How to set medication reminders for parents
To set medication reminders for a parent, open Pokobot in WhatsApp on their phone, send the schedule they already follow, and check the confirmation together. For a daily routine they want to keep track of, use accountability: Poko sends a check-in with buttons to mark it completed, snooze for 30 minutes, or skip today's check-in.
Your parent can see completed days out of seven for the current week and send “progress” for their lifetime total. Everything happens in their WhatsApp chat, with no extra app to learn. These counts record what they report by tapping a button; they cannot verify that medication was taken.
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Set up a daily medication check-in on your parent's phone
Start with your parent's agreement and the instructions from their prescription or clinician. The 8am time below is an editable example. Use a clear activity label they recognise and a check-in time that fits their existing schedule.
Accountability belongs to the WhatsApp number that sets it up. Help your parent send the message from their own phone, either during a visit or while you talk them through it on a call. An example link opens WhatsApp on the device you are using; review the message and press Send to create it.
Open Poko and check the timezone
On their phone, open the WhatsApp chat with Poko. Check the timezone in the welcome message and correct it if needed, especially if you live in different countries. Make sure WhatsApp notifications are allowed and the Poko chat is not muted.
Ask for accountability for their daily routine
Use “keep me accountable for” followed by the activity and time. Daily repetition is built in. Replace “morning medicine” and 8am with their own label and check-in time before sending.
Keep me accountable for morning medicine at 8amOpen in WhatsAppRead the confirmation and test delivery
Check the activity, daily time, and first check-in in Poko's reply. Send this separate two-minute test to check that a WhatsApp alert arrives. It does not change the medication schedule or add a completed day.
Remind me to check my WhatsApp notifications in 2 minutesOpen in WhatsAppWalk through the first check-in together
Show your parent the activity label and the three buttons. For this medicine activity, tap Completed only after taking it as prescribed. They can use the other buttons to postpone responding or close today's check-in, as explained below.
Choose a reminder or an accountability check-in
An ordinary reminder sends a message at the time you set. An accountability check-in also asks your parent to record whether they completed the activity and keeps their completed-day counts. Choose the accountability setup above when they want the buttons and progress view.
If they just want an alert, they can send “remind me to take my morning medicine every day at 8am,” edited to match their prescribed schedule. That creates an ordinary reminder. Set up both only if they want two scheduled messages.
Accountability currently checks in once a day for each activity. Weekly or selected-weekday check-ins are not supported. Ordinary reminders support other repeating schedules, so use those for a medicine prescribed on specific days.
Completed, snooze, and skip: what each button does
Each daily accountability message shows the activity, scheduled date, and a weekly record such as “3/7 completed.” The buttons are labelled Completed, Remind in 30 min, and Not completed.
Completed records one completed day for this activity. If the week's count was 3/7, it becomes 4/7, and the lifetime total increases by one. Tapping again cannot count the same date twice.
Remind in 30 min is snooze: Poko sends the same open check-in again 30 minutes later. The counts stay unchanged. Your parent can snooze again, but the check-in closes at local midnight; a snooze cannot carry it into tomorrow.
Not completed is skip: it closes today's check-in without adding a completed day. Earlier completed days stay counted, and the next daily check-in still arrives. If your parent leaves a check-in unanswered, it closes at midnight without adding a day.
Use the buttons in the check-in for these actions. Snooze delays the check-in message; it does not change a prescription. Skip records a response; it is not advice to skip medicine. Follow the prescribed instructions and ask a pharmacist or clinician what to do about a late or missed dose.
What “4/7 this week” means for their medication routine
For a daily medicine activity, 4/7 means your parent marked it Completed on four different local dates in the current Monday–Sunday week. You can read that as four days reported taken for that activity. The display counts their responses, not independently verified doses.
The denominator is always seven, even if they start on a Thursday. The weekly display starts fresh each Monday. Each activity has its own count and can add at most one completed day per local date.
If you think of this as a streak, the useful difference is that a missed day never erases earlier completed days. It is a weekly count, not consecutive days in a row. Four completed days still count as four even with a gap between them; a day cannot be marked complete after its local date has ended.
For several medicines or morning and evening routines, give each daily activity a distinct label. Their counts stay separate. One activity's 7/7 does not confirm that every medicine or every dose in the whole regimen was taken.
Send “progress” to see weekly and lifetime totals
Your parent can send the single word “progress” in their Poko chat whenever they want an overview. Poko lists each active accountability activity with its current-week count and total completed days since that activity was created.
For example, a reply could include “💊 Morning medicine: 4/7 this week · 32 days total.” That means four completed dates this week and 32 completed dates overall. Those 32 days include this week's four; they do not need to be consecutive.
When Monday comes around, the weekly count starts fresh and the lifetime total carries on. Snoozed, skipped, and unanswered check-ins add nothing to either count and do not subtract completed days. Ordinary reminders do not appear in this accountability progress view.
Progress is shown to your parent in their own chat. If they want you to see it, they can show or forward the reply. Poko does not automatically send family members completion reports or alerts about unanswered check-ins.
progressOpen in WhatsApp Change or stop an accountability activity
If the agreed check-in time changes, your parent can send “change accountability morning medicine to 9am,” substituting their activity label and new time. Read the confirmation to check the next check-in. Changing this time changes the Poko schedule only.
To stop the activity, send “cancel accountability morning medicine.” It stops future check-ins and hides the activity from progress. Previously completed days are retained for reactivation. Use these accountability commands for check-ins; “list” and “cancel N” manage ordinary reminders.
change accountability morning medicine to 9amcancel accountability morning medicineSend a parent a reminder from your own WhatsApp
If you want to schedule a message to their phone from yours, use the separate “poke” feature. For a parent saved as Mum, an example is “poke Mum to take her medicine every day at 8am.” Replace the name and schedule before sending. Your parent must accept reminders from you before they start arriving.
Accountability is set up in your parent's own chat. A poke from your account does not create their accountability activity or give you access to their progress. Keep a separate family check-in arrangement if you need to know how they are doing.
Keep refills, appointments, and bills in the same chat
Your parent can use ordinary reminders for a prescription refill, a clinic appointment, or a bill as well. Give each a clear label and choose the actual date and time. These are useful messages alongside daily accountability, with no completed-day count attached.
If an alert does not arrive, check their internet connection, WhatsApp notification settings, chat mute setting, timezone, and trial or subscription status. A scheduled message cannot guarantee that someone sees or acts on it; keep any care arrangements your family relies on.
remind me to check prescription refill on October 20 at 10amremind me about my clinic appointment tomorrow at 11amlistQuestions, answered
- Do my parents need to install anything?
- They need WhatsApp and an internet connection. There is no separate Pokobot app to install. Help them open the chat, send their setup message, and check that notifications arrive.
- Can I set up medication accountability for my parents remotely?
- You can guide them over a call, but they need to send the accountability setup message from their own WhatsApp account. Creating it in your account tracks your activity. The separate poke feature can send reminders to their phone after they accept.
- Is the medication count a streak that resets if they miss a day?
- No. It counts distinct days marked Completed. The weekly count covers Monday–Sunday and starts fresh each Monday. Missing or skipping a day does not erase earlier completed days, and the lifetime total continues across weeks.
- Can they snooze or skip a medication check-in?
- Yes. Tap Remind in 30 min to snooze the check-in or Not completed to close it for today. Neither adds a completed day or changes earlier counts. These buttons manage the check-in, not medical instructions about delaying or missing a dose.
- Can I see whether my parent took their medicine?
- Their progress command shows self-reported completed-day counts in their own chat. They can choose to share that reply with you. Poko does not verify doses or automatically notify you of completion, skipped days, or unanswered check-ins.
- Can accountability track a medicine taken once a week?
- Accountability currently supports daily activities only. Use an ordinary weekly reminder for a weekly prescription. It sends an alert without accountability buttons or completed-day totals.
- Is Pokobot free for parents?
- They can try Pokobot free for 7 days, with no card required. An active paid subscription is needed after the trial to keep scheduled messages running. See the pricing page for current plans.