Field notes
The app is still months away. Rather than go quiet until launch, we're writing down what we're actually doing while we build it, and building the community first.
Read the notesWhy write this down
I'm Harry. My youngest daughter is autistic and non-verbal, and ARI started because getting her the right support meant too much paperwork, too little guidance, and no single place to turn.
Building it properly takes time. So instead of a countdown to a launch date, this page is the working diary: the real conversations, the dead ends, the small decisions that shape what ARI becomes. If you're a parent who lives this too, you'll see it being built for you, out in the open.
Social is another way to follow the journey. It runs alongside this page rather than repeating it, and a fair bit of what we do suits video better than writing, so Instagram and TikTok will look different again. If you'd like to see more of what we're building, come and find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X.
Community first
The most useful thing we can do right now is find each other. Before a single feature ships, we're bringing parents together, in one place, so the app is shaped by families who already know what a hard week looks like.
If you've joined the list or followed along, you're already part of this. Nothing to buy, nothing to install yet, just a community forming around a plain idea: families shouldn't have to fight to find support.
Happening nowGetting the data right
ARI will hold some of the most sensitive paperwork a family owns: EHCPs, medical letters, tribunal notes. That means the privacy and data-protection side has to be right from the first line of code, not bolted on before launch.
Right now that's the unglamorous part of the job: working through what we hold, why, for how long, and who can ever see it. We're taking data-protection advice while we design it, and appointing a Data Protection Officer before the app holds anything real. It's slow on purpose.
In progressPlanning the features
We're meeting the people who'll help build ARI to decide what makes the first version and what waits. Every feature has to earn its place by making an ordinary day with a SEND child a little less heavy, not by looking clever in a demo.
The vault, finding SEND-friendly places, a moderated community, the honest guides: these came from real need. As those conversations land on decisions, they'll show up here.
In progressFollowing the need
Some of what families need sits just outside an app. Clothing is one of them. Sensory-friendly fabrics, seamless labels, things that make getting dressed less of a battle, are surprisingly hard to find in one place.
We're starting to look into it: what's out there, what's missing, and whether it belongs inside ARI or alongside it. Early days, but it's the kind of everyday problem we want to help with.
It started with a pair of socks. Read where that has got to.
ExploringBeyond the screen
Finding somewhere that works is one thing. Knowing before you walk in is another. We keep coming back to the food hygiene sticker: one glance at a window and you know where you stand before you commit to going in.
So we have been thinking about the same idea for SEND families, scored by parents who have actually been somewhere rather than declared by the place itself. A great deal of it is unsettled. How many visits it would take before a number meant anything, what would keep it honest, and whether a shop would even want the sticker.
We have written down our first go at it. See what we are thinking.
ExploringThe waitlist
Leave your email and we'll send an honest update as ARI is built, plus a note the moment it's ready. No spam, just one parent writing to another.
We'll only use your email to tell you about ARI. See the privacy policy. Could you help shape it? There is a separate list for that.
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If you do not confirm, what you sent is deleted within three days.
One App. One Community.
