10 Best Ways to Keep an Eye on Elderly Parents at Home

Caring for aging parents can be emotionally complex. You want to make sure they’re safe and comfortable at home while also respecting their independence and privacy. Fortunately, smart home technology makes it easier than ever to stay informed, without being intrusive.

Here are 10 practical ways to use ecobee devices to help elderly parents stay safe at home and give everyone a little bit more peace of mind.

When you call every day, the line between helpful and annoying tends to blur.

The ecobee Smart Security suite of devices and features empowers you with awareness of what’s happening in the home—whether your parents are moving around, coming and going, or keeping to their normal routine.

Not sure if your parent has made it back home from their doctor's appointment? A push notification from the ecobee app gives you peace of mind as the Autopilot feature detects when they come and go, prompts the members of your household (including your elderly parent) to disarm the system, and logs the movement in your Activity Feed.

Anytime they head out, their phone slips off the Wi-Fi network, and they move past the preset geofence around the home, Autopilot quietly informs you and keeps a record. When they return and cross back into the geofence, their phone reconnects to Wi-Fi as they come back through the door. By the time they’ve taken off their shoes, the system is already disarmed. No one's phone rings unnecessarily, no one's bothered.

How it works:

1. In the ecobee app, tap the Autopilot tab.
2. Tap Invite new member and invite your parent as a member (or vice versa).
3. Accept the member invite and complete Autopilot setup on the member's phone.
4. You'll now see Member Arrived/Left Home events on the app’s Activity tab.

This level of flexibility allows you to remain watchful and take action only when necessary.

Consistency matters when it comes to aging safely. Pick up an ecobee SmartSensor 2-pack and place them in key areas—like the living room, bedroom, or bathroom—for more comfort where you need it most. In addition to monitoring the temperature, they sense motion and occupancy to help confirm that your parents are up, moving, and following their usual routine.

Coverage from a 140° horizontal/100° vertical viewing angle and 20 ft (6 m) detection range blanket the home. Timestamped motion detections logged in your Activity Feed inform you of unexpected pauses in activity, so you'll know when to act and when to leave them be.

With 6 out of 10 people living with Alzheimer's expected to wander at some point, it's no wonder caregivers lose sleep over an unlocked door or an open window in the middle of the night.1

Pick up a SmartSensor for doors and windows 2-pack to reduce this uncertainty. It tells you exactly when doors or windows are opened or closed with either push notifications or alerts.

For added peace of mind, Pause When Open automatically pauses heating or cooling when doors or windows are left open longer than 5 minutes—an extra helping hand when memory falls short.

Tip: For many seniors, small daily routines—making coffee, taking medication, opening the medicine cabinet—are quiet indicators that everything is okay. A SmartSensor on a medicine cabinet door won't tell you what was taken, but it can tell you that the morning routine happened. And on the days it doesn't, you'll know to call.

Smart Doorbell Camera (wired) packs 1080p full HD resolution with HDR, 30 FPS video, and night vision so you can see every detail—day or night—from wherever you are.

Smart Doorbell Camera allows you to:

• See if caregivers or family members stopped by
• Confirm deliveries arrived, even packages pushed up against the door, with its 175° vertical field of view
• Deter unwanted visitors with a blast from the siren
• Talk to whomever is at the door from anywhere with Two-Way Talk
• Record video clips of up to 2 minutes and store them for 30 days

You’ll know what’s happening at your doorstep, even when you aren’t there.

The elderly are more vulnerable to temperature extremes because their bodies are less able to detect and respond to dangerous heat or cold. The stakes are real: more than 80% of the roughly 12,000 Americans who die of heat-related causes each year are over the age of 60.2 Remote monitoring can't prevent a power outage or replace an air conditioner, but it gives you one more way to catch a problem before it becomes a crisis.

An ecobee Smart Thermostat makes it easy to:

• Monitor indoor temperatures remotely
• Set safe temperature ranges and high and low temperature alerts
• Remotely adjust heating and cooling before conditions become unsafe

You’re not just controlling their comfort—you’re quietly preventing risk.

If something serious happens, alerts alone aren’t always enough. Professional monitoring adds a critical layer of support.

With ecobee Smart Security’s Professional Monitoring add-on, trained agents can assess alerts, contact emergency services when needed, and notify you—ensuring help is dispatched even if you or your parent can’t reach the phone.

Tip: Set the system to Arm Stay every night to protect the home from break-ins and keep your parents prepared for emergency 24/7.

Fires are one of the most serious risks for older adults, especially if they struggle with mobility, hearing, or memory challenges. With Smoke Alarm Detection, ecobee Smart Security with a Professional Monitoring add-on adds an extra layer of protection by listening for the sound of existing smoke alarms and alerting you right away—even if your parent can’t reach their phone.

When a compatible device (Smart Thermostat Premium or SmartCamera with voice control) hears the standard T3 smoke-alarm pattern, you’ll receive a real-time notification complete with a sound recording so you can quickly verify the alert. This helps you act fast, whether that means calling your parent, checking in with a neighbor, or contacting emergency services.

It doesn’t replace smoke alarms—it adds peace of mind by keeping you informed from anywhere.

Managing your parents’ safety shouldn’t feel like a second full‑time job. A single, easy‑to‑use app makes all the difference.

The ecobee app brings together:

• Motion, entry, camera, and smoke alarm alerts
• Temperature monitoring and management
• Live camera feed and recordings
• Security system arm/disarm controls
• Flexibility to accommodate multiple homes and members as needed

Take the time and energy you would waste juggling multiple systems and put it into keeping your loved ones safe and comfortable from your own handheld command center.

Falls are one of the leading causes of injury among seniors, especially at night.

Smart lighting systems can automatically illuminate hallways, bathrooms, and bedrooms when motion is detected, minimizing trips and falls without relying on manual switches.

Smart home devices work best when paired with personal safety tools.

Wearable medical alert devices, such as pendants or smartwatches with fall detection, allow your parents to call for help immediately if something goes wrong, inside or outside the home.

The best way to keep an eye on elderly parents at home isn’t through constant calls or obtrusive surveillance. It’s through thoughtful, behind‑the‑scenes technology that works quietly in the background—supporting safety, comfort, and independence.

With the right mix of smart home devices and monitoring tools, you can stay connected, proactive, and ready to help, while letting your loved ones live comfortably on their own terms.