# Looking for an internet clock for seniors **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 31, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220 "2025-12-31T23:14:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/1 "2025-12-31T23:14:18Z")
Amazon and Google search has not helped me, or perhaps I’m using the wrong search terms. Here’s the situation…I have some good friends and neighbors, a couple in their 90’s. They often have medical or other appointments, but may be confused about when, so they miss them. Many things have been tried – I’ve printed their appointments on graphic calendars, in big type and colorful layouts, and those have been posted on their kitchen bulletin board, but some still have been missed. They have several adult kids and grandkids; none live nearby, but all are internet-savvy. One of their kids gave them a desktop clock with a large display. I’m not sure if it has an alarm function, but my idea is to be able to program that clock remotely (over the internet), setting an alarm for appointments. If one of the kids could access that function, it would force them to pay attention when an appointment is near. Relying on the couple to set the alarm is not practical. I haven’t been able to find such a gadget. If anyone knows of such, I would appreciate a link. Alternate ideas are also welcome. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/2 "2025-12-31T23:31:46Z")
The (grand)kids know when the appointments are? Could they just call and say “Hey, remember you have an appointment with [place] in half an hour” Admittedly not super convenient. Is the goal just to have a reminder that something is immanent, and that notification will remind the folks to check the calendar? I tried googling “remote programmable alarm clock” – not sue any will work in this scenario Brian ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/3 "2025-12-31T23:35:09Z")
A smart watch might be a good solution for the overall problem. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/4 "2025-12-31T23:37:32Z")
I use Outlook only for its calendar, and almost exclusively for doctor appts. for me and my husband. It’s on my desktop computer, and when an alarm goes it pops up a reminder on my screen. When making the appt. I can set the time for the alarm to go off (relative to the actual appt.) e.g. 1 hour ahead, 12 hours ahead, 1 day ahead, and so forth. As far as I know, you can only do one alarm per appt, but maybe there are ways to work around that. It sounds like it would be good if they had one reminder a day ahead, and one more a couple of hours ahead. So my idea is to have a flat-screen monitor on their wall (maybe an all-in-one so they don’t need a separate CPU), with nothing on it but these pop-up reminders. It could have an aquarium background or something else pretty, or it could have their appt. calendar on it. This would be just a view of the program, completely not interactive by them, controlled by someone remote. I’m not exactly sure how to set that up, but it seems like it would be possible. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/5 "2025-12-31T23:52:03Z")
The Loftie clock may work > **[Sleep Better With Loftie | Loftie](https://byloftie.com/)** > > Loftie is a wellness company helping people create tech-life balance through beautifully designed, deceptively simple products for the home. > Yes, you can set an alarm over the internet using the Loftie app, as long as your Loftie Clock is connected to a 2.4 GHz WiFi network. This allows you to remotely manage your alarms, customize alarm tones, set repeat schedules, and even see your next scheduled alarm from anywhere. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/6 "2025-12-31T23:54:35Z")
I use Google calender on my phone for just about everything now that I am retired. Seems like you could set up a calender under your account and get them a tablet under your user ID to sync with the one you put the appointments on. You can set up multiple reminders for each appointment. Should be able to do the same thing with Alexa. I just never had to try this out so I am not sure it a real situation. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/7 "2025-12-31T23:55:00Z")
Both kids are in a different time zone. One is on a different continent, so making a phone call is not a good solution. Also, this couple is confused about how a phone works, and it is often off-hook, so a call might not work, either. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/8 "2025-12-31T23:57:17Z")
The solution is going to have to NOT involve the couple, because: one does not use a computer, and the other is confused about how to use it. That’s why I thought if we could program or access their all-important clock, it might help. All things point to having either a live-in assistant or have them move to an assisted-living facility. I agree it would be best, but they adamantly do not want to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/9 "2026-01-01T12:03:27Z")
What about a Google Home? Or maybe they’re called [Nest Hubs](https://store.google.com/product/nest_hub_2nd_gen?hl=en-US) now, but same idea. The kids (or you) will have to help them set it up the first time, but then they should be able to just say (out loud, with their voice) “Hey Google, set a reminder for my doctor’s appointment on Feb 1st at 2pm” (an hour before the actual time) and it’ll ring at the appropriate time. They can have multiple such reminders; they all just live in the cloud. Or if the kids can set their appointments for them via Google Calendar, they can also see a calendar on it along with the voice reminders. If they don’t need the visual display at all, just the spoken reminders, they can also get the speaker-only version: [https://store.google.com/product/google\_nest\_mini?hl=en-US](https://store.google.com/product/google_nest_mini?hl=en-US) A simpler variation might be something like a Skylight Calendar. It’s just a bigass wall display for Google Calendar: [Skylight | Skylight Calendar | Smart Family Calendar](https://myskylight.com/calendar/) It doesn’t have voice control, but it does have a reminder function that can sound a visible alarm X minutes before an appointment: [How to Set Reminders – Skylight Support](https://skylight.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/32083277890075-How-to-Set-Reminders) The idea, I guess, is that the kids would set the appointments for them (on a shared Google Calendar that they can access on their own phones or computers). The couple would hear the alert an hour before, and they can glance at the calendar to see what’s happening. Fundamentally I think you need some way of having a shared calendar whose reminders they can hear, but whose events are set by somebody else. A simple clock with an alarm, even if programmable over the internet, doesn’t seem very useful if it can’t tell them _why_ the alarm went off. How would they ever remember what actual appointment was about to happen? A calendar with a reminder function would do both (ring the reminder alarm and tell you what the actual event is). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/10 "2026-01-01T13:42:54Z")
All that sounds reasonable under some circumstances, but I can’t see that working here, for several reasons. The setup you describe cannot be done remotely (remember, the kids do not live here, and the nearest one is 2000 miles away), so voice commands cannot be done. That’s why we need some way to control the device over the internet. The couple needs to be kept out of the loop except to hear the actual alarms. Training them to use something new is difficult (old dog, new tricks, etc.) It probably doesn’t exist yet, but the ideal would be for one of the kids to record a message like “Mom, you have a medical appointment today at 10AM. You will be picked up at 9:30,” then a time for this message to be automatically played specified by the person posting it. One step more – the recipient could play it back at will if they didn’t hear it clearly at first. I’m sure the technology exists for this, and it would be a trivial programming and manufacturing task if someone thought it would sell. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/11 "2026-01-01T15:30:43Z")
There are many devices that can be controlled over the internet by someone else (including the ones I mentioned). But the difficulty is in the initial setup. If the kids can’t set it up for the couple when they visit, they can get it shipped to themselves first and set it up at their own home before sending it to the couple already set up. But they’d have to change their home wifi to match their parents’ too. But yeah, it’s a tricky situation. Probably not a big enough market for anyone to bother making a device. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/12 "2026-01-01T15:53:21Z")
My echo (Alexa) devices can be controlled from my phone when I am not at home. There is likely a solution in there, but I haven’t had to deal with that particular setup for reminders/anouncements. > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I use Google calender on my phone for just about everything now that I am retired. Seems like you could set up a calender under your account and get them a tablet under your user ID to sync with the one you put the appointments on. You can set up multiple reminders for each appointment. You don’t have to have your user ID on the other device - I maintain a family calendar for my father’s appointments. My sister and I have read/write access to it, and my father has read only access. My google account owns it, but it isn’t my primary calendar. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/13 "2026-01-01T16:07:29Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > All things point to having either a live-in assistant or have them move to an assisted-living facility. If they do not know how to use a _phone_, a regular analog landline handset phone, then there are likely many other simple everyday tasks they cannot do as well and some type of daily help is going to be needed. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/14 "2026-01-01T16:54:25Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > My echo (Alexa) devices can be controlled from my phone when I am not at home. There is likely a solution in there, but I haven’t had to deal with that particular setup for reminders/anouncements. Yeah, if the kids have an Amazon account (you don’t even need Prime) they can manage an Echo at a distance. We set reminders on ours all the time - “set a reminder for this date/time with this text”. They’d only need to learn to say “Alexa stop.” ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/15 "2026-01-01T17:28:00Z")
I agree, but have not been able to convince them; neither have their daughters who visit infrequently. They are capable of cooking for themselves and turning on the TV. They do have a cleaning service coming once a week and there is a service called Jay’s Legacy that comes for two 4-hour sessions each week. JL will do almost anything needed. For visits to the doc, we have a local taxi/jitney to provide that, but they need to be reminded when the taxi is coming. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/16 "2026-01-01T17:29:35Z")
Perhaps Velcro an older iPad to the wall or the refrigerator, constantly running a Google Calendar app or another web-based calendar that can be kept up to date by their family. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/17 "2026-01-01T17:55:45Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > there is a service called Jay’s Legacy that comes for two 4-hour sessions each week. JL will do almost anything needed. Can the family work some arrangement with Jay’s Legacy to do a daily check-in call each morning that also reminds them they need to be ready for the ride to pick them up for their appointment? This also ensures someone is checking on them at least once a day. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/18 "2026-01-01T18:23:06Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > What about a Google Home? I’m laughing because my mom could NOT get it through her head to talk so a computer would understand. So no “Hey Google” and then explain when to set an appointment. We’d joke that she’d just start chatting with _That Google Thing_ about the doctor she’d be seeing. We first noticed this when we were all listening to some classical music on her Google Home, and she said “Don’t you think this is a bit loud? I do…” Later, she said The Google wasn’t working, and we realized that, in her opinion, she’d told it to turn down the volume. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/19 "2026-01-01T18:32:37Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Can the family work some arrangement with Jay’s Legacy to do a daily check-in call each morning that also reminds them they need to be ready for the ride to pick them up for their appointment? OP said upthread that they are not reliable in knowing how to operate their phone or having it charged. How do the elderly neighbors feel about their situation? If they are unwilling to move to assisted living, and unwilling/unable to learn how to operate a phone, do they still have their own power of attorney? Do they WANT their kids/neighbors to be reminding them of appointments, or are they fine with just missing them? I so hope that I am never in a situation where my kids/neighbors have to ask questions like this about me. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220/20 "2026-01-01T19:42:59Z")
Jay’s Legacy will do almost anything, but they charge for it, and someone needs to follow up and make sure schedules are followed. We are using their services as much as is practical, but they aren’t there every day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-internet-clock-for-seniors/1026220.md?page=2)