Small sensors learn what a normal day looks like in Mum's home, and you hear about it when something isn't right. Here's the whole journey, from a sensor on the wall to a message on your phone.
Motion sensors in the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and lounge, and a contact sensor on the front door. Each is matchbox-sized, battery powered and sticks on with no drilling. They notice movement, and nothing else: no images, no sound.
A small box, about the size of a paperback, plugs into power and the broadband router. If there's no spare cable, it joins the home WiFi from your phone during setup, and you can reconnect it from the app if the WiFi ever changes. It has one job: send the sensor signals on to Hearth.
Today's pattern is measured against Mum's own baseline: the last two weeks, and the last three months. Wake time, kitchen visits, outings, night-time bathroom trips. That's how Hearth tells a lie-in from a problem, and a quiet day from a worrying one.
A live dashboard whenever you want to look, an update each evening, and alerts only when something needs your attention. Everyone in the care circle gets their own login and sees the same picture.
Each sensor sits high in a corner and notices when someone is in the room. The hub in the hallway listens to all five.
Normal routine today · Currently in the lounge
Meals, the kettle, a normal morning.
Daily routine, and night-time visits.
Bedtime, wake time, restless nights.
Time settled at home through the day.
Going out, coming home, and doors left open.
They arrive paired, tested and labelled. Stick each one up, plug in the hub, and that's the installation.
Add sensors for the rooms Mum actually uses: dining room, study, conservatory, hallway and more. Pick them when you join the waitlist and they arrive paired with everything else. See the packages page.
Research consistently finds that small changes in daily routine are among the earliest signs that an older person is struggling. They're invisible in a phone call but clear over a few weeks of data. These are the ones Hearth watches for.
Two or more trips a night roughly doubles the risk of a fall, and a sudden rise is often the first sign of a urine infection in older women. Hearth counts bathroom visits overnight, every night, and shows the trend in the Pattern tab.
Days becoming less predictable is one of the strongest passive signs of early cognitive change. In-home sensor studies have picked up mild cognitive impairment with around 85% accuracy from routine drift alone. Hearth compares every day with a 14-day and a 90-day baseline.
Fewer kitchen visits is a well-established stand-in for less cooking and eating. Sensor-detected drops have predicted decline 6 to 12 months before a clinical assessment caught it. Hearth tracks kitchen visits, how long they last and when they happen.
Later wake times, broken sleep and long stretches in bed go along with frailty and low mood. Hearth works out bedtime, wake time and how settled the night was from bedroom and bathroom movement, and compares each night with Mum's own usual.
Going out less is linked to social withdrawal, mobility decline and the onset of dementia. Hearth uses the front door sensor to count outings and how long they last, week over week, and shows the trend before it's obvious.
Fewer trips between rooms goes with reduced capability and predicts hospital admission. Hearth tracks how much Mum moves around the home each day and flags a sustained drop as a finding in the Pattern tab.
Findings are described, not scored: a change that has lasted days, with how sure Hearth is. Something to mention on a call or to the GP, not an alarm.
Every alert says what Hearth saw, in plain English, and whether it's worth a call or needs someone there now.
The front door was opened during the night. This is unusual and may need attention.
It's been a while since Mum was last active. Worth checking in.
The front door has been open for 15 minutes with no movement inside since it opened. Worth checking.
Mum has been out for 4 hours. Her outings usually run under 2 hours. Worth checking in.
The hub at Mum's home hasn't checked in for 15 minutes. Usually the power or internet has dropped.
The front door opening at night. A bathroom trip that doesn't end with her back in bed. A long stretch awake and out of bed. A door left open in the small hours. These are the alerts that can't wait until morning, and they're on by default.
A morning with no movement by the usual time. A quiet spell that goes on too long. An outing that runs well past her normal. A door left open with nobody moving inside. Each one is a nudge to check in, worded to match.
Every member of the care circle gets the same alerts, so whoever is closest can act. When one of you has it in hand, a tap on a long-outing or hub alert tells Hearth to stop reminding.
The evening update is on from the start. Morning and afternoon updates, a weekly trend report and an afternoon pattern check can each be switched on in Settings.
Family staying for the weekend? Visitor mode tells Hearth the extra movement is expected. And after an alert, tapping Check in or Mark safe stands it down.
Designed to be read in five seconds, at any time of day or night. This is a working demo: scroll inside the phone and switch tabs.
Normal routine today
Currently in the lounge
Overall activity — sustained change, details in Pattern Findings
Scroll inside the phone. Switch tabs. Toggle light and dark.
The evening update is written from the day's headline figures: when Mum got up, which rooms she used, whether she went out, how the night went. It's on from the start so the app is useful on day one, and there's a single switch in Settings if you'd rather not. Everything else, the dashboard, patterns and alerts, works exactly the same either way.