A fall detection watch is both a wristwatch as well as a medical alert device that will automatically detect a fall and alert a monitoring agency to seek help on your behalf if needed. These watches use a variety of accelerometers, detection sensors, and algorithms to sense a potential fall. If the wearer should fall, the monitoring agency is alerted and will either reach out to someone on the wearer’s care list or call emergency responders. Fall detection technology is quite advanced and can even sense small falls from a chair, a bathtub, or similar low-height places.


While no fall detection offering is 100% accurate in detecting all falls, this technology does provide a significant and, at times, critical layer of protection for serious and potentially debilitating falls.

Strictly speaking, there are only a couple of actual fall detection watches on the market: The Kanega Watch and the Apple Watch (which is a smartwatch equipped with fall detection technology and not a dedicated mobile medical alert device). Many mobile medical alert brands do offer a wristband option, but they only offer fall detection through an additional lanyard or pendant that must be worn around the neck. We have included a few of these brands in the following overview along with their key features:

	24/7  Monitoring Staff?	Must Remove to Charge?	Fall Detection ?	Smartphone Required?	Voice Activated Help?	Water-Resistant?
Kanega Watch	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Apple™ Watch	No	Yes, daily	Yes	No	No	Yes
MGMove	Yes	Yes, every other day	Only with an additional pendant	No	No	Yes
Lively™ Wearable 2	Yes	Yes, replace every 2-4 months	Only with an additional pendant	Yes	No	Yes
SOS Smartwatch	Yes	Yes, daily	Only with an additional pendant	No	No	Yes

The Kanega Watch, as an example, has fall detection technology based upon the collective experiences of real wearers. In addition, the watch includes patented artificial intelligence that learns each wearer’s specific natural movements, which uniquely decreases false fall alerts over time.

• It is simple to use.
• No need to wear a pendant
• It has an ultra-long life quick swap battery.  No need to take it off to charge.
• No smartphone or phone plan required.
• Button and voice-activated.
• Is connected to a dedicated monitoring center that can offer both emergency (eg: ambulance) and stand-by (eg: call my neighbor) assistance when a fall happens.
• Communicates via WiFi in your home and cellular outside your home – for enhanced communication clarity and pinpoint GPS.
• Built-in Medication reminder functionality.

The best fall detection watch never requires you to take it off to charge – therefore never leaving you unprotected. That is the Kanega Watch. The watch comes with four rechargeable batteries – two that fit easily in the watch band and two that stay in the provided custom charger. At home, the Kanega Watch batteries will last up to 36 hours or longer before having to swap out (because WiFi connectivity drains power slower than cellular).

1. With pendants, there is always a risk of the wearer taking it off and forgetting to put it back on. For example, wearers might take the pendant off to sleep comfortably and get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom – forgetting to put the necklace on. If a fall occurs at this time, it would then most likely go undetected. Unlike pendants, watch wearers tend to keep them on 24/7, which ensures that the device will be in place to detect the fall.
2. Pendants are often limited to in-home use or require a smartphone for mobile use. This is problematic, as many seniors don’t own a smartphone. Fortunately, fall detection watches work no matter where the user goes, and some don’t require a smartphone or app.
3. Some users find the pendant devices unattractive. No one wants to walk around wearing a heavy, clunky, or unattractive medical device. Fall detection watches, by contrast, come in sleek, attractive designs.
4. In addition to the aesthetic challenges, pendants devices can be stigmatizing.Many seniors don’t want to telegraph the fact to others that they are worried about falling or at a high risk of injury.
5. Fall detection watches are discreet and stylish. No one is aware that your watch is a fall detection device unless you tell them.
6. Many pendants require you to press a button for help, but the wearer may not be able to do so if they’ve fallen and are badly injured. Luckily, watches like the Kanega Watch are voice-activated and don’t require the user to push a button for assistance.