Family experience
Making family notification setup easier to follow
· Three Oak Woods
The person pressing an OakLink button should not have to manage an app. Behind that simple action, a family still needs a clear way to configure who receives messages and how. Our recent work has focused on making that setup easier to follow.
One settings section at a time
The prototype setup page now uses a collapsible menu with one section open at a time. Household app notifications have a dedicated place, with separate settings for alerts, acknowledgments and optional activity updates. The layout has been reviewed and the software installed on the bench base and its Wi-Fi companion.
The intention is to make it easier to see what is being edited without putting every setting on the screen at once. Suggested channel names are a starting point for setup; they are not automatically reserved or connected to a caregiver's phone.
Keeping the phone side clear
Optional internet notifications currently use the ntfy app, which caregivers need to install and configure. Cellular text messages use the phone's normal messaging app. The new household settings do not replace the need to confirm that a test alert reaches the intended person.
Saving new household settings, confirming they survive a restart and checking phone delivery still need a supervised test. Acknowledgment actions for account-protected channels are not supported by the current implementation. That work remains separate from the new settings layout.
A daily email reached its destination
On September 26, a daily administrator summary sent by the bench prototype was accepted by the email service and received in the intended inbox. That is a useful, concrete milestone: we have evidence of receipt, rather than just a successful software build.
It is still one dated result. The separate test-email button and broader delivery reliability need their own checks. A daily report is a snapshot, not continuous monitoring or proof that every alert will arrive.
What comes next
The next step is an agreed test with isolated household channels: save the settings, restart, verify the saved configuration and confirm receipt on the intended phone. Failure and recovery also need testing. A successful tap alone must not be mistaken for the base receiving an acknowledgment, or for someone having provided help.
Early iPhone and Android app work is also underway, but those builds are not released caregiver apps. For now, the focus is on making the existing text-message and optional ntfy paths understandable and testable.