Best Smart Home Devices for Elderly Parents: A Caregiver's Remote Setup

This guide is for adult children helping elderly parents live independently at home. Smart home devices for elderly parents—also called aging-in-place technology—are connected tools like sensors, cameras, locks, and emergency pendants that let caregivers monitor and provide support remotely while helping seniors maintain their independence.

Key takeaways

• Start with a conversation. Set up devices with your parent's knowledge and consent.
• Motion sensors and contact sensors provide peace of mind without feeling invasive.
• Smart locks eliminate hidden keys and let you track when aides arrive and leave.
• An emergency pendant gives your parent one-press access to 24/7 professional help.
• One app, one system: Combining devices on a single platform like Vivint simplifies monitoring for you and your parent.

Your mom is 81, living alone in Phoenix, and she doesn't want to move into assisted living. You're in Boston and can't talk her out of her independence. She's in the majority: three-quarters of adults 50 and older want to stay in their own homes as they age.

So, how do you watch out for her?

The same smart home tools people get for convenience can do a lot of caregiving from a distance: a smart lock for the aide, a camera you can talk through, sensors that show he's up and moving, and a button that calls for help in one press. What separates help from spying is how you set them up (with participation, not behind their back).

Top 5 smart home devices for elderly parents

Before diving into the details, here are the essential devices most caregivers start with:

1. Motion sensors. Track daily activity without cameras so you know your parent is up and moving.
2. Smart locks: Give aides and family their own entry codes.
3. Indoor camera with two-way talk. Check in face-to-face and see how your parent is really doing.
4. Emergency pendant. One press connects to 24/7 professional monitoring that can dispatch help.
5. Video doorbell. Screen visitors and deliveries from anywhere so your parent never opens the door to strangers.

Set it up with them

The fastest way to get rejected is to go about it in secret.

So start with a conversation. Tell them what you want to add and why: a lock so the aide doesn't need a key under the mat, a camera in the living room so a check-in can be face-to-face, a button they can press if they need help. Let them veto the bedroom. Show them the app. When the setup is something you built together, they actually use it.

You're not doing this alone, either: more than 70 million Americans like you provide the support that makes independent living possible for a loved one. Smart home technology is ready, and so are the home security systems it runs on, so you can give them the care they need in their own home.

The 5 biggest caregiver worries

Every caregiver's list looks a little different, but these five cover what comes up most when a loved one is aging in place. You don't need all of it on day one. Start with what you're most concerned about.

Are they up and moving today?

Are they up? Did they eat? Are they moving around like normal? If your parent doesn’t want cameras in their home, all you need is some senors and alerts.

A couple of motion sensors—small devices that detect movement in a room—cover it. Put one in the kitchen and a contact sensor (a two-piece sensor that detects when a door or appliance is opened) on the fridge or the front door, then have the Vivint smartphone app notify you when there's activity in the morning. Over a week or two, you learn their rhythm, so on the morning there’s no activity, you know to give them a call.

What’s the best way to check in without hovering?

A quick face-to-face beats a missed phone call. The Vivint Indoor Camera is a security camera with two-way talk—a feature that lets you speak and listen through the camera—so you can pull up the living room on your phone, say hi, and actually see how your parent is doing. Vivint's Indoor Camera Pro even has a one-touch callout, so they can reach out with a single button when they want you.

Keep smart cameras in common areas (never the bedroom or bathroom) and make sure they know where they are and how to tell when one is on.

How do aides and family get in safely?

A key under the mat is how homes get broken into. A smart lock doesn’t need a key; Vivint smart locks let you assign up to 50 unique access codes. You get a notification when a code is used, so you know the aide arrived at 9 a.m. and left at noon, and you can delete a code the day someone's no longer on the schedule.

What about an emergency?

With the Vivint senior alert system, your parent wears an emergency pendant on a wristband or lanyard. One press connects them straight to a 24/7 monitoring team that can dispatch help or call you. For customers 75 and older, the pendant is included free with a new alert system.*

This is help on demand, not automatic fall detection. The pendant doesn't sense a fall on its own; your parent presses it. If automatic fall detection is a must-have, some families add a fall-detecting smartwatch like the Apple Watch alongside the pendant and sensors. Other medical alert system on the market, like ones from Medical Guardian or Philips Lifeline, offer automatic fall detection as a built-in feature.

Will they keep up with medications?

Vivint doesn't manage medications, but a smart speaker can help. Voice assistants like Google Assistant let you set recurring voice commands and spoken medication reminders ("9 a.m., time for your morning pills") on the same Google Home speaker that manages the lights and the thermostat. For medication management that needs more structure, a dedicated smart pill dispenser handles the actual doses, and the reminder just makes sure they hear it.

Add home security devices for full coverage

Once your core setup is in place, a few more devices improve home safety and comfort. Most of them pull double duty for a caregiver checking in from afar. Here’s what to consider:

• Smart thermostats. A smart thermostat holds the house at a steady, comfortable temperature you can adjust from your phone, which matters when an older body handles heat and cold poorly. It also lowers heating and cooling costs and leads to real energy savings.
• Smart lighting. Falls can happen more easily in the dark. Smart lights, or smart plugs on lamps you already own, can switch on at predetermined time or when your motion sensor picks up movement., lighting the path to the bathroom.
• Smart smoke and carbon monoxide detector. A smart smoke detector sends the alarm to your phone and the monitoring team, so a kitchen fire or a carbon monoxide leak reaches you even if your parent sleeps through it.
• Doorbell camera. Doorbell cameras, also called video doorbells, let your parent see who's at the door before opening it and let you screen the porch for scammers and deliveries from two time zones away.

Help Mom or Dad from anywhere

You can't be there every day, and the right setup means you don't have to be. A Vivint system puts the lock, the camera, the sensors, and the pendant on one app and one 24/7 professional monitoring team, so you can check in, let the aide in, and know help is one press away, all from your kitchen in Boston.

When you and your parent are ready, you can set up their home with Vivint. Give us a call at 855.822.1220 to get started.

Frequently asked questions

A few questions come up a lot when caregivers start planning a setup.

How do I monitor an elderly parent remotely?

Use connected devices that can be controlled from a single app. Motion sensors and contact sensors monitor indoor activity, indoor cameras can be used for two-way talk check-ins, a smart lock lets people with a code in, and an emergency pendant

What's the best smart home setup for aging parents?

Essential devices include a smart lock and sensors with a smart home app you can control from anywhere. Add an indoor camera for check-ins and a senior alert pendant for emergencies as needs grow.

Can a smart home detect a fall?

Vivint doesn't use automatic fall detection. The emergency pendant gives your parent one-press help, and activity sensors let you spot unusual inactivity quickly so you can check in. For automatic fall detection, consider adding a dedicated medical alert system with that feature built in.

Does someone actually monitor the system, or do alerts just come to me?

Both. Vivint provides 24/7 professional monitoring that can dispatch help, and you also get activity and security alerts in the app.

How do I bring this up with my parent without offending them?

Frame it around independence and staying in their home. Involve them in what goes where, keep cameras to shared spaces, and let them hold the controls.

*Qualifying system purchase requires minimum $599.99 equipment purchase, minimum $39.99/month services agreement and professional installation. Reactivations of previously-installed systems not eligible for offer. Offer is for customers 75 years of age or older and may not be available in all states or provinces. Equipment purchase may be financed separately subject to an agreement with one of Vivint's third-party financing partners. Well-qualified customers may finance equipment purchase at 0% APR for up to 60 months. Month-to-month service agreement available when equipment is purchased up front. Without a Vivint services plan, product and system functionality is limited (including loss of remote connectivity for the alert pendant). Monthly $1.48 cellular network maintenance fee applies. Taxes and local permit fees may apply. Speak to a Vivint representative for complete equipment, services, and package details, including pricing and financing details. Products and services in Louisiana provided by Vivint Louisiana Commercial Certificate #58280. See Vivint license numbers here.