Charity-backed app uses Spotift to allow users to create personal playlist

Playlist for Life is releasing an app that will help people with dementia by enabling them, their loved ones, and carers to harness the power of music.

The free app, designed with the help of people living with dementia, makes it simple and fun to create a unique playlist of personally-meaningful tunes.

Two decades of academic research has proven that music can help people living with dementia.

It can reduce agitation and distress, reduce the need for drugs, and help reconnect families. The most powerful music is the music that has strong personal memories associated with it.

As well as the proven benefits to people with dementia, creating and using a playlist is an activity that brings benefits to family members and carers too by helping to bring them closer to a loved one living with dementia.

The app introduces people to the character of the Music Detective, their friendly guide who helps them track down the music that forms the soundtrack of their life – or the life of a loved one.

Users can access a range of reminiscence prompts to guide them to the music that holds the strongest memories. Or they can browse over a hundred playlists of songs from the past century.

The app taps into the expertise of Playlist for Life’s real-life music detectives who will be adding new playlists every month to delight and surprise users.

Once someone has found their music they can listen to it whenever they need it, day or night.

The app is powered by Spotify and allows users to listen to more than 30 million songs available in Spotify’s library.

The public version of the Playlist for Life app is made possible by a donation from the Utley Foundation, and builds on a research app developed in partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University as part of Nesta’s Dementia Citizens project and funded by The Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation, Edinburgh & Lothians Health Foundation, and Alzheimer Scotland.

Sally Magnusson, founder and chair of Playlist for Life, said “The incredible generosity of our funding partners has allowed us to develop an app that will make it easier for people to find the most potent music to connect with loved ones who have dementia, and for those in the earlier stages of the illness themselves to find and use the music that means most to them.”

Henry Simmons, Alzheimer Scotland chief executive, added: “I am really pleased to welcome this new development from playlist for life. Research has shown that music can have a positive and uplifting effect offering many cognitive benefits. It can also help people with dementia to stimulate memories. This is a very effective therapeutic tool which will make a positive contribution to lives of many people living with dementia and their families.”

The app is available here.