Everything you need to know
Common questions from families considering The Ken. If something isn’t covered here, email us.
Common questions from families considering The Ken. If something isn’t covered here, email us.
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The basics
A tablet is a general-purpose computer: app store, browser, email, menus several layers deep. That power is the problem for someone modern technology leaves behind: a wrong tap opens scam pop-ups; a failed login locks them out.
The Ken does none of that. One screen, the faces approved to call, and a large answer button when they call. Nothing to misconfigure.
Side by side: what each one lets them do.
Yes, that is who it is for. It is built to be simple and familiar, with just a few large buttons to learn: contacts are large photos, the answer button fills the screen, and there are no swipes or gestures to learn.
Features designed to make it easy to use for someone living with memory loss, e.g. dementia: a face to recognise rather than a number to recall, a home screen that never rearranges itself, no password to keep, and no time limit that cuts them off mid-thought. The reasoning behind each of those is on the research page.
There is also an optional auto-answer, for when the person genuinely cannot manage the screen. It is off unless you switch it on, on purpose: a call should only open the camera when they choose to answer.
Both. They tap a face, then Video or Voice; there are no numbers to dial and no list to scroll. Calls go to family on The Ken app and to other Kens; the Ken does not call ordinary phone numbers. When someone calls them, a large answer button fills the screen.
Either way, the only faces on the screen are the ones approved in the Family Admin portal, so a stranger's face never appears.
The Ken uses Wi‑Fi only. There is no SIM and no mobile data, so it needs home, care-home or sheltered-scheme Wi‑Fi to work.
If the person has no broadband at home, a simple mobile hotspot or a basic broadband line is enough.
Safety and security
The Ken has no phone number, no email address, no browser and no apps to install. A cold caller has no number to dial and a phishing message has nowhere to arrive. Reaching the screen takes a credential your family was given, and the contacts you approve in the portal are the faces that appear on it.
More at theken.uk/legal#security.
Contacts are added only through the Family Admin portal, by family or carers (“HCPs”) who have been invited and verified. The person using The Ken never has to judge whether a caller is genuine; everyone who can reach them has already been vetted by the family.
With contact-approval mode on, every new contact waits for a Family Admin’s approval before it appears.
Family and carers
The family handle the technical side from the portal at theken.uk/portal, on any phone or computer: contacts, photos, settings and reminders, so the person using The Ken never has to. It stays their Ken; they simply answer the people they choose to. Several family members can each have an account with the right level of access.
Checking app availability now. Both are included in the plan, for quick Family Admin tasks like approving contacts.
Checking app availability now. Both are included in the plan. They handle the basics for a Family Admin, such as approving new contacts.
For everything else, the portal at theken.uk/portal does the full job from any phone browser.
A Trusted Contact can send and read their own messages, Voicemail, Videomail and photos, and sees only their own side. They can't edit contacts or settings; those stay with the Family Admin.
Yes, wherever there is Wi‑Fi. The Ken uses Wi‑Fi only, no SIM or mobile data, and most care homes and sheltered schemes have resident Wi‑Fi.
If the network uses a sign-in page to accept terms (a captive portal), The Ken can sign in to it on its own sealed sign-in screen, so tapping Agree or Accept usually does the job. If it still won't sign in, ask their IT team to allow The Ken by its network address, or contact us and we will help. Carers can be given portal access alongside family.
The caller can leave a Voicemail or Videomail. The Ken says who it is from as soon as it lands, and it keeps waiting on the home screen, by name, until it has been watched. There is a Videomails list in the menu holding every one that is still kept. Family can see and hear it from the portal too.
Voicemails and Videomails are kept up to your plan's hours: 1 hour on Standard, 10 on Plus, and unlimited on Lifetime. The Family Admin can see how much is used. If a Ken goes over its hours, the Family Admin receives a removal date 30 days away and a reminder 30 days, 7 days and 1 day before it, each time with the choice to delete recordings or ask us to move the plan to one that holds more. After that date the oldest recordings are removed, only as many as bring the Ken back within its hours. Messages are kept for a year. Lifetime storage is unlimited for a family's own Voicemail and Videomail. If one Ken's saved recordings pass 500 hours, we may ask the Family Admin to choose some to download or remove.
Comparing options
A general tablet can do everything, which is the problem for someone modern technology leaves behind.
The alternatives built for the job are simpler.
They differ most in whether the person can call anybody.
Two of the best known* only receive calls, answering on their own when the family calls.
They call you with The Ken, and only the faces you approve reach them.
You run it from your own phone, wherever you are.
Designed and run in the UK. £249, then £4.99 per month.
Side by side: what each one lets them do. Our own pricing is at theken.uk/features.
*Komp and CallGenie, read from their own sites on 23 September 2026.
Two more of the best known* add a web browser the family can switch off, or answer video calls by themselves, with no way listed for the person to call out. The Ken lets them call you, and only the faces you approve reach them.
*GrandPad and MyHomeHelper, read from their own sites on 25 September 2026.
Pricing and what’s included
Ken: £249 one-off, with £10 UK delivery added at checkout (once per order), with your legal right to cancel within 14 days of delivery. If it is not right, email [email protected] and we will send you the return address and cover the postage.
Plan, one for each Ken:
Every plan covers calls, the Family Admin portal, Voicemail, reminders, all software updates, and the iPhone and Android apps. Checking app availability now. No per-minute charges.
A monthly plan renews each month and a yearly plan each year, until you cancel. Cancel any time. A monthly plan runs to the end of the month you have paid for, and a yearly plan is charged at the monthly price for the months used, with the rest refunded. How refunds work.
We deliver The Ken to UK addresses only for now, and prices are in pounds sterling. The Ken works anywhere with broadband, so you can buy it to a UK address and send it on to somebody abroad. Three things then become yours: you pay return or repair postage back to the UK, our 30-day postage promise covers only returns posted within the UK, and the UK plug needs a travel adapter. Our Terms set this out in full.
Every plan includes:
Where they differ:
Lifetime storage is unlimited for a family's own Voicemail and Videomail. If one Ken's saved recordings pass 500 hours, we may ask the Family Admin to choose some to download or remove.
You have your legal right to cancel within 14 days of delivery. If The Ken does not suit them, email [email protected] and we will send you the return address and cover the postage. The plan can be cancelled any time, with no contract to unwind.
Yes. A yearly plan can be cancelled at any time (e.g. if your loved one has passed away): we charge the months you’ve used at the monthly price and refund the rest to the card that paid. A monthly plan runs to the end of the month you’ve paid for. Email [email protected] to cancel.
One email to [email protected] is enough to end their plan.
There is no form, we never ask for proof, and you do not need to send the Ken back.
The refund works the same as for any cancellation: a yearly plan is charged at the monthly price for the months used and the rest is refunded to the card that paid, and a monthly plan runs to the end of the month already paid.
If you would rather keep their messages, Voicemails, and Videomail, we can move the Ken to Keep the memories instead, at £1.49 per month.
Everything already on it stays readable, and nothing new is sent or received. The terms say the same.
A Ken needs a plan to work, so ordering above includes both. Two exceptions:
Replacement Ken: already subscribed and your Ken was damaged or lost? Email [email protected] for a replacement Ken on its own, with no new plan.
Plan only: bought a Ken separately, not as a bundle from us? Set up your plan on the Ken you already own.
Each Ken on your order has its own Activation Code. Request your codes and we will email every one not yet set up.
Updates and longevity
Yes, automatically over Wi‑Fi, with nothing for the family to do.
We commit to security updates for at least five years from the date of purchase. We expect to provide them for longer.
An update over the air replaces the software The Ken runs. We update our cloud services, the portal and the family app ourselves. The operating system underneath the application is set when we build a Ken's storage card, and we change it by issuing a new card. More at theken.uk/legal#security.