First, an important note about privacy
AVA is still being developed and tested. Before we invite people to use real personal information, we're checking that everything works as intended, including privacy and security.
For now, please use fictional information only.
- Make up names, appointments, health concerns and other details.
- Do not enter real personal, medical, school or family information.
- Do not upload real documents or photographs containing personal information.
- Do not record actual appointments or conversations.
- Do not invite real people or use anyone's actual email address when testing helpers or sharing features.
Think of AVA as a practice space where you can explore freely using made-up examples.
Getting into AVA
- 1.
Go to AVA
Open theadvocacyvillageapp.ca, preferably on your phone, and tap Create your account.
- 2.
Create your account
Enter your email address and a password, read and accept the Test version agreement, and tap Create your account.
- 3.
Confirm your email
Open the confirmation email we send you and follow the link.
- 4.
Wait for approval
We approve new sign-ups once a day at noon Toronto time, and we email you when you're in.
If you sign in before then, AVA thanks you for signing up and asks you to wait.
- 5.
Sign in
Once our email arrives, return to AVA and sign in with the same email address and password.
AVA welcomes you and asks whose village you are starting. If it doesn't know your first name yet, it asks for that too. A first name or nickname is fine.
That's it. You're ready to explore.
What's a village?
In AVA, a village is the space you create for each person whose care or needs you're organizing, including yourself.
Each village keeps that person's appointments, notes, tasks, contacts and follow-ups together.
You might have one village for yourself, another for your child and another for a parent you're helping.
Each person's information stays in their own village. You can switch between villages or use All my villages to see what needs your attention across everyone.
The idea is simple: keep things organized around the person, while making life easier for the person doing the organizing.
Try AVA in 15 minutes
Let's walk through a simple example.
This should take about 15 minutes, but there's no rush. Take your time, skip anything that doesn't make sense, and explore at your own pace.
Meet Alex. Alex has a physiotherapy appointment on Thursday, two questions to ask, some exercises to remember and a follow-up appointment to arrange.
Alex is completely fictional, but the situation might sound familiar.
You can use Alex for this exercise or invent someone of your own.
- 1.
Start a village
The first time you sign in, AVA asks: Whose village are you starting?
Choose Someone I care for, then tap Continue.
Step 1 of 2 asks who the village is for. Enter a fictional name, such as Alex, and tap Continue.
You've created your first village.
- 2.
Add one thing you're keeping track of
Step 2 of 2 asks for one thing you're keeping track of for Alex right now.
Say it or type it, for example: "Physiotherapy appointment on Thursday." Choose when it needs doing, then tap Add it to Alex's village.
Or tap Skip for now. Either way, AVA opens Home.
- 3.
Finish setting up
On Home, Finish setting up lists a few optional next steps.
Tap Add a care professional or school contact to add a made-up physiotherapist, then Save care professional, or Skip for now.
Tap Add an upcoming appointment to create a pretend physiotherapy appointment for Alex. Give it a title, date and start time, then tap Save appointment.
If you take the short Home tour, tap Got it - go to Home at the end.
- 4.
Add something that needs doing
Tap the round + button and choose Add task.
For example: "Write down two questions for the physiotherapist."
Under Who will follow up?, choose Me, select today's date and tap Save task.
Now look on Home under Needs you.
That's one less thing to hold in your head.
- 5.
Capture what happened
Imagine Alex has just finished the appointment.
Tap Capture, then Type.
Enter something like:
"Physio suggested doing the exercises three times a week. Need to book another appointment in two weeks. Ask about lower back pain next time."
Tap Save & organize.
Then choose Organize this for me to see AVA's suggested next steps, or Sort by hand to organize the information yourself.
Check the suggestions before accepting them. AVA is there to help you organize, not make decisions for you.
Take a moment to look at what AVA suggests. Did it understand the note? Did it miss anything, add something that wasn't there, or suggest something that doesn't make sense?
- 6.
See how it all comes together
Return to Home.
Look at what's under Needs you and what you're Waiting on others to do.
Open Weekly plan to see what needs attention this week.
That's the basic AVA experience:
Capture what happened. Organize what's next. Know who's doing what, and by when.
Finding your way around
We've kept the main navigation simple.
- Home: See what needs attention and what's happening in the selected village.
- Calendar: Find appointments and important dates.
- Capture: Quickly get something out of your head by typing or speaking.
- Weekly plan: See what needs doing across your week.
- More: Find additional features, settings and help.
On your phone, you'll see a shorter menu. On a computer, a few more options may be visible.
Switching villages: Tap the person's name at the top of the screen to switch between villages.
Village: See one person's information, helpers and care professionals together.
All my villages: See what you're juggling across the people you're supporting. Select which villages you want included.
Want to explore a little more?
You don't need to try everything at once. Here are a few more things we'd love you to experiment with.
Try a follow-up
Add something you're waiting for, such as a referral or a return call. Give it a responsible person and a date to check back.
Try voice capture
On your phone, use Capture to speak a made-up note instead of typing it. See whether AVA understands what you meant and suggests useful next steps. Don't record a real conversation.
Try Visit day
Open a pretend appointment and tap Visit day. See how it helps you prepare questions and capture what happened afterwards.
Try assigning a task
Add a fictional helper, such as a sibling or partner, and assign them a pretend task. This is for testing only; fictional helpers are not actually contacted. Do not enter a real person's name, email address or contact details.
Try the weekly view
Create a few appointments and tasks for different fictional people, then open Weekly plan or All my villages. Does it help you see what needs your attention?
Try the Morgan family
Explore a fictional family created just for testing. Everyone participating in this shared exercise can see and change its information, so please don't enter anything personal.
Try using AVA more than once
Come back after a day or two. Can you easily find what you entered? Does it make sense without having to remember where you put things?
If something doesn't work as expected, that's useful feedback too.
Tell us what you think
This is probably the most important part of the test.
We're not expecting AVA to be perfect. We're trying to understand how it fits into real people's lives and what we need to improve.
There are no wrong answers. If something is confusing, that's something we need to learn from.
We're especially interested in hearing:
- What would you actually use in your everyday life?
- What would you probably ignore?
- What was confusing, frustrating or harder than you expected?
- Did AVA help you feel more organized or more on top of things?
- Could you easily find information after capturing it?
- What would you still keep in your notes, calendar, emails or somewhere else?
- What's missing that would make AVA genuinely useful to you?
You don't need to write a formal review. A quick comment, a screenshot or even "I couldn't figure out how to do this" is incredibly helpful.
How to send feedback
In AVA, tap Send feedback under Settings or More.
Or email us at feedback@theadvocacyvillageapp.ca.
Screenshots are welcome, but please make sure they contain fictional information only.
And if something doesn't make sense, please tell us. We'd much rather know where you got stuck than have you quietly give up.
Leaving the test
You're free to stop using AVA at any time. No hard feelings.
To delete your test account, go to Settings, select Delete my account and data, type DELETE and confirm.
This action is intended to delete your account and associated test information and cannot be undone. The Test version agreement says what AVA keeps and for how long.
A few important things to remember
AVA helps organize information, appointments, tasks and follow-ups. It does not provide medical advice, make diagnoses, replace your healthcare professionals or serve as an official medical record.
It is not an emergency service. In an emergency, call 911.
During this testing period, please continue using fictional information only.