“When using the human chat it was objectively dull, but it also feels like a breath of fresh air. The chat took me seriously, Instead of dismissing my pauses and uncertainty”.

“During my dementia journey I have been searching for a sense of belonging and meaning. I hope that MemoryConnect will be able to offer me this opportunity”.

“I like the playful and lighthearted nature of the app”.

“It was amazing to feel a new relationship forming with the app”.

“I couldn’t figure out how to wash my hands one day, having a video will help me on my off days to continue doing something I have done since I was a small child”.

“I thoroughly enjoyed testing the app, it has bought together people with dementia who are fed up with shame and stigma and we are insisting on something better to help us at home”.

“This could help me live a good life with dementia and give me some purpose at home”.

“I look forward to watching the app adapt to me at each phase of my dementia.”

“The app must be able to prompt me when I drift off with my own thoughts.”

“The videos need to look like a person that I recognize, I am not an old lady with a stick.”

“My goal as my parents Carer is to help them to feel like themselves, I vowed to help them live their remaining years with joy and meaning. This app will help us as a family and help them to keeping living in their home for longer”.

“I believe MemoryConnect could give my wife a sense of meaning in life, which also included a feeling of purpose and everyday joy”.

“Using the app to reminisce maybe, or take part in activities , or perhaps just a certain line of conversation—might give my mum a burst of that good feeling”.

“I spent a lot of time using the chat function, it somehow grabbed hold of me and got under my skin. Even though I should know better, I responded to it as though it was a real person”.

“Anything that will help me get some time to myself at home will be greatly appreciated. My time is precious and evening time is the hardest. I could switch on the app, set it up for my husband and my evening would not seem so stressful”.

“It will help to calm the mind of my husband”.

“I liked the concept that MemoryConnect could be flexible and personalised”.

“I saw my wife light up, start talking to it and telling stories about her life”.

“Quite often my dad will start to speak Welsh and none of us understand or speak Welsh. My dad became very engaged with the app when the language was changed to Welsh. He enjoyed having a two-way conversation with someone who could speak Welsh.”

“This is a great avenue for creating warm technology to enhance human connection. MemoryConnect is showcasing dementia activities who are shaking off the doom loops of despair”. - Lynne Neagle: Cabinet Secretary for Education of Wales

“Brilliant innovation, really wish the NHS could learn from this development- technology should be their focus”. - Loraine Morgan : Chair of Gwent Citizens Panel

“Many people that I come into contact are at crisis point and desperately need extra support and help. It will help both family members and their loved ones to have a reason for living with dementia”. - Ann Evans: Strategic Officer Torfaen Voluntary Alliance

“The app is trying to answer the question what could a good life with dementia look like”. - Cllr David Daniels

“During testing, the room had an unfamiliar energy that I hadn’t felt before in the context of dementia.” - Dementia Support Worker

“Activities for people with dementia are usually perfused with nostalgia, turning away from the difficult present to relive what remains of the past. But using the app today was all about the future. We were imagining, playing at new kinds of relationships, trying to brainstorm applications and uses that are still hard to picture. It felt creative. More precisely it felt alive.” - Regional Partnership Board

“Exciting development, we are looking forward to partnering this concept through Age Connects Wales….this will attract more Carers and people living with dementia” - Rachel Rowlands: CEO Age Connects Morgannwg

“I can see that the app will partner with people with dementia, who do not want robots to solve the alleged problem of being old”. - Dementia Support Worker

“The app can learn from new thinking about dementia and the mind”. - Dementia Support Worker

“This is a great, I like the look and familiar voice function…the design has been built to respond to us in ways that a person with dementia has recognised”. - Amanda Whent: Lead Nurse Dementia Aneurin Bevan Health Board

“Making decisions about how and what the app does it not the job of the project team. It’s up to this deliberative, participatory process, and engaging more people in the conversation.” - Naheed Ashraf: Carers Lead ABHB

“One challenge is that dementia is never the same for any two people. There are different varieties, such as Alzheimer’s, frontotemporal dementia, and Lewy body disease, and they are dynamic, changing with time. Some people have no problem with memory but struggle with words; others make strange decisions. I am encouraged that the app can change language and different levels to suit the changing needs of a person”. - Dementia Support Worker

“It is important that the app is able to differentiate between different emotions of PwD for example kindness, hesitation, glee and annoyance”. - Dementia Support Worker

“You can tell that the project has explored ways to bring people living with dementia into the creative process”. - Dr Raul Memory Clinic

“The technology provides us with sensations and experiences rath than mediated by texts and swipes”. - Member of Assistive Technology Forum