, never diagnosis. Mark where it hurts on a body you can turn, see your heart rate, sleep and steps from Apple Health, log a dose and how you felt when you took it, and make a summary to show your doctor.
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Twin
A quiet three-dimensional likeness, built from a photograph you choose, with the values and feelings that keep coming up in your memories around it. Each one shows its evidence and how sure Shaterian is.
Each month, what has changed
The Twin room compares the last thirty days with the thirty before, using only your own memories: which people and places came up more or less, and which feeling came up most.
Ask Smith "what's changed lately?" and he says the same.
It can also
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Bring in what is already yours
Photographs and workouts can become memories, with your permission and only the ones you choose, and your contacts help it recognise the people you mention. Your calendar and Reminders are read, never copied: ask what is on today and Shaterian tells you.
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Do things for you
Set a reminder or a routine for your pills, call or message someone, put an appointment in your calendar. It proposes, you confirm, and Apple's own screens do the rest.
A line it will not cross
Questions about diagnosis, dosage or whether to change a treatment are recognised and turned back to your own care team rather than answered by a model.
Shaterian is not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat or give medical advice, and it is not a substitute for your doctor, nurse or specialist.
Privacy, plainly
There is no account to create and no password to remember. Signing in with Apple is optional: it tells the app your name, and the first time it switches on Sync with iCloud.
Your memories, your health notes and your photograph are held on this iPhone. There is no server of ours. Sync with iCloud keeps your memories — only your memories — in your own iCloud and in step across your iPhones, and it stays off until you turn it on or sign in.
Nothing is sold, nothing is used for advertising, and nothing is used to train anything.
Six things can leave the phone, and we say when
- Your memories, kept in your own iCloud — only if you turn on Sync with iCloud, or sign in with Apple.
- Signing in with Apple — only if you choose to. The app asks Apple only for your name.
- Your speech, when your iPhone cannot turn it into text itself. Then Apple's speech service does it.
- When you bring in a photograph, its location is sent to Apple's map service to turn it into a place name. The photograph itself is never sent.
- Smith's voice, downloaded once so that he can speak. Nothing about you goes with it.
- Your question to Smith, and the few memories he needs to answer it — only if you turn on "Let Smith ask a bigger model", which sends them to Apple's servers to be answered.
The privacy policy describes each one in full. Read the privacy policy.
Made to be usable
- Type that grows with your iPhone's own text size, up to half again as large.
- Generous targets for unsteady hands, and no precision gestures.
- A calm, high-contrast palette. Dark for the evening, light for bright rooms.
- One quiet reminder a day, and no pressure from notifications.
Two weeks free, then $2.99 a month
Shaterian is free for two weeks, then $2.99 a month (or the equivalent in your currency), charged to your Apple Account and renewing each month until you cancel — in Settings › your name › Subscriptions, at least 24 hours before the period ends.
Your memories stay on your iPhone whatever you decide, and you can see and remove them from the app without subscribing.
For iPhone, iOS 17 or later. There is no Android version.
Who makes it
"I began building this because Parkinson's was slowly taking away my memory, my orientation, and pieces of who I am. I realized millions of people would eventually face the same problem."
Nader Shaterian
Shaterian is made by School Fab Lab, a small company in Alameda, California, and carries the surname of its founder.
Nader is a co-founder of Fab Lab Connect, a digital fabrication educator and an AI researcher. For years he kept journals, voice memos and health notes, and they were the first things Shaterian kept.
Questions
Which phones does it work on?
Any iPhone running iOS 17 or later. It can also be installed on a Mac with Apple silicon from the Mac App Store. There is no Android version and none is planned.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no account to create and no password to remember. Signing in with Apple is optional: it tells the app your name, and the first time it switches on Sync with iCloud.
Does what I say leave my phone?
Your memories, health notes and photograph are kept on your iPhone. There is no server of ours. What you say can leave the phone in two cases: when your iPhone cannot turn your speech into text itself, Apple's speech service does it; and if you turn on "Let Smith ask a bigger model", your question and the few memories he needs go to Apple's servers to be answered. If you turn on Sync with iCloud, or sign in with Apple, your memories are also kept in your own iCloud. The privacy policy lists everything that can leave the phone.
Is what I say used to train AI?
No. Nothing is used to train anything, nothing is sold, and nothing is used for advertising.
Can it tell me about my medication or my diagnosis?
No. Questions about diagnosis, dosage or changing a treatment are turned back to your care team. The general health information in the app comes from Parkinson's UK, the Parkinson's Foundation and the NHS, and every source is listed inside the app.
Can my family or my doctor see anything?
Only what you choose to show them. The Health room can make a summary for your doctor, and it is yours to share or not.
How do I cancel?
On your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, at least 24 hours before the period ends. Your memories stay on your iPhone whether or not you subscribe, and you can see and remove them without subscribing.
Support
If something is not working, or you have a question, write to
It helps to say which iPhone you have and which version of iOS it is running.