No. Grace calls their regular phone — the landline or the flip phone they already use. There's nothing to download, charge, or figure out. They just answer and talk.

With one short call. Have your parent give Grace a quick hello at our number — it's easiest to sit with them and dial it together. Grace explains that she is an AI, the calls and notes, and that all companion calls — the ones she makes and any your parent makes to her — are recorded and can be shared with you. This first hello is not shared with you as an audio recording. We retain its written transcript as the record of the agreement, along with the decision and what was verified. That consent proof is kept. Your parent simply says yes — there is no phrase or number for them to recite; the server verifies that agreement after the call. Grace's calls then begin at the time you chose, and your first 14 days are free — your card is not charged until 14 days later.

Whatever your mom or dad enjoys. Grace follows their lead — how the day is going, family and old stories, a favorite show, the garden, what they had for lunch. She remembers past chats and picks the thread back up, and she gently works in the little things you've told us they love. It stays easy and unhurried — no pressure and no checklist, within the call length included with their plan.

There is a large body of research on this, and it is blunter than most people expect. The U.S. Surgeon General's 2023 advisory called loneliness and isolation an epidemic and put the effect on mortality on a par with smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day; the National Academies found social isolation associated with roughly a 50% higher risk of dementia in older adults. Conversation keeps coming up in particular, because of what it asks of a brain — holding the thread of what was just said, retrieving names on demand, following a story, reading tone and composing a reply in real time, all at once. An NIH-funded randomized trial has tested it head-on: socially isolated adults aged 75 and over who had 30-minute conversations four times a week for six months scored better on cognitive testing than a control group who got only a brief weekly check-in call (I-CONECT, The Gerontologist, 2024). Now the honest part, because you deserve that more than a sales pitch. That trial ran over video rather than the telephone, and its participants had normal cognition or mild impairment — nobody in it had dementia. These are associations and trial results about human conversation in general, not about Grace, who has not been clinically studied. She is companionship, not treatment, and nobody should tell you a phone call prevents anything. We wrote up the wider body of research, limits included, in A quiet house isn't a neutral thing.

We would rather set the expectation than oversell it. What Grace gives is something to look forward to and a bit of shape to a week that had none — and often a parent who has already been talking that day when you ring, so the stories are near the surface instead of having to be coaxed out. What a conversation asks of anyone is recall, attention and language: remembering a name, finishing a story properly, arguing about a ball game, explaining how something used to be done. That is the activity the research is interested in, several times a week, at an age when the chances to do it quietly disappear. We are not promising you an outcome from it — Grace has not been clinically studied, she is companionship rather than treatment, and none of it replaces your visits or your own calls. It fills the long quiet stretches in between. More on why an ordinary chat is such good exercise is in The workout that doesn't look like one.

Yes. Once the calls are set up, your parent can call Grace from their own phone — a quiet afternoon, a long evening, or any moment they'd just like some company. Grace recognizes their number and answers in the same familiar voice, happy to keep them company. On either plan, that call uses the shared monthly pool and never cancels a call on the schedule. The one-time consent hello uses no included time.

Absolutely — that's part of the point. Whenever you need a breather, pick up your parent's phone, call Grace, and hand it over. Because the call comes from their number, Grace greets them warmly and gets a real conversation going while you step away — put the kettle on, return a call, or just sit down for a bit. It's the same warm companion they already know.

Any chosen days, with different times and holiday skips if you want them. Standard allows one call from Grace on each chosen day. Premium allows up to three calls from Grace a day, at least an hour apart, so a morning and an evening call can fit there. Grace confirms morning or evening so a call never lands at the wrong time. You can change the complete schedule anytime by calling Grace. Your parent can change their own call times too — they can ask Grace, on any call, to move just the next one or to change the time from then on, and she'll do it and text you what changed. They can also ask her to stop the calls whenever they like.

Anytime. Call Grace directly, day or night to add a topic, steer clear of a subject, or change the call time — you can talk with her whenever you like. Your parent can ask Grace to stop the calls whenever they like, just by saying so.

That's completely fine. If your parent isn't up for it, Grace keeps it short and warm and lets them go. They can say "not today" whenever they like; the next call follows the schedule you chose — no pressure, ever.

Anytime, and it's always your parent's choice. If they ever tell Grace they'd like to stop, the calls pause right away and we text you — your subscription keeps running, so you can start them again whenever they're ready, or cancel if you'd prefer. You can also pause or change anything by calling Grace yourself.

After each call, a warm text — a short, friendly note about how the call went and what your mom or dad enjoyed talking about, whether Grace called them or they called Grace. When your parent agrees to share access, the summary also includes private links so you can read that call's transcript and listen to its recording. It is companionship context, not safety monitoring or a substitute for checking in yourself.

Yes, and it turns out to be one of the best parts. Once your parent has agreed to share it with you, you get a short text after every call and you can play the recording back or read the transcript whenever you like — for the calls Grace makes and the ones your parent makes to her. Most of us get "I'm fine, don't worry about me" when we ring; here you get to hear the friend they've fallen out with, the appointment that's been on their mind, the story about your grandfather you'd never heard. You notice what keeps coming up from one week to the next, so when you next call you already know what to ask about and the conversation starts somewhere real. It is a way to stay close from a distance — not a check that they are safe, and no substitute for your own visits and calls. Delete any call whenever you want.

Not only. While Grace keeps your mom or dad company, those twenty minutes are a genuine break for you — time you don't have to fill. Put the kettle on, get something done, or just sit down for a bit, and you'll get a warm text when the call's finished.

Then nothing starts, and you're not charged — there's no rush at all. It isn't final, either: whenever they feel ready, they can give Grace a hello at our number. Their verified consent starts Grace's calls, and the first 14 days are still free from that day.

Give Grace a real try. The calls begin as soon as your loved one agrees, and your card isn't charged for the first 14 days — we'll text you before that first payment. Cancel any time in those 14 days and you're never charged at all. After that it renews monthly and you can still cancel anytime; the calls stop when cancellation is recorded, future billing stops, and there's never a contract. The free 14 days are once per person receiving the calls.

Standard includes 300 connected companion minutes and up to one call from Grace on each chosen day. Premium includes 1,200 minutes and up to three calls from Grace a day, at least an hour apart. Planned length flexes with the remaining pool and schedule, but it is not a cutoff: a good conversation can continue while funded time remains. Extra Time is off by default and only the payer can separately authorize it. A payer can ask Grace for a secure upgrade-review link, but the plan changes only after separate authenticated confirmation and payment approval.

Standard is $97 a month and includes 300 connected companion minutes plus up to one call from Grace on each chosen day. Premium is $297 a month and includes 1,200 minutes plus up to three calls from Grace in one day, at least an hour apart. On both tiers, ordinary calls your parent places use the same pool and never cancel a call on the schedule. Planned length flexes with the schedule and is not a call cutoff. The one-time consent hello uses no included time.

Connected conversation time on Grace's calls and ordinary post-consent calls your parent places to Grace counts, totaled by the second. Ringing, unanswered calls, voicemail, the one-time consent hello, calls you make to set up or manage Grace, and service failures that never establish a usable connection do not count. Once connected, elapsed conversation time counts even if the call later drops or errors.

We send separate notices only to the payer at 75%, 90%, and 100% of included use and, when Extra Time is on, at 75%, 90%, and 100% of the selected Extra Time cap. We also show a private forecast. Extra Time is off by default; the payer can separately approve it at 40¢ per connected minute on Standard or 25¢ on Premium, prorated by second, with a finite $50, $100, or $200 per-period cap. A call does not stop at its planned target. Grace begins a warm funded-time goodbye before exhaustion; if the conversation is still going, the connection ends at the exact funded or subscription-period boundary. Later calls wait until the next billing period or the payer changes the cap. Grace never discusses usage, prices, caps, invoices, payment, or upgrading with your parent.

Yes — and nothing can happen unless you switch it on yourself. Extra Time is what keeps the calls going if a month turns out busier than the included minutes allow, instead of the calls having to wait for the next billing period. Extra Time is off by default and only the payer can turn it on, from your own account. You choose a finite cap for the billing period — $50, $100, or $200 — and that cap is the most that period's Extra Time can ever add to your next invoice; it isn't a charge today. You are billed only for connected minutes actually used, prorated by second, at 40¢ per connected minute on Standard or 25¢ on Premium. We text only you — never your parent — as your included minutes pass 75%, 90% and 100%, and again at those points on your selected cap. Change the cap or switch it off whenever you like — though time already used, and time held by a call still in progress, stays billable. It is unavailable during your free first 14 days, so no usage charge can arise before your first monthly payment — and Grace never discusses money, minutes, or plans with your parent.

We may show the payer a private, dismissible account note when the content-blind usage forecast suggests Standard will run out, when Standard reaches its maximum 800-minute, $297 plan-plus-Extra-Time capacity, or when the payer asks for more than one call from Grace a day. We use only call timing, schedule, and entitlement facts — never what your parent says. It never sends an automatic promotional text, changes the plan, or creates a charge. If an upgrade is available, the payer must review and confirm it separately; an explicit payer request by voice may receive a secure link.