Iris ICU Companion
The ICU is overwhelming. Everything happens fast. The beeping is constant. The questions pile up. You may not know who to ask, what to expect, or how to take care of yourself while taking care of someone you love.
Iris ICU Companion was built for this moment.
For patients. For Families. For anyone keeping watch.
Whether you are the one in the bed or the one holding the hand beside it — the ICU asks a lot of you. You may be making decisions you never expected to make. You may be sitting with fear, grief, and love all at once. You may be trying to hold everything together while running on no sleep and hospital cafeteria coffee.
Iris is not a medical app. It will not diagnose anything or tell you what to do. What it will do is sit with you. Help you stay organized. Give you a moment of calm when you can find one. And remind you that what you are feeling makes sense.
Iris is free to use. A premium version is also available for those who want more.
Everything you need in one place.
📓 ICU Diary Write about what’s happening. Your thoughts, your fears, the small moments you don’t want to forget. Research shows that keeping a diary during an ICU stay can help reduce trauma symptoms later — for both patients and their families. You can keep your diary private, or share entries with your care team in a way that works for your hospital.
🗓 Schedule Know when rounds are. Know when you can step away to eat. Add reminders and keep track of what’s happening each day. When everything feels chaotic, a simple schedule can help you feel less lost.
👥 Care team The ICU has a lot of people coming in and out. Who is the intensivist? What does the respiratory therapist do? What can you ask the chaplain? Iris helps you understand who everyone is and gives you words for the conversations that feel hard to start.
💬 Questions You will think of a question the moment rounds end. Write it down here. Iris keeps a running list so you never lose track of what you wanted to ask. Premium members can also use Iris AI to help turn a worry into a clear, specific question for the care team.
🌿 Relax Breathing exercises. Grounding practices. Guided imagery. These tools are designed with the ICU in mind — trauma-informed, gentle, and completely in your control. You choose what feels right. You can skip anything that doesn’t.
🎮 Games Boredom is real. Anxiety is real. A word search at 2am is a legitimate coping strategy. Iris includes simple games designed for one-handed use and low cognitive load — because your brain is already doing a lot.
🧠 Delirium information About two out of three ICU patients experience delirium. It can be frightening to witness. Iris explains what delirium is, why it happens, what it is not, and what families can do to help.
📋 Advance directives These are some of the hardest conversations to start. Iris gives you plain-language information about what advance directives are, why they matter right now, and a gentle script for beginning the conversation with your loved one.
🕊 Grief support You do not have to have lost someone to be grieving. Anticipatory grief — grieving while someone is still here — is real and valid. Iris offers information and gentle support for the many forms of grief that show up in the ICU.
🌱 Life after the ICU Leaving the hospital is not the end of the journey. Many survivors and their families experience lasting effects — physical, cognitive, and emotional — known as Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS). Iris helps you understand what to expect and where to find support.
Start free. Upgrade when you’re ready.
The core features in ICU Companion are free. There are no paywalls on the content that matters most. Premium adds depth — more tools, more support, and a gentle AI companion for those who want it.
| Free | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| ICU diary | ✓ | ✓ |
| Schedule and questions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Care team guide | ✓ | ✓ |
| Educational content | ✓ | ✓ |
| Core relaxation exercises | ✓ | ✓ |
| Card matching and gratitude games | ✓ | ✓ |
| Iris AI — diary reflection | — | ✓ |
| Iris AI — question helper | — | ✓ |
| Full relaxation library | — | ✓ |
| Full games library | — | ✓ |
Premium: $9.99/month or $79.99/year
If your hospital has given you a code, enter it in the app to unlock premium at no cost during our pilot phase.
About Iris AI
The AI features in Iris ICU Companion are not diagnostic tools. They do not provide medical advice. They will not tell you what treatment to choose or what your loved one’s prognosis is.
What they do is listen — and reflect back. The diary AI might ask a gentle question after you write, or notice a pattern in what you’ve been writing over several days. The question helper AI helps you take a worry that is living in your chest and turn it into something clear and specific you can bring to the nurse or doctor.
Think of it as a thoughtful companion, not a clinician. Every AI response includes a reminder of this distinction, and no AI is used without your consent.
Built with care – not just code.
Iris was developed by Iris Digital Health, a company grounded in the clinical science of medical trauma and caregiver support. Every feature in this app reflects what we know about what people actually need during a critical illness — from the research on ICU diaries and Post-Intensive Care Syndrome, to the principles of trauma-informed mindfulness that guide the relaxation section.
The relaxation practices in Iris acknowledge that the body may feel like an unsafe place right now. That not everyone has equal access to all of their senses. That what works for one person may not work for another. You are always offered a choice. You are never pushed.
The educational content is written at a plain-language reading level and reviewed for clinical accuracy. Nothing in this app tells you to stay positive, look on the bright side, or be strong for your family. We know that’s not what you need.
Partnering with hospitals
We are currently in our pilot phase, working with a small number of hospitals to understand how Iris fits into ICU care. If your hospital is interested in offering Iris to patients and families, we would love to talk.
Hospital partners receive a code that unlocks full premium access for their patients at no cost during the trial period. In return, we ask only that willing users share brief, optional feedback about their experience.
We are building toward deeper integration — including the ability for families to share their diary with the care team through your hospital’s existing systems. We want to get there the right way, with your input.
Your diary stays yours.
What you write in Iris stays on your device unless you choose to share it. Iris does not transmit your diary entries to any server. There is no database where your thoughts are stored. When you export or share your diary, you are in complete control of where it goes.
We collect only what we need to run the app. We do not sell data. We do not show you ads. We do not share your information with third parties.
A note about what ICU Companion is – and what it isn’t.
Iris ICU Companion is a wellness and support app. It is not a medical device, a clinical intervention, or a substitute for care from a qualified healthcare provider or mental health professional.
The information in Iris is educational. It does not constitute medical advice. If you or your loved one are experiencing a mental health crisis, please speak with a member of your care team, contact the hospital social worker or chaplain, or call or text 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, US) at any time.
You don’t have to navigate this alone.
Iris is free. It takes less than a minute to open. And it will be there whether it’s 2pm during visiting hours or 3am when the waiting room is quiet and you can’t stop thinking.