Guide · aging in place
Aging in place technology: help a parent stay home. Without taking over their life.
The technology that lets an aging parent keep their independence, and how to choose it.
The technology that lets an aging parent keep their independence, and how to choose it.
Many older adults want to stay in their own home, on their own terms, for as long as it's safe. Aging in place is exactly that, and the right technology is what makes it possible without a caregiver in the house every hour of the day.
There's no single right answer. The choices tend to fall into four groups.
A button your parent presses in an emergency. Simple and widely used, but it only helps while it is worn, and button-only models need your parent to press it.
A live view, but many parents refuse to be filmed at home, and many families won't put a camera in a bathroom.
Track routine and flag when something looks off. Private, but they infer rather than detect, and can't tell a fall from a nap.
Detect falls and daily activity automatically, in the dark and in the bathroom, without capturing any images. Privacy plus awareness.
Most nights, nothing happens. That is the point. Silvie senses the ordinary rhythms of the day in the rooms where a sensor is installed. Did they get up this morning. Did they sleep through the night.
Families tell us the overnight hours were the hardest part. No way to know if a parent living alone was alright between bedtime and breakfast. Silvie can help fill that gap without a camera, without anything to wear, and without a 6am phone call to check.
A pendant often gets left on the counter. Radar needs nothing worn, and it works in full darkness.
How Silvie compares to the two most common alternatives.
| Silvie radar | Camera | Pendant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private (no images) | Yes | No | Yes |
| Automatic (nothing to press) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works at night & in the bathroom | Yes | No | Yes |
| Option | Best at | The gap Silvie fills |
|---|---|---|
| Medical alert pendant / watch (e.g. Medical Guardian) | Help out in the community, GPS location | Only helps while it is worn and charged. Button-only models also need your parent to be able to press the button; models with automatic fall detection do not. A pendant left on the nightstand overnight covers nothing. |
| Wearable rings / bands (e.g. Oura) | Sleep and activity trends | Has to be charged and worn every day. Not built for fall alerts. |
| Phone location sharing | Knowing where they are when they carry it | The phone gets left on the kitchen counter. No help if they cannot reach it. |
| Indoor cameras | A live picture | Many parents will not accept a camera in the bedroom or bathroom, two rooms where falls often happen. |
| Silvie (contactless radar) | Fall and activity sensing in each room with a sensor, no camera, nothing to wear | — |
"Start from what your parent will actually accept. A device they resent won't get used."
It is radar, not a camera. Silvie monitors movement, breathing, and positioning/stillness via mmWave radar, with no cameras, microphones, or wearables. It never captures an image and never records sound. Families tell us this is the fact that makes a parent comfortable having a sensor in the bedroom.
Silvie runs in the background with nothing for your parent to wear, charge, or remember. There is no button to press and no daily task. It is there to help them stay in their own home longer, not to take over their day.
Most families set it up themselves. The sensors mount on the wall and plug into a wall outlet with the included adapter and USB-C cable, so there is no installation wiring and no electrician. If you would rather not do it yourself, we will walk you through it.