Dinner with friends a few years ago led Joannah Bodden Small to embark on a journey of technological discovery.
She had already been searching for an app which would save a range of details such as family and friends preferences, allergies, intolerances, gift lists and more. Now her attempt to note down her friend’s favourite bottle of wine, reminded Jo of her wish to have everything in one place, easily accessible.
She mentioned her – at that point unsuccessful – app search to a friend.
“I can clearly remember her looking at me that day and saying, ‘Why don’t you build it?’” says Jo. “I laughed and told her I didn’t know the first thing about building apps. Her expression was a gentle ‘so what?’”.
This friendly nudge, compounded by the support and guidance of her husband Peter, spurred Jo into action.
The next three years were filled with laying the foundation and infrastructure for the project. An international team was assembled and the Caraleya app was publicly released early this summer.
WHAT DOES THE APP OFFER?
Caraleya is an all-in-one tool which Jo hopes will help users “live thoughtfully”.
Event dates, reminders, task lists, family and friends gift wishes, food preferences, allergies or aversions, media storage, message sending options, note taking and more are all contained in one place, instead of being situated in multiple apps.
“I joke that it is actually 10 apps in one, a little digital tool for good, designed with friendship in mind,” says Jo, whose aim was to make it easier for people to be more thoughtful towards one another and to simplify everyday tasks.
LIFE EXPERIENCES
Jo’s busy life highlighted the need to have basic details all in one place, without having to search through messages or call around.
A stroke in her early 20s, and the subsequent temporary loss of speech and thought processes, also highlighted to Jo the importance of a tool which would keep all details in one spot, regarding all aspects of life.
Experience with her own children’s allergies, made Jo increasingly aware of the importance of adequate planning around these issues, and led to the specific inclusion of allergy recording in the app.
FUTURE
“We’ve recently expanded to over 140 countries around the world and have made huge improvements to the user experience,” says Jo. “Translating to different languages and improving accessibility are included in our future plans.”
A ‘B2B’ or business-to-business/ commercial version is also in the works, as well as a number of spin-offs for targeted-use cases.
“We are all excited about Caraleya’s potential and this mission to help make the world a little better – one thoughtful ripple at a time,” says Jo.
Caraleya’s key features
Profiles: Build a personalised profile and a nested profile for family members and pets. Share these profiles with selected connections.
Guest profiles: Create guest profiles and merge them with existing profiles when they join the app. Keep track of preferences and allergies for seamless event planning.
Calendar: Keep track of important dates, events, tasks, and reminders, and sync with external calendars.
Events: Create invites for both internal and external guests, manage RSVPs, and receive reminders. Understand guest preferences and allergies.
My community: Add members or invite contacts to join the app. Choose how each connection views your profile for enhanced privacy and create ‘circles’ within your community to easily access profiles and organise events with specific connections.
Greetings: Send or schedule personalised messages to your connections.
Memories: Capture and upload media to relive special moments with tagged profiles and related events.
Wishes: Make and receive wish lists from your connections.
Notes: Jot down thoughts, ideas, and important information.
Lists: Create shopping and to-do lists.
This article originally appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2024 issue of What’s Hot magazine.
Related Videos
