Fall Detection: Consumer Expectations vs Product Reality

Oct 9

4 min read

Updated: Oct 11

Wrist-worn and pendant-based fall detection devices play an important role in helping older people and vulnerable individuals live more independently by making them feel safer - reassured by the fact that the device will detect and raise help in the event of a fall. However, consumers expectation is high, that modern care devices are going to work every time - when in reality they do not.

Over selling and under delivering

The following companies advertise care devices for fall detection, and the following verified customer reviews reveal an insight into the practical problems people encountered with products and services on which they have placed considerable trust.

The following reviews are not simply negative opinions, they contain specific accounts of real situations in which customers say the service did not meet their expectations when they needed it. Furthermore, these reviews do not establish the scale of the problem. However, every incident affects a real person and deserves to be taken seriously, and should not simply be a failure statistic.

Yourstride

Advert quote example: "UK's Best Fall Alarm Watch"
Example Yourstride Trustpilot Reviews:

Telecare24

Advert quote example: "Within seconds of a fall alarm being triggered we'll be speaking to you through the base unit"
Example Telecare24 Trustpilot Reviews:

Careline365

Advert quote example: "Britain's No 1 Fall Alarm Service"
Example Careline365 reviews on Trustpilot and Reviews.io

CPR Guardian

Advert quote example:"Easy to use fall alert watch"
Example CPR Guardian Trustpilot Reviews:

Apple Watch

Advert quote example:"Fall detection at the ready"
Apple spend billions on product development yet they too don't meet customer expectation, as demonstrated during this live BBC interview with Sheila Hancock who was wearing an Apple Watch:

For more on customer reviews follow these Trustpilot links: Careline365 >, CPR Guardian >, Telecare24 >, Yourstride >

So why is fall detection technology falling short of consumer expectation?

Someone buys a fall-detection device because they believe it will help protect the wearer, so these reviews highlight the following areas of weakness:

Product design: devices repeatedly generating false alarms, undermining confidence in the service.
System reliability: wearers falling and the automatic detection failing to trigger.
Alert transmission: Fall alerts failing to reach the intended recipients due to network communication issues.
Usability: the expectation of elderly service users to frequently test the service to ensure it's working. Then expected to perform device or service resets.
System outages: Fall alerts failed to reach the intended recipients because service availability has been unreliable.

What Companion Watch offers in response

No technology solution is perfect but all good suppliers should be continually evolving and improving their products and service, based on their learnings. Companion's approach is exactly that. Over many years we have made significant progress towards addressing most of the technical shortcomings, highlighted by the above competitor customer reviews:

Product design:

A Companion watch has multiple on-board sensors (altitude, impact & movement) which it uses to identify a potential fallen and no movement, so unable to help themselves. Automatic alerts, and a telephone call, are then raised to the support network.
The Companion Watch has a market leading battery life of 5 days (average), so the watch will have plenty of charge when it's needed most.
Dialling back the fall detection sensitivity, to reduce false alerts, is a trade off, as it reduces the chance of detecting a fall too. Instead, Companion and it's product partners (including Philips, the electronics' specialist) spent 4 years developed the best possible fall detection algorithm solution - removing the need to override fall detection sensitivity.
The wearer can press the cancel button if they experience an unwanted fall alert.

System reliability:

Wrist based fall detection is not always able to detect the wide range of fall types, so we educate our customers to use the SOS button to raise help if they need it.
To reduce points of technology failure Companion Watches connects directly to the LTE-M network, eliminating any additional connectivity points of failure (like base stations/landlines, WiFi or a mobile phone).
Approved account holders (selected family member(s)) are able to securely see frequent updates on Watch health, and wearers wellbeing, via the Companion App or web portal.

Alert transmission:

Companion Watches use an innovative communications technology (called LTE-M) which enables the watch to raise alerts in poor & weak mobile network signal areas (when a telephone call would not be possible).
Companion do not allow a watch to be sold if the wearers local network signal strength does not meet our requirements. We also double check signal strength once the watch is in the wearers home.
To maximise the chance of alert delivery, up to 8 family and friends can be assigned as support contacts. Furthermore, Companion Watches raise alerts via telephone calls, mobile app notifications and backup emails - tailored for each support contact.
Companion Watch customers have cut out the middle man (the call centre) reducing a point of failure. Family are more up to date with the wearers circumstances and health conditions so they are able to make better more informed, quicker, decisions in an emergency.

Usability:

Companion watches have been designed to be simple timepieces for the wearer. All watch features and settings are managed remotely via the Companion App or with help from the customers named Companion Advisor.

System outages:

Companion are proud of it's excellent systems up time with service availability statistics and planned down time alerts - all transparent and available to our customers.
Companion monitors watch network connectivity, raising alerts to the support network, if the watch experiences a network outage.

In Summary

When choosing a wearable care device for fall detection, ensure it has;

A long battery life with fast re-charging, so it's going to work when you need it most.
Multiple fall detection sensors coupled with advanced algorithms to detect real fall scenarios.
Ability to raise help in poor/weak mobile signal areas.
Reduced points of technology failure, so reduce reliance on base stations, WiFi or connectivity to a mobile phone.
Good service reliability. Check your service provider offers excellent systems up time and are transparent about their service outages (and how they will ensure any outage doesn't happen again).
In an emergency who's going to know the best course of action? who has the most up to date detail on the wearers circumstances and health conditions - a call centre or your family and friends. So consider cutting out the middle man.

Fall Detection: Consumer Expectations vs Product Reality

Over selling and under delivering

The following companies advertise care devices for fall detection, and the following verified customer reviews reveal an insight into the practical problems people encountered with products and services on which they have placed considerable trust.

Advert quote example: "UK's Best Fall Alarm Watch"

Example Yourstride Trustpilot Reviews:

So why is fall detection technology falling short of consumer expectation?

Someone buys a fall-detection device because they believe it will help protect the wearer, so these reviews highlight the following areas of weakness:

Product design: devices repeatedly generating false alarms, undermining confidence in the service.

System reliability: wearers falling and the automatic detection failing to trigger.

Alert transmission: Fall alerts failing to reach the intended recipients due to network communication issues.

Usability: the expectation of elderly service users to frequently test the service to ensure it's working. Then expected to perform device or service resets.

System outages: Fall alerts failed to reach the intended recipients because service availability has been unreliable.

What Companion Watch offers in response

Product design:

A Companion watch has multiple on-board sensors (altitude, impact & movement) which it uses to identify a potential fallen and no movement, so unable to help themselves. Automatic alerts, and a telephone call, are then raised to the support network.

The Companion Watch has a market leading battery life of 5 days (average), so the watch will have plenty of charge when it's needed most.

The wearer can press the cancel button if they experience an unwanted fall alert.

System reliability:

Wrist based fall detection is not always able to detect the wide range of fall types, so we educate our customers to use the SOS button to raise help if they need it.

To reduce points of technology failure Companion Watches connects directly to the LTE-M network, eliminating any additional connectivity points of failure (like base stations/landlines, WiFi or a mobile phone).

Approved account holders (selected family member(s)) are able to securely see frequent updates on Watch health, and wearers wellbeing, via the Companion App or web portal.

Alert transmission:

Companion Watches use an innovative communications technology (called LTE-M) which enables the watch to raise alerts in poor & weak mobile network signal areas (when a telephone call would not be possible).

Companion do not allow a watch to be sold if the wearers local network signal strength does not meet our requirements. We also double check signal strength once the watch is in the wearers home.

To maximise the chance of alert delivery, up to 8 family and friends can be assigned as support contacts. Furthermore, Companion Watches raise alerts via telephone calls, mobile app notifications and backup emails - tailored for each support contact.

Companion Watch customers have cut out the middle man (the call centre) reducing a point of failure. Family are more up to date with the wearers circumstances and health conditions so they are able to make better more informed, quicker, decisions in an emergency.

Usability:

Companion watches have been designed to be simple timepieces for the wearer. All watch features and settings are managed remotely via the Companion App or with help from the customers named Companion Advisor.

System outages:

Companion are proud of it's excellent systems up time with service availability statistics and planned down time alerts - all transparent and available to our customers.

Companion monitors watch network connectivity, raising alerts to the support network, if the watch experiences a network outage.

In Summary

When choosing a wearable care device for fall detection, ensure it has;

A long battery life with fast re-charging, so it's going to work when you need it most.

Multiple fall detection sensors coupled with advanced algorithms to detect real fall scenarios.

Ability to raise help in poor/weak mobile signal areas.

Reduced points of technology failure, so reduce reliance on base stations, WiFi or connectivity to a mobile phone.

Good service reliability. Check your service provider offers excellent systems up time and are transparent about their service outages (and how they will ensure any outage doesn't happen again).

In an emergency who's going to know the best course of action? who has the most up to date detail on the wearers circumstances and health conditions - a call centre or your family and friends. So consider cutting out the middle man.