Walkthrough: Invite a co-caregiver

Caring for someone is rarely a solo job. A partner, a grandparent, a paid caregiver, or a weekend sitter often needs to see what's happening too. CareHaven lets you share a specific person with another caregiver, so they see your updates on their own iPhone — without you texting recaps back and forth.

This is opt-in. Nothing is shared until you turn on iCloud sync and send an invite. Until then, everything stays on your device alone. Available

Sharing happens through iCloud and Apple's private sharing. You and the person you invite each need to be signed into your own Apple Account. The same Apple Account on both phones will not work — Apple needs two separate identities to share between.

Before you start

• You're signed into iCloud on your iPhone, with iCloud Drive on and a working network connection.
• The person you want to invite is also signed into their own (different) Apple Account on their own iPhone.
• You have their phone number or email handy, so you can send them the invite by Messages or Mail.

Step 1 — Turn on iCloud sync

iCloud sync is off until you choose to turn it on.

1. Open Settings in CareHaven.
2. Go to the Sync section.
3. Turn on Sync via iCloud.

With sync on, your care data syncs privately to your own iPhone, iPad, and Mac when they're signed into the same Apple Account. This same switch is what makes sharing with another caregiver possible.

Every record is encrypted in transit and at rest. There is no CareHaven server in the path and CareHaven can't read your data — it rides only through your own private iCloud (fully end-to-end if you turn on Apple's Advanced Data Protection). For the full picture, see Sharing care with others (sync) and Privacy & security (in depth).

Step 2 — Invite a caregiver to a person

You share one person at a time. The caregiver you invite sees only the person you grant — never anyone else in your app.

1. In Settings, go to Sync and tap Invite a Caregiver.
2. Choose the person you're sharing and the sections you want to share — for example Feedings, Behaviors, Sleep. Anything you don't pick stays private.
3. Pick a role for them (for example, Grandparent), give the invite a name, and send it.
4. Send the invite link by Messages or Mail to the caregiver's Apple Account.

Tip: start narrow. Share just a couple of sections at first, and add more later as the working relationship settles. You can always widen what they see.

Step 3 — They accept on their iPhone

1. On their iPhone, they open your message and tap the share link.
2. They tap Accept.
3. CareHaven opens and the shared person appears, already filled in with your existing history for the sections you shared.

That first sync brings over what you've logged so far, so they aren't starting from a blank slate.

What a co-caregiver can see and do

Once they've accepted, the co-caregiver sees the person you shared, with the sections you granted, on their own iPhone.

When you log something new, it reaches their phone over iCloud. They don't have to keep the app open — their iPhone can pick up your updates quietly in the background, so the latest is waiting for them when they next look. (Apple decides exactly when background updates run, so it can take anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes.)

One thing to know today: updates flow from you, the person's home record, out to everyone you invite. If a co-caregiver logs something on their phone, that change does not yet flow back to you. Full two-way editing is on the way. Coming soon

For shift-style handoffs in the meantime, see Walkthrough: Create a handoff for a sitter — a clean snapshot of today you can hand to whoever's next.

See recent activity across everyone you share

CareHaven keeps a single feed of recent sync activity, gathered across every person you share — so you have one place to glance at what's changed lately.

1. Open Settings and go to the Sync section.
2. Tap Co-caregiver activity.

Each row shows the person it relates to and is sorted with the newest at the top. If you have nothing shared yet, the feed simply says there's no activity to show. Available

How to remove access

You stay in control. You can stop sharing at any time, and it takes effect right away.

1. Open Settings and go to the Sync section.
2. Find your list of invitees and tap the caregiver's name.
3. Choose Revoke.

Their app stops showing the shared person immediately, and the local copy on their device is cleared the next time they open CareHaven.

If something doesn't work

• The invite link does nothing. Check that you and the caregiver are on two different Apple Accounts, and that iCloud Drive is on for both of you.
• The shared person appears but stays empty. Give it a little time after you log something — updates are sent shortly after you make a change, not the instant you tap save. Make sure both phones have a network connection.
• Background updates feel slow. This is normal. Apple budgets background updates, and Low Power Mode can delay them. Opening the app pulls the latest right away.

More fixes live in Troubleshooting. For the bigger picture of how sharing works and what's coming, see Sharing care with others (sync) and Known limitations & what's coming.