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title: "Smart speaker or reminder service for an older parent?"
description: "Alexa and Google speakers can announce reminders. Where they work for older UK households, where they fail, and how a dedicated reminder service differs."
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1.  [Home](/)
2.  [Family care app](/family-care-app)
3.  Smart speaker or reminder service? 

Comparison

# Smart speaker or reminder service?

A smart speaker is cheap, already in many homes, and can speak a reminder out loud. That makes it a genuine option worth thinking about properly.

Short answer

A smart speaker works well if someone else sets it up, the wifi is reliable, and the person is comfortable with a device that talks. A reminder service works when none of those are true, and it tells the family whether the prompt landed.

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

## Where smart speakers genuinely help

-   Announcements read aloud, which suits sight loss and people who dislike screens. 
-   No handset to find, charge or unlock. 
-   Cheap, and often already in the house. 
-   Useful for music, radio and calls as well as prompts. 

## Where they fall down

Setting up recurring routines remotely is fiddly, wifi drops are common in older houses, and speakers are frequently unplugged during cleaning and never plugged back in.

The bigger issue is silence: a speaker announces into an empty room and nobody ever knows. There is no confirmation and no signal to the family that anything was heard.

## What a reminder service adds

Messages arrive by text, voice call or app notification without depending on a device in one room, and a confirmation goes back to the family. Nothing needs installing on the older person's side if text or voice is used.

It also means one place to manage everything, shared between siblings, rather than one person's account controlling a speaker in someone else's house.

## Using both

Plenty of households do. The speaker handles music, radio and casual questions; the reminder service handles the scheduled prompts that someone actually needs to know landed.

## 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 I set Alexa reminders from my own phone?

### Are smart speakers a privacy problem?

### What if there is no wifi?

## Read next

-   [Do smart speakers work for older parents?](/do-smart-speakers-work-for-older-parents)
-   [Why smart alarms fail older adults](/why-smart-alarms-fail-older-adults)
-   [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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-   [Dementia clocks](/dementia-clocks)
-   [Signs of dehydration](/signs-of-dehydration-in-older-adults)
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