A medical alert for seniors with no monthly fee
A monitored pendant is sold with a monthly fee for as long as you live. The phone in your pocket can already do the part that matters most — noticing that something is wrong and telling somebody who cares. Snuggy does that for $49.99 a year, and the daily check-in is free.
But a phone is not a pendant, and pretending otherwise would be a poor way to start. Here is the honest version of both.
If you have already looked at a pendant and said no
Most people who end up here have done the sums. A monitored medical alert for seniors runs to a monthly fee, often with a contract, sometimes with equipment to buy on top — and it never stops. You looked at that and thought: I am steady on my feet, I have a phone in my pocket all day, and I have a daughter who would come. Is there really nothing between a pendant and nothing at all?
There is, and this is it. Not a cheaper pendant — a different thing that covers the same worry: how long before anyone notices. If you are looking for a medical alert with no monthly fee, what you are really looking for is somebody being told. That part does not need a device.
What you are actually comparing
A monitored pendant
- A monthly fee, usually with a contract
- A device to wear and charge
- A call centre answers when you press it
- Some models detect a fall on their own
- They can send an ambulance without you speaking
Snuggy, on the phone you own
- $49.99 a year — about $4 a month, no contract
- Nothing to wear, nothing to charge
- You tap once a day to say you are okay
- Miss it and it rings you, then tells the person you chose
- A red SOS button opens 911 and alerts your contact at once
What Snuggy does not do
This is the part most comparisons leave out, and it is the part you should decide on.
It cannot detect a fall
There is no sensor. If you fall and cannot reach your phone, Snuggy will not know until your check-in is missed.
There is no call centre
Nobody is watching a screen. Snuggy tells a person you chose — a daughter, a neighbour, a carer — and asks them to look in on you.
It does not send an ambulance
The SOS button opens 911 on your phone and you press call. No app should be able to dial an emergency line from inside a pocket.
So which one is right for you?
Buy the device if…
- You have fallen before, or are at real risk of it
- You may be unable to reach a phone
- You want someone answering 24 hours a day
- The monthly fee is affordable for you
In that case the pendant is the right purchase, and we would rather say so.
An app is enough if…
- You are steady on your feet but live on your own
- Your worry is “how long before anyone notices”
- You keep your phone nearby anyway
- You have someone who would come — family, a neighbour, a friend
Most people who write to us are in this second group.
Questions people ask
- Is there really a medical alert with no monthly fee?
- Not from the pendant companies — a monitored device is sold with a monthly fee, because you are paying for the people who answer. What you can do without one is use the phone you already own, and pay once a year instead.
- Can I use it for free?
- Yes. The daily check-in, the reminders and an email to your contact if you miss one cost nothing, with no time limit and no card. Texts and phone calls to your contact are the paid part, because each one costs money to send.
- Does it work on an iPad?
- Yes, as well as on an iPhone or an Android phone.
- What if I have nobody to tell?
- Then be honest with yourself that an app is the wrong answer, and look at a monitored service. Snuggy works by reaching a person; without one there is nobody to reach.
Life Alert and other product names are trademarks of their owners and are used here only to describe what they do.