Support / Using Binda

Using Binda

A guide to the things Binda does, day to day. Everything is designed to be reassuring — clear, unhurried, and free of manufactured urgency.

Your Home dashboard

Home is your calm morning launchpad — a set of cards you can arrange to fit how you work.

• How the week looks — an AI read of the last 7 days of care notes, shown as a simple face plus a few short themes (e.g. “Sleeping well”, “Low appetite”). It’s a scannable summary for the coordinator, care team, and doctor — a summary of notes, not medical advice.
• Next seven days — everything coming up: care-team shifts, doctor appointments, and events, grouped by day.
• Waiting on you (coordinator) — the actual items that need you, each with the person’s name and the date/time: shifts to approve, shift requests, and appointment requests.
• Care circle — who’s in the circle at a glance (names + roles), with a link to manage them.
• Write a note — opens the note composer right here in a pop-up.
• Alerts — recent updates for the plan. Tap any alert to jump straight to it — an appointment alert opens Providers, a medication alert opens Medications, a note reply opens Notes, and so on.

Customize: tap Customize to reorder cards or hide the ones you don’t use — your arrangement is saved. On the app, the same button lets you reorder and hide your Home shortcuts.

Medications

The Medications screen answers one question calmly: what’s due now? You’ll never have to wonder again whether someone gave Mom her 9am pill.

Add a medication or supplement

Tap the + and choose Medication or Supplement. Vitamins, fish oil, and other over-the-counter items live right alongside prescriptions — same schedule, same reminders — and carry a small Supplement label so the list stays easy to scan. You can add medications from both the app and the web portal.

Set the schedule

Pick a Form (tablet, capsule, liquid, patch…) and a Frequency from the dropdowns. The schedule then adapts to the frequency — choose Twice daily and you’ll set two dose times; As needed (PRN) asks for none. You can also set a start date and end date — perfect for a short course like an antibiotic, or a med that begins next week. Binda builds the upcoming doses for you between those dates.

Each medication in the schedule shows its cadence in plain language — Daily, Twice daily, Every other day, Once weekly, or As needed — alongside the dose times, so the list reads at a glance.

See allergies without leaving the page

The Medications screen has an Allergies button. Tap it and the recorded allergies open in a quick popup — no jumping to another page — so you can double-check a reaction right where you’re logging a dose. (The coordinator still manages allergies on the person’s profile.)

The care coordinator and — where enabled — caregivers can add and edit medications; doctors invited to Binda can add and edit them too. Every medication records who added it and who last changed it, so there’s always a clear trail.

Log a dose

The coordinator, caregivers, and invited doctors can all log (administer) a dose. On the web, the left of the Medications page shows the next 24 hours of scheduled doses, so what’s coming up is always in view.

1. Open Medications. Doses that are due appear at the top.
2. Tap a dose and mark it given (or note it as missed).
3. Optionally turn on photo confirmation to attach a quick picture of the dose as a record for the team.

The optional pill-photo check

If you add a photo, Binda can run an optional in-app check and tell you whether the pills look consistent with the medication on file. It’s a gentle safety touch — advisory only, never a diagnosis or medical advice. You’re always in control of what gets logged.

Colors that mean something without alarming you

• Given — a muted sage. Reassuring.
• Due / scheduled — a calm gold. Not urgent.
• Missed — a soft clay-rose. Never a jarring red.

Tasks & checklists

Tasks turn Binda from a shared calendar into a verifiable record that care actually happened — so family can relax, and caregivers have a simple way to show they did their job.

Build the checklist (coordinator)

Open Tasks & checklists and, under Manage, add a task — for example “Morning blood pressure” or “Afternoon walk.” For each one you choose:

• How often — every day, certain days of the week, every few days, or a one-time task. A task can also repeat several times a day (just add more times).
• Time of day — with a gentle grace window, because real caregiving isn’t to-the-minute.
• Who does it — a specific caregiver, or “any on shift.”
• Verification — a simple checkbox, or a required note.

Binda schedules the upcoming occurrences for you, so today’s checklist is always ready.

Work the checklist (caregiver)

1. Open Tasks & checklists to see everything due today.
2. Tap the checkbox to mark a task done — add a note if one’s asked for.
3. If something can’t be done, tap “Can’t do” and pick a reason (refused, unavailable, not applicable, other). A task is never silently skipped — it’s always done, or explained.

Checklists work offline — mark tasks done in a home with no signal and they sync automatically when you’re back online.

See how the day is going (family)

Everyone with access gets a calm dashboard: today’s completion, what’s still to do, anything overdue, and anything marked can’t-do with its reason. It updates through the day, so distant family can glance and feel reassured without micromanaging.

Shifts & timekeeping

Caregivers track their time, and the whole team sees what happened during each visit.

Clock in and out

1. At the start of a visit, tap Clock in on the Caregiver home.
2. At the end, tap Clock out.
3. Write a short handoff note — a couple of lines about how the visit went. It flows into the team timeline so the next person is caught up.

Some caregivers submit timesheets instead of clocking in and out — this is configured per caregiver by the coordinator. Either way, hours are recorded and visible to whoever has permission.

Fix a shift, or remove one

Mistakes happen — the wrong day, the wrong person, the same visit entered twice. A caregiver can correct or delete their own shift while it’s still pending, so the person who knows they typed 1:00 instead of 13:00 is the one who can fix it.

Once the coordinator approves a shift it stops moving: approved and paid hours are locked, and only the coordinator can change them after that. The coordinator can edit or remove any shift on the plan at any time.

Hours & expenses

Caregiving costs money as well as time — groceries, a prescription pickup, the drive to a specialist. Hours & expenses keeps all three in one place so nobody is reconstructing a month from receipts and memory.

Hours

Every clocked shift and submitted timesheet lands here, with its status — pending, approved, or paid. The coordinator approves hours; approving is what turns a claim into something to pay.

Expenses

1. Open Hours & expenses and tap Add expense.
2. Enter the amount and pick a category — Groceries, Medical supplies, Transportation, Household, or Other.
3. Add a short description and the date, and save it.

The coordinator sees everything logged for the plan and marks each one reimbursed when it’s settled.

Mileage

Tap Log a trip and enter the miles driven. Binda multiplies them by the plan’s mileage rate and adds the total to what’s owed.

The coordinator sets the rate in Plan settings. New plans start at Binda’s current default rate; if you set up your plan a while ago, it’s worth checking — it keeps whatever rate it was created with until you change it, deliberately, so nobody’s reimbursement changes without them deciding it should.

Notes & observations

Notes are how the team keeps a shared, honest record of how someone is doing.

Quick tagged observations

Tap an observation category and jot a quick note. Categories include Mood, Mind, Meals, Sleep, Mobility, Fluids, and Pain. Mind is for memory, orientation, and confusion — helpful for dementia care. Over time these build a picture the whole team — and the doctor — can rely on.

One note can cover more than one category. A single entry about a rough night can rate Sleep and Mood together, each with its own face, instead of forcing you to write the same story twice.

A face to flag how it’s going

On any note you can tap a quick face — 🙂 all good, 😐 okay, or ☹️ an issue — so the team can scan the log and spot concerns at a glance. When the category is Mood, you can also pick a specific mood face (happy, calm, tired, anxious, sad, irritable, confused).

Tag someone with @

Type @ and a teammate’s name (or tap them in the composer) to tag them in a note. They get a notification so nothing important slips by.

Write from anywhere

On the web, the Home page has a Write a note button that opens the composer in a pop-up — no need to leave the page.

Freeform notes

Write anything longer as a plain note (no category needed). Everyone with access to notes can read them, and you can edit or delete a note you wrote.

Catch up with a summary

When you’ve been away, open the optional short summary of recent notes to catch up fast instead of scrolling everything. It’s there when you want it and out of the way when you don’t.

Add photos to a note

Some things are easier to show than to describe — a rash, a swollen ankle, a meal that actually got eaten, the state of the pill organiser. You can attach up to four photos to any note.

1. Write the note as usual and tap the photo button.
2. Pick up to four images from your photo library.
3. Save. Binda shrinks each photo before it uploads, so a full-size phone picture doesn’t eat your plan’s storage.

Tap any thumbnail to open it full-screen. Photos are part of the note, so they’re included when you export your data.

Photos are part of the paid plans (Essential, Care, and Family). On the free Starter tier the photo button shows a padlock; anything already attached stays where it is and stays visible.

Share a note with the family

Now and then a note is exactly what the family should see. The care manager — and only the care manager — can share one to the family feed.

1. Open the note and choose Share with family.
2. Choose which of its photos go along, one by one. None are shared unless you say so.
3. Confirm. It appears in the feed for everyone who can see updates.

Doctors & appointments

Keep every provider and visit in one place, so nobody’s digging through texts to find the cardiologist’s number.

• Provider directory — add each doctor and specialist with their details.
• Upcoming appointments — see what’s next at a glance.
• Adding an appointment — the coordinator can always add one. Caregivers can too, unless the coordinator has turned it off for them: open Doctors & appointments and tap Add a scheduled appointment at the bottom of the page.
• Appointment requests — a caregiver whose access is set to view-only sees Request an appointment instead (“Mom should see the podiatrist”), and the coordinator schedules it.
• Changing one — caregivers can reschedule or cancel a visit during a shift. Removing an appointment outright stays with the coordinator.
• Insurance & coverage — record Medicare, Medicaid, or a private plan (insurer, plan, member ID, group number, member-services phone) right on this page, so it’s one tap away when a doctor or the office needs it. The coordinator manages these entries; an invited doctor can view them.
• Allergies & emergency contacts — an invited doctor can also see the recorded allergies and emergency contacts, so critical safety information is right there during a visit. The coordinator manages these on the person’s profile; the doctor sees them read-only.

Invite a doctor to Binda

You can give a doctor or specialist their own sign-in so they see exactly what you choose — and nothing else.

1. When you add a doctor, tick “Invite to Binda” and enter their email — or open a provider already in the directory and choose “Invite this doctor to Binda.”
2. Set what they can see with a few simple toggles (see Team & permissions).
3. Binda emails them a sign-in link. Doctors join for free.

Family feed

The family feed is a warm, low-pressure stream that distant relatives can scroll without becoming a project manager.

• Share calm updates — “Dad had a good afternoon in the garden.”
• Family can react and comment without joining the daily logistics.
• No anxiety-inducing alerts. It’s a way to feel connected, not a task list.

What family sees here is separate from the clinical notes above — that separation is deliberate, and you control it in permissions.

Team & permissions

The coordinator sets who sees what. Roles come with sensible defaults, and you can override any of them per section.

Invite someone

1. Open Team and tap Invite.
2. Enter their name and email and choose a role: caregiver, family, doctor, or observer.
3. Binda sends the invitation. Caregivers and family join for free.

Adjust what a person can see

Open a team member and use the per-section permissions to fine-tune access. For example:

• A doctor sees clinical data, not finances.
• A family member sees updates, not the timesheet.
• A caregiver sees their own work, not a coworker’s.

Setting a doctor’s access

When you invite a doctor (see Doctors & appointments), you choose what they can see with a few toggles — each set to Hidden, View, or Edit:

• Medications
• Notes & observations (including the AI summary) — view only
• Doctors — the provider directory
• Doctor’s appointments — the calendar and history, controlled separately from the directory. This is also the setting that decides whether a caregiver can add and change appointments or only request them.

They only ever see the sections you turn on — never hours, expenses, or the family feed.

Working across circles

Each person you care for has their own circle — their own care manager, medications, notes, and team. If you help with more than one (say you're a caregiver for two families, or a family member coordinating a parent and an in-law), Binda keeps them completely separate, and you switch between them with one tap.

• On the web — use the circle switcher at the top of the left sidebar. It shows whose care you're viewing; tap it to see all your circles and pick another. Everything reloads for that person.
• In the app — go to Settings → Switch circle and choose the circle you want. Binda remembers the last one you were in, so you land back where you left off.

The shareable shift report

When a caregiver finishes a shift, they can generate a private shift report link. A family member can open it in a browser without an account — a calm, branded summary of how the visit went. It’s often a family’s first impression of Binda.

1. Finish a shift and tap Share shift report.
2. Send the private link by text or email.
3. The recipient opens it in any browser — no sign-in, no app required.