I am in my fifties, and my mother, now past eighty, lives far away in the countryside.
Our parents' generation built the foundation for the lives we live today through a lifetime of devotion and hardship. But the world is changing too fast. Even handling a smartphone has become a daily wall for our parents, while children in their 30s to 50s, holding on in demanding jobs and raising their own kids, cannot properly look after the parents who spent a lifetime looking after us. That is the reality today.
Amid all this, heartbreaking stories come from not far away. An elderly person who passed away alone, someone who lost a lifetime of savings to voice phishing, a person with dementia who lost their way and wandered the streets. These weren't news items; they were the stories of our neighbors.
Our social safety net still lacks the people and the funding to embrace them all.
Fortunately, we have entered an age where artificial intelligence can fill a little of that gap. It isn't perfect, but it can let our parents easily ask about whatever they're wondering, remind them of medication times that are easy to forget, detect suspicious text messages early, and let their children know whether today was an ordinary, safe day.
So we built it. An app where parents enjoy the benefits of technology without difficulty, and children, even from far away, know how their parents' day went, worry a little less and care a little more. An app that puts family before technology. That is Marujigi.
Maru's look is based on my child at four years old, walking to kindergarten with a little backpack. That image, so adorable it stayed with me for years, we placed in a turtle, a symbol of longevity and steadiness. Wearing a flat cap and horn-rimmed glasses, clever Maru is a diligent, kind-hearted child who stays by our parents' side for a long, long time.
In a Korean country house, the place where the elderly sat alone was always the maru, the wooden porch. Picture parents sitting on that porch, lost in thought, as the grandchildren gather around to chatter. The one who keeps watch over that maru is the marujigi, "keeper of the maru."
Every screen in Marujigi starts with one question: "Could my mother use this on her own?"
Not for parents alone; an app the whole family uses together.
Going forward, we will read changes in parents' health and mood more attentively and alert families sooner, and make the location alerts that prevent getting lost even more dependable. New updates will be announced on this page first.
Lonely deaths of seniors living alone, losses to voice phishing, people with dementia who lose their way: these are not one family's problem but everyone's.
The Maru character and the Marujigi service are protected by copyright and trademark. Only completed registrations are labeled "Registered"; applications are shown as pending.
※ The certificate image shown is a public copy with sensitive details (corporate registration number, filing numbers) masked and watermarked.
Marujigi, the AI voice assistant that stays by your parents' side, has officially launched. Start free right away, and use it together with family or on your own.
The trademark for Maru, our turtle character, has been registered with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (Class 38, internet broadcasting and related services; Reg. No. 40-2595931). The application for app and AI services (Class 42) has been filed and is under examination (No. 40-2026-0131747).
"Maru, the character of a senior-care app" has been registered as a copyrighted work with the Korea Copyright Commission (Reg. No. C-2026-029924). Maru is Marujigi's own character, protected by both copyright and trademark.
We'll guide you through group adoption for 30 or more seniors, the caregiver admin portal and facility dashboards.