We leave home for the first time, enjoy the freedom of a first pay cheque, rebuild after life’s unexpected turns, or stay in the home we love as we grow older. The circumstances may not always be chosen, but the desire is the same — to live on our own terms, surrounded by the people, places and memories that matter.
That’s why independent living isn’t defined by age, circumstance or ability, but by living the way we want to. Our ambition is not simply to help people live independently, but to make that life rich in confidence, connection and continuity, for as long as they choose it.
Every independent life is supported by a network of relationships that develops over years: family, friends, neighbours, familiar faces, shared routines and the quiet reassurance that comes from belonging somewhere. Some of those people live around the corner. Others may live hundreds or thousands of miles away.
Distance changes where people live. It doesn’t change who matters.
OurGrapeVine exists to help those connections stay part of everyday life — not by replacing them, but by giving the people you choose a quiet, ordinary way to stay close to how you’re doing, wherever they happen to be. That circle is yours to build: family near and far, old friends, a carer or support worker you trust, a neighbour two doors down. They don’t need to know each other. They just need to care about you. Inviting them is how you say the thing that’s otherwise hard to say — you’re not disturbing me.
Every life has its own rhythm.
It emerges from ordinary moments that, on their own, seem insignificant: the dog being walked, a message answered, a neighbour saying hello, a coffee with friends. None of these moments tells the whole story. Together, they create something quietly reassuring — a sense that life is unfolding as expected.
Neighbours have always read these signs without anyone calling it anything. Curtains drawn back by nine. The milk taken in. A gate closed, a light on, the car gone from the drive. Nobody agreed to any of it — it simply meant the day had started, and if it didn’t appear, someone knocked.
OurGrapeVine adds one more sign, readable from two hundred miles away: the kettle boiling first thing, to show the day has started.* A smart plug behind the kettle picks it up quietly, without anyone having to remember anything. Or, if you’d rather, it can be as simple as pressing a button each day.
And if the sign doesn’t appear, someone still knocks. With the smart plug subscription, we ask you first, then let your grapevine and your nominated contact know.
No cameras. No wearables. Nothing to wear or carry. Whichever you choose, the people you’ve invited see, simply and plainly, that the day is unfolding as usual.
Nothing replaces a visit. OurGrapeVine just makes it easier to make one.
* It doesn’t have to be the kettle. Any appliance you use every morning will do.
Most days, nothing needs to happen — from us. Just a quiet sign that the day is unfolding as it usually does, shared with everyone who cares. What they do with it is up to them, and a good day is as good a reason to get in touch as a quiet one.
Sometimes a reassuring glance is enough. Sometimes it’s a text, a phone call or a visit. The people you’ve chosen have a shared space for all of it — a note on an ordinary day, a photo, a plan to come over, and yes, a quick word between them when something needs sorting. Most of what gets said there has nothing to do with an alert. That is rather the point.
On the days it looks different, everyone knows at once.
No technical knowledge needed, and nothing about it is permanent — you’re in control of every part, and can change it whenever your life does.
Create your account
Quick sign-up with your email. No technical knowledge needed, no complicated setup.
Choose your circle
Invite the people you’d like to stay gently connected with. Family, friends, neighbours, carers — anyone you’d want in the picture. You’re in control of who’s included and what they see.
Set your morning window
The hours you’d normally be up and about. That’s the only thing we watch, and you choose it, so it fits this household rather than a generic standard. You can change it at any time.
The difference isn’t what happens in the house. It’s whether you have to remember, and whether we follow up if the morning goes quiet.
| Free | With a plugfirst month free | |
|---|---|---|
| Chat with your grapevine | ✓ | ✓ |
| A morning window you set | ✓ | ✓ |
| A note in the chat if the morning is quiet | ✓ | ✓ |
| Checking inone is something to remember; the other isn’t | You tap | The kettle does it |
| We check with you first if nothing’s been seen | – | ✓ |
| Your grapevine is told if you stay quiet | – | ✓ |
| Your nominated contact is sent a textoptional — you choose who, and they agree to it | – | ✓ |
If a morning goes quiet, with a plug
An example, for a morning window that ends at 9:30
Any sign of the morning along the way, such as the kettle going on or a tap to check in, settles it and nothing more is sent. Your own times follow the window you set, and anyone following you can stop the sequence from the chat as soon as they know what’s happening.
Free, with the manual check-in ready to use straight away. No commitment, and you can close your account at any time.
Free to open. No commitment. Upgrades available once you have an account.
We’ll send a code to your email — no password needed.
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Everything you might want to know before you get started.
The service
No. OurGrapeVine is not a falls alarm and does not detect falls or medical emergencies. It watches for a simple, ordinary sign that everything is carrying on as normal — from whichever sensor you choose — and alerts your circle when that sign doesn’t appear when you’ve said it should, so they can reach out.
If you need a falls alarm or emergency response service, please look for a dedicated personal alarm provider. OurGrapeVine works well alongside one.
No — and it’s important to be honest about this. OurGrapeVine watches for a daily sign that the home is being lived in. When that sign doesn’t appear when you’ve said it should, it flags it. It can’t tell you why. A quiet day might mean a long bath, a trip out, an afternoon with a book — or something worth checking on.
There is no substitute for visiting and checking in person if you are concerned. OurGrapeVine gives you one more reason to reach out — not a reason to assume everything is fine.
One thing: that you’ve been up and about in the morning. You pick where that sign comes from — a simple button you press, or a smart plug on something you use first thing, like the kettle.
It never sees specific detail: not what you’re watching, not which room you’re in beyond the broadest sense, not what you’re doing. Only that the appliance was used, and roughly when.
Worth knowing: the plug needs to go on something used in the morning, because that’s the sign being watched for. A kettle works well. A lamp or a television that only goes on in the evening would look like a quiet morning every day.
Either way, OurGrapeVine is only one part of the picture — not the whole of it. The people in your circle provide the rest.
Your circle
Anyone you choose. Family near and far. Friends. Neighbours. A carer. A support worker. Anyone who’d want to be gently in the picture — and who you’d want there.
They don’t need to know each other. They just need to care about you. The circle shares the same daily signal, so nobody carries it alone.
Yes. If you and a friend both use OurGrapeVine, you can each add the other to your circles. You look out for them; they look out for you. Nobody asks, nobody intrudes. It just happens, quietly.
Groups of friends, neighbours, or former colleagues all living alone can create a genuine mutual support network — without anyone ever having to ask “are you okay?”
No. Your circle sees a simple summary: whether the day’s sign has appeared, and roughly when. They can’t see your appliances, your movements or what you’re doing, and if a morning goes quiet, they’re told only that — not why.
On a typical day, nobody is sent anything. The sign is simply there in the app for anyone who looks, alongside the chat your circle shares.
Getting started
No. Daily check-in needs nothing at all beyond the app, and automatic detection uses a smart plug, which simply sits between the wall socket and something you already use first thing in the morning — the kettle is the usual choice.
Straight away. You choose the one thing that matters — the window you’d normally be up and about in the morning. There’s no waiting period and nothing to learn first, and you can change the window at any time.
Not at all. You choose a single, simple sign — a button you press, or a smart plug on something you already use in the morning — and give permission for that one signal to be shared with us. The plug runs quietly in the background with nothing to wear, charge or remember; and if you’d rather have something more active, a daily button press works too. Either way, it’s one gentle signal, and nothing more.
An email address, and a phone, tablet or computer to open OurGrapeVine on. That’s all you need for the daily check-in.
For automatic detection, you’ll also need Wi-Fi at home and a compatible smart plug, which you buy yourself. We show you which ones work once you’ve signed up. A mobile number is optional, if you’d like us to text you when a morning goes quiet.
Once you’ve opened your free account, we show you which smart plugs work with OurGrapeVine and how to set one up, step by step. You only need one if you want automatic detection; the daily check-in needs nothing at all.
You buy the plug directly from the retailer, so any questions about the plug itself, or returning it, go to them.
Notifications
There is one thing we watch for: nothing detected during the morning window you’ve chosen. You set that window yourself, so it reflects when this household is actually up and about rather than a generic standard. Once the day’s first sign appears, your circle sees it and nothing more is sent.
If the morning does pass with nothing, we get in touch with you first — not your circle — by email, and by text message if you’ve given us your mobile number. Putting the kettle on settles it, and there’s nothing to click or reply to. An hour later, if we still haven’t seen anything, we ask again. An hour after that we let your circle know, and then we stop. Everything we’ve done appears in the chat as it happens, so anyone looking can see where things stand.
You can also name one person as your nominated contact, and they are the one we get in touch with directly. It isn’t extra surveillance — it’s the opposite of a group message that everybody assumes somebody else is dealing with. We contact them by text message. They agree to be the one who follows it up: a call, a message, a word with a neighbour, or deciding it’s nothing. We never ask anyone to go round, and nobody can be nominated without being asked — they accept it themselves, and add their own number themselves. You can’t enter it for them.
Anyone following you can stop the whole sequence from the chat as soon as they know what’s happening. They’re asked to say why, in their own words, and that goes into the chat for everyone — so nobody comes back later to a morning that simply went quiet with no explanation.
Beyond choosing who to nominate, we never decide who among your circle ought to do something. We tell you, then we tell them, and what happens next is yours.
We’ll also tell your circle if the smart plug stops reporting, or is switched off at the socket — because a plug that can’t detect anything looks exactly like a quiet morning, and you should never be left thinking you’re covered when you’re not. While that’s the case, the morning check is held back rather than firing an alert nobody can act on.
You can suppress notifications on specific days — for example if you regularly go out, or are planning to be away.
You can pause notifications for a set period directly from the dashboard. This prevents alerts firing when your absence is planned and expected.
Pausing is the right thing to do for any trip. Nothing is inferred from your absence and nothing needs re-learning when you get back — the morning window you set is the whole of it, so the service picks up exactly where it left off.
Privacy & data
Yes. Your activity is only visible to you and the people you have chosen to add. We never sell your data or use it for advertising, and we only share it with the services that help us run OurGrapeVine, such as our hosting and payment providers. Our Privacy Policy has the details.
Whichever sign you choose, the service sees only the simple signal it needs — whether the home’s usual rhythm is carrying on — not which specific appliances are on, which room you’re in, or what you are doing.
Cost
Opening an account is free, and the manual check-in option stays free permanently — so you can settle in with no commitment and cancel any time.
The upgrade adds two halves of one thing: a smart plug notices activity on its own, so nothing has to be remembered, and if a morning goes quiet we get in touch to settle it before anyone else is troubled — you first, twice, then your circle, then the one person you’ve nominated, and then we stop. Free leaves a note in the app. Paid follows up. Upgrade pricing is shown in your account.
Yes. Daily check-in is free permanently, so you can use OurGrapeVine without paying anything at all — though on the free plan a quiet morning appears in the chat and nothing else happens.
Automatic detection and the follow-up together are £9 a month, and start with 30 days free from the moment your plug first detects activity — not from when you sign up, so nothing is used up while you’re still setting it up. There’s no minimum term, and you can cancel at any time.
Support & your account
We’re a small team, so support is by email only, at support@ourgrapevine.co. We aim to reply within two working days. We don’t offer phone support.
We can help with how OurGrapeVine works and with your account. We can’t help with emergencies — if you’re worried someone is in danger, contact them directly or call 999.
Email support@ourgrapevine.co from the email address on your account, and tell us whether you want to cancel your subscription or close your account altogether. We’ll confirm by email once it’s done.
Cancelling a subscription takes you back to the free daily check-in at the end of your current period. If you cancel within 14 days of subscribing, you won’t be charged anything.
