The short answer
Nobi is a smart ceiling light for senior living and care homes. Optical sensors in the lamp take infrared images of the room; when it sees a possible fall it asks the person whether they have fallen, a Nobi reviewer checks the image, and staff are alerted. It replaces the room's ceiling light and runs on Wi-Fi. In private homes we found only pilots and one US partner. For home care agencies, the alternatives built for clients at home are Senecta, which senses heat and sound with no ordinary camera, asks the client first and then calls your agency and the family; Sensi.AI (audio); Pontosense (radar); and StackCare (motion sensors).
At a glance
| Nobi | Senecta | |
|---|---|---|
| How it senses | A smart ceiling light whose optical sensors take infrared images of the room every second | Low-resolution thermal sensing plus sound; no ordinary camera |
| Built for | Senior living and care homes; in private homes we found only pilots and one US partner | Clients in their own homes, through home care agencies |
| What it notices | Falls, getting in and out of bed, and daily activity; the light turns on when someone gets up | A possible fall in the room; it asks the client first, then calls the people in the response plan |
| What is kept | Fall images reviewed by Nobi; staff may see images and a video of the event for 14 days, as each resident's settings allow | Nothing, except the heat images and audio of an event classified as a possible fall |
| Who answers alerts | It asks the person, a Nobi reviewer checks the image, then staff or family are alerted by app or phone | Your agency and the family's emergency contacts, by phone; no monitoring centre |
| Setup and connection | Replaces the room's ceiling light (in the US, fitted by electricians); needs Wi-Fi | Plug-in pods with built-in cellular; nothing to mount or join to the home's Wi-Fi |
| Whose brand families see | Nobi's; resellers use the Nobi name | Your agency's |
Nobi facts from its product page, privacy policy, support center, its 2022 announcement, Healthcare Brew, as read on October 21, 2026. Senecta's from our service agreement. Check each company's current terms before you decide.
How each one works
Nobi is a light that watches. It replaces the ceiling light in a resident's room. Its optical sensors take an infrared image of the room every second, analysed by a processor inside the lamp, and the light switches on by itself when someone gets out of bed at night. When it sees a possible fall it asks the person to confirm out loud whether they have fallen and offers two-way talk; a Nobi reviewer checks the fall image before staff are alerted. It also reports when residents get in and out of bed, and patterns of daily activity. It needs Wi-Fi, and in the US electricians fit it.
Senecta looks at heat and listens for events. A low-resolution thermal sensor sees a person as a warm shape, and a microphone listens for the sounds that go with a fall. The pair is built for one question, whether someone went down and stayed down, and the pod asks the client “Are you okay?” before anyone is called. If the answer is not a clear yes, it calls your agency and the family's emergency contacts in the order you agreed. How Senecta detects a possible fall explains the method and its limits.
What is kept, and the consent conversation
This is the biggest difference. Nobi works from images: after a possible fall the image goes to a Nobi reviewer, and its support pages say staff can then see no image, a stick figure, a blurred image or the actual images, as each resident's settings allow, and a video of the event, for up to 14 days. Its privacy policy says the spoken confirmation after a fall is kept until the profile is deleted, and its 2022 announcement described its images as camera images in which a person is recognisable. Senecta has no ordinary camera: its thermal sensor sees a person as a warm shape, and nothing is kept except the heat images and audio of a possible fall. Our security and privacy page sets out exactly what Senecta keeps.
Who answers when something happens
Both ask first. Nobi asks the person whether they have fallen, a Nobi reviewer checks the image, and the alert goes to staff or family by app or phone, or into the nurse call system; we found no Nobi response centre. Senecta asks the client “Are you okay?” out loud and, if the answer is not a clear yes, calls your agency and the family's emergency contacts, in the order you agreed, until someone answers. In a care home staff are down the hall; at home, the people in your response plan turn an alert into help (see how it works).
Other alternatives to Nobi
The other products agency owners most often name to us, and how each one works.
| Product | How it works | Built for |
|---|---|---|
| Sensi.AI | Audio pods that listen in the home and send insights and alerts to the agency's care team | Home care agencies and franchise networks |
| Pontosense | 60 GHz radar in a corner of the room; falls, activity and vital signs, alerts by app | Home care agencies and senior living; Comfort Keepers' Comfort360 SafeGuard |
| Circadia Health | Radar beside the bed for breathing, heart rate and bed exits, reviewed by its clinical team | Nursing and post-acute care; offered by some Senior Helpers offices |
| StackCare | Battery motion and door sensors that learn a routine and send app alerts when it changes | Home care agencies, senior living and families |
| Lifeguard Health | Wi-Fi motion, door, fridge and bathroom sensors with a 24/7 alert center; follows routines, not falls | Home care agencies; offered by some Griswold offices |
| Cherish | A plug-in hub with radar that senses through walls, microphones and a speaker; alerts the family and its response center | Families, through security dealers and AT&T; a wall version for facilities |
| CarePredict | A wrist band with room beacons: possible falls, activity trends, a help button and two-way voice | Senior living; families buy it as SilverKin |
| SafelyYou | AI cameras in residents' rooms; its remote team confirms each fall for community staff | Assisted living and memory care communities |
| Vayyar Care | Radar on the wall or ceiling, fitted by installers; alerts go to facility staff | Senior living and care facilities |
| Butlr | Thermal sensors on the ceiling, with no camera or microphone; flags bed exits, wandering and possible falls for staff | Senior living communities, in pilots in 2026 |
| TeiaCare | An optical sensor above each bed with infrared night vision; alerts staff to bed exits and falls | Nursing homes, mainly in Italy |
All of them compared on one page: Compare.
When Nobi is the better choice
- You run a care community and want each fall checked by a person before staff are alerted, with images to review afterwards.
- You want automatic night lighting when residents get up, with nurse call and care record integrations.
- You want independent evidence: a Lancaster University evaluation in UK care homes found residents' daily chance of a fall about 32% lower.
When Senecta is the better choice
- Your clients live in their own homes, and families do not want images of a parent's room seen by anyone.
- You want pods that plug in, with their own cellular connection: no electrician and no home Wi-Fi.
- You want alerts to reach your agency and the family, in the order you agreed, under your agency's name.
- You want nothing kept unless a fall is suspected.
Questions agency owners ask
What are the alternatives to Nobi for home care agencies?
Nobi sells smart ceiling lights to senior living and care homes. For clients in their own homes, agencies look at Senecta (heat and sound, under the agency's name), Sensi.AI (audio pods), Pontosense (radar) and StackCare (motion sensors).
Does Nobi use a camera?
Nobi's lamps use optical sensors that take infrared images every second. Its 2022 announcement called them camera images in which a person is recognisable, and its support pages say staff can see, depending on each resident's settings, no image, a stick figure, a blurred image or the actual images, and a video of a fall.
Does Nobi work in a client's own home?
As of October 2026 Nobi is used in senior living and care homes; trade press reported home use only as pilots, and in the US one partner, TLS, offers it to older adults at home.
Does Senecta also ask the client before calling?
Yes. When Senecta notices a possible fall, the pod asks “Are you okay?” out loud; if the answer is not a clear yes, it calls your agency and the family's emergency contacts in the order you agreed.
Next step
Compare it on your own book.
Thirty minutes with your client mix: which homes, what you would charge, and how the response would work.
Book your agency demoSenecta makes one of the products compared here, so read our description of ourselves with that in mind. We have described Nobi and the other products from their own public pages and their partners', as read on October 21, 2026, and linked each one; their offers may change. Senecta is not an emergency service or a staffed monitoring centre, does not replace in-person care, and no system detects every fall.