The short answer
StackCare uses small motion and door sensors, with no cameras or microphones, to learn a client's routine and alert the agency and the family through its app when something changes: sleep, bathroom visits, night-time movement, or no movement for too long. Its “Share-The-Care” model lets the agency keep watch by day and the family at night. Its sensors register motion, not posture, so a fall shows up as a pattern rather than as the fall itself. The alternatives: for a fall as it happens, Senecta, which senses heat and sound, asks the client “Are you okay?” first and then calls the agency and the family, or Pontosense (radar); for routines with a staffed alert center, Lifeguard Health; for listening-based insights, Sensi.AI.
At a glance
| StackCare | Senecta | |
|---|---|---|
| How it senses | Battery motion sensors in key rooms and contact sensors on doors; no cameras or microphones | Low-resolution thermal sensing plus sound; no ordinary camera |
| Built for | Home care agencies and senior living (StackCare Pro), and families (StackCare @home) | Clients in their own homes, through home care agencies |
| What it notices | Changes in routine: sleep, bathroom visits and long stays, night-time movement, no movement for too long | A possible fall in the room; it asks the client first, then calls the people in the response plan |
| What is kept | Motion data, analysed in its cloud; only summaries and unusual events are sent on | Nothing, except the heat images and audio of an event classified as a possible fall |
| Who answers alerts | App notifications to the agency and the family, who can share the watch on a schedule | Your agency and the family's emergency contacts, by phone; no monitoring centre |
| Setup and connection | Stick-on sensors and a hub on the home's Wi-Fi, or a cellular hub; installed in about 15 to 20 minutes | Plug-in pods with built-in cellular; nothing to mount or join to the home's Wi-Fi |
| Whose brand families see | StackCare's; we found no white-label option | Your agency's |
StackCare facts from its page for care providers, support page, installation guide, its message to the Home Care Association of America, 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
StackCare learns routines from motion. Small battery-powered motion sensors go in the rooms the client uses most, with contact sensors on doors such as the front door and the fridge, linked to a hub on the home's Wi-Fi or a cellular hub. Within a day or two it learns when the client goes to bed and gets up and how often they use the bathroom, then sends app notifications when something is out of pattern: a long stay in the bathroom, a restless night, no movement for too long. Its sensors register motion, not posture, so a possible fall shows up as one of those patterns. It reports by household rather than by person.
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
Neither records conversations or pictures. StackCare's sensors register motion and room temperature; the data is analysed in its cloud, and only summaries and unusual events are sent to the care group. Senecta's thermal sensor sees a person as a warm shape and its microphone's sound is analysed as it happens; 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
StackCare sends its notifications through its app to the client's care group, and its “Share-The-Care” schedule can hand the watch from the agency during the day to the family at night and on weekends. Senecta places phone calls: when it notices a possible fall, the pod asks the client “Are you okay?” and, if the answer is not a clear yes, calls your agency and the family's emergency contacts, one after another, until someone answers. Senecta is not a staffed emergency service; your response plan is what turns an alert into help.
Other alternatives to StackCare
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 |
| 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 |
| Nobi | A smart ceiling light that takes infrared images; it asks the person, a reviewer checks the image, then staff are alerted | Senior living and care homes |
| 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 StackCare is the better choice
- You want a picture of the client's routine over weeks, such as sleep, bathroom visits and comings and goings, to share with families and to guide care hours.
- You want the family to take over the watch at night and on weekends, on a schedule.
- You want sensors a family can put up themselves, with no tools.
When Senecta is the better choice
- The families' first worry is a fall, and you want it noticed in the room, not inferred later from a pattern.
- You want the client asked “Are you okay?”, and your agency and the family called by phone if not.
- You want pods that plug in, with no batteries to change and their own cellular connection.
- You want to offer the service under your agency's name.
Questions agency owners ask
What are the alternatives to StackCare for home care agencies?
For a fall as it happens: Senecta (heat and sound; it asks the client first, then calls the agency and the family) and Pontosense (radar). For routines with a staffed alert center: Lifeguard Health. For listening-based insights: Sensi.AI. For vital signs at night: Circadia Health.
Does StackCare detect falls?
StackCare's sensors register motion, not posture. It looks for patterns that can point to a fall or a health problem, such as a long stay in the bathroom or no movement for too long, and sends a notification.
Does StackCare use cameras or microphones?
No. It uses motion and contact sensors only.
Does Senecta need Wi-Fi?
No. Each pod has its own cellular connection and plugs into a power outlet.
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 StackCare 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.