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title: "Phone alarms or a reminder service for an older parent?"
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2.  [Family care app](/family-care-app)
3.  Phone alarms or a reminder service? 

Comparison

# Phone alarms or a reminder service?

The obvious answer to forgetting something at two o'clock is an alarm at two o'clock. It works more often than people expect, and fails in a very particular way.

Short answer

An alarm tells you that it is time, but not what for. Once several alarms exist, they get silenced automatically and stop meaning anything. A reminder carries the message itself, in words, which is what makes it act on.

[Begin caring today for free](/signup)[How it works](/features)

## What alarms do well

-   Free, built into every phone, no accounts or setup. 
-   Fine for one or two fixed daily things. 
-   Loud, which matters with hearing loss. 
-   Entirely under the person's own control. 

## Where they fail

A beep is only a signal, not information. After a few weeks, silencing it becomes reflexive and the person goes back to whatever they were doing without acting.

Setting them requires navigating the phone, so any change means someone physically doing it. And nobody else ever knows whether an alarm was acted on.

## What a reminder adds

Words. "Time for lunch, mum, there's soup in the fridge" is actionable in a way that a tone never is, and a spoken version reaches someone who cannot easily read a screen.

It also lets family set and change things remotely, and see whether it was confirmed.

## When an alarm is enough

If there is one thing at one time, the person is comfortable with their phone, and nobody else needs to know it happened — use the alarm. There is no need to add anything.

## Being straight with you

You Care Reminders is a non-medical wellness tool, not a monitoring service and not an alarm. Delivery is best effort rather than guaranteed, and it must not be used for medication reminders. If you are worried about someone's health, speak to their GP; in an emergency, call 999.

## Questions carers ask

### Can't I set alarms on their phone for them?

### What about labelled alarms on a smartphone?

### Do repeated alarms become background noise?

## Read next

-   [Why smart alarms fail older adults](/why-smart-alarms-fail-older-adults)
-   [How many reminders a day is too many?](/how-many-reminders-a-day-is-too-many)
-   [Text reminders vs voice reminders](/text-reminders-vs-voice-reminders)
-   [Family care app](/family-care-app)

## Set the first reminder tonight

It takes about five minutes, costs nothing to start, and the person you care for has nothing to install.

[Begin caring today for free](/signup)[See plans](/pricing)

You Care Reminders 

Thoughtful reminders that help families stay quietly connected to the people they love.

Wellness support, not medical advice.

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Care scenarios

-   [Dementia check-ins](/dementia-check-in-service)
-   [Daily prompts for MCI](/mild-cognitive-impairment-daily-prompts)
-   [Drink & meal reminders](/dehydration-reminders-elderly)
-   [Compared to dementia clocks](/vs-dementia-clocks)
-   [Why smart alarms fail](/why-smart-alarms-fail-older-adults)

More scenarios

-   [Loneliness call reminders](/loneliness-call-reminders)
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Guides

-   [Caring for elderly parents](/caring-for-elderly-parents)
-   [Dementia care at home](/dementia-care-at-home)
-   [Mild cognitive impairment](/mild-cognitive-impairment)
-   [Dementia clocks](/dementia-clocks)
-   [Signs of dehydration](/signs-of-dehydration-in-older-adults)
-   [Carer burnout](/carer-burnout-early-signs)
-   [Respite care](/respite-care-uk)
-   [Carer's assessment](/carers-assessment)
-   [Telecare explained](/telecare-explained)
-   [Loneliness in later life](/loneliness-in-later-life)
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