Frequently asked questions

The patient. Every word of it. The diagnosis, the medication list, the notes from the visit, the questions for the next appointment — those live on the patient's own phone, they are the patient's property, and MeloCare keeps no copy of them on any server.

No. Not a diagnosis, not a medication, not a dose, not a lab result, not a prognosis, not a note from a visit, not a single conversation with MeloCare. There is no screen that shows it, no report that includes it, and no export that contains it.

No, and that is deliberate. There is no permission to grant, no toggle to flip, and no request our support team can honor. A member in the middle of a hard week may offer to share everything; a month later they may wish they had not. Building the ability to share it would mean the church could hold health information about its members — and could be asked, subpoenaed, or pressured to produce it. We keep the church out of that position entirely by never giving anyone the capability in the first place.

No one can — not a pastor, not the church administrator, not MeloCare's own staff or engineers. The information is not on our servers, so there is nothing to look up, nothing to log into, and nothing to hand over. If a member wants their pastor to know something, they tell them, or they print their care packet and hand it to them. That is a conversation between two people, not a feature of our software.

The list of families the administrator approved, and the support tasks posted on the board — meals, rides, yard work, sitting with someone. That is all that exists. There is no medical record to produce because we never created one.

Because the moment a company stores health information about a congregation's members, it changes what that company is, what it owes, and what it can be dragged into. We would rather build a tool a family trusts completely than a database that makes a church nervous. It also keeps a volunteer-run care ministry from ever becoming an accidental custodian of medical records.

It cannot. The board is logistics only — a meal Tuesday, a ride to an appointment, someone to mow the yard. MeloCare actively checks what is typed into a task and refuses to post it if it contains a medication, a dose, or a diagnosis, even when the person is trying to be helpful.

A care organizer and memory aid for families facing serious illness: plain-English translation of medical language, a medication and supplement list, appointment debriefs, and a shared task board for rides, meals, and respite.

No. It explains words and organizes what your care team already told you. It never lists dosing instructions — always follow the label on the bottle and your care team's guidance.

On the device you typed it into. There is no patient account and no MeloCare database of patient health information. Clearing the care profile in the app removes it.

You can save an encrypted backup file from the app and restore it on a new device. The file is encrypted on your device with your own passphrase and never passes through MeloCare.

One thing. When you ask MeloCare a question, or photograph a visit summary or a medication label, that question and your saved list are sent to our AI provider so an answer can be written, and you will see a small indicator on screen while it happens. It is used to write the answer and is not saved into any MeloCare database. Everything else — your lists, your notes, your printouts — happens on your phone. We will not tell you your information never leaves the phone, because that would not be true.

No. You open MeloCare from your church's link or QR code and begin. There is no sign-up, no password to forget, and no patient identifier anywhere.

A first name, or “Mom” if you prefer. Because your church already knows your family, a last name is optional. Never a Social Security number, a birthday, an address, or an insurance number.

No, on purpose. It will tell you what a drug is generally for and put your list on one clean page. It will not give a dose, a schedule, or a taper, and it does not check drug interactions at all. Always follow the label on the prescription bottle, and ask your pharmacist to review the printed list.

Yes, and you should. The care packet prints one clean page in large type — medications with what each one is for, the diagnosis in plain words, questions for the next visit, and the care team's phone numbers. Put it on the refrigerator, and take it to the emergency room.

The church-sponsored version is. If no church is sponsoring you, the Personal plan is $49 a month with a 14-day free trial, and billing stops automatically if a church starts sponsoring you later.

The United States only. It is not offered in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland.

Which families are approved and active, when a caregiver asks for a meal, ride, visit, or prayer, and whether a family has gone quiet. Nothing medical.

Diagnoses, medications, prognosis, doctor notes, private caregiver notes, or the content of a family's briefings, prayers, and conversations. None of it is stored anywhere but the family's own device.

A church administrator approves each family, one at a time, and the patient and caregiver both consent in writing first. Consent can be withdrawn at any point and the workspace closes with it.

Nothing. The church sponsors it: $39 a month per patient + caregiver on its own with a one-time $99 setup, or $25 a month with the setup waived if the church already runs Sophia. Month to month, cancel anytime — there are no annual plans, and cancelling keeps access through the end of the month already paid for with no proration or refund.

You never hold it, so there is nothing to be responsible for. The church's role is approving who is sponsored and organizing the practical help. Every user also accepts a full disclaimer, with consent checkboxes, before the app opens.

No. A volunteer sees a task — Tuesday dinner, a ride at 9:00, a yard that needs mowing — and the address or gate code the family chose to include. Nothing else.

Your team sets the review cadence — monthly, quarterly, or open-ended. Some families need three months and some need three years. You can end a sponsorship at any time, and the family keeps whatever they have printed or backed up.

A fixed, in-app library of public-domain translations the church picks at setup. MeloCare cannot invent, paraphrase, or pull verses from the internet.