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Using the AI assistant

The assistant is a conversation, not a set of forms. Tell it what you need in plain language and it takes action: schedules events, builds lists, sends messages, looks things up, and answers from your own documents. It already knows who your family is.

Talking to the assistant

Open Chat and type. You don't need to phrase things carefully or use keywords. Be as casual as you would with a capable assistant. If a request is ambiguous, it asks a quick follow-up rather than guessing.

You can attach a photo or file to a message (or use the Add button), then ask about it: “here's the excursion form, add the dates”.
The Chat screen: channel and feature threads on the left, the conversation in the middle, and a composer with attach and voice buttons.
The Chat screen: channel and feature threads on the left, the conversation in the middle, and a composer with attach and voice buttons.

What it can do

A flavour of what people ask, all from one chat box:

  • “Find a free 2-hour slot for me and Emma next week”
  • “Remind Sophie about her maths test 24 hours before”
  • “Plan us four dinners this week using what we have”
  • “Summarise this YouTube video on toddler sleep”
  • “How much is mince at Woolworths vs Coles right now?”
  • “What's Emma's email and does she have WhatsApp?”

For the live-lookup powers (prices, weather, maps, web, travel) see Ask the world. For coordinating with people outside your family, see Event planning.

Voice notes

Tap the microphone in the chat composer (or in any Add box) and just talk, as you would on WhatsApp. The button turns red and you can see your voice moving while it records, which is handy when you're cooking or driving. Take your time: pauses don't cut you off. Tap the red button again to send the voice note, or the bin to throw it away.

KinLife listens to the recording, acts on what you asked, and writes down what you said under the voice note, so it stays in your chat history and you can search for it later. You can play any voice note back, at normal speed or faster. On WhatsApp you can send voice notes the same way.

The first time, your browser or phone asks to use the microphone. A voice note can be up to 5 minutes long.

The channel chats

There is no “new chat” button. Instead you have a small set of perpetual chats that run forever, listed in the chat sidebar:

  • Channels: Chat, WhatsApp, and Email. Every WhatsApp message you ever send lives in one WhatsApp thread; same for email. Chat is your home chat on the web.
  • Feature chats: calendar, notes, todos, reminders, meals, budget, health, and saved links each have their own assistant thread, mirrored in the panel on those pages.

In the app, the assistant reads the recent part of the active thread plus a rolling summary of everything older, so it keeps context without you re-explaining. On WhatsApp and email it reads your last 30 messages, and it can search anything older when you refer back to it.

Quote-reply

On WhatsApp you can reply to a specific earlier message to pull it back into focus, even if it's scrolled well out of view. The quoted message is surfaced to the assistant so it knows exactly what you're referring to. Replying to one of KinLife's emails works the same way. The web chat has no quote-reply: say what you're referring to, or search for it (below).

How its memory works

KinLife keeps one persistent memory for your whole family: shared context like each child's school, recurring commitments, and dietary needs. It draws on this in every conversation, so you don't re-explain your family each time. There is no separate per-person memory, and the assistant's persona is shared by the family too.

Memory builds up automatically as you use the app, and you can view and edit it in Settings → Memory. See Settings & personalisation for how to shape the assistant's persona and tone.