What these DIY guides are for
These guides are for family members who are comfortable tinkering with Home Assistant and want practical ways to reduce everyday friction for someone living with dementia: spoken reminders, physical buttons, simple routines, and easier TV access. They're based on a real family setup — a button on a parent's kitchen table — but they're DIY projects, not finished care products.
What Home Assistant can help with
- Spoken reminders and daily orientation
- Physical buttons that trigger simple routines
- Calendar-based announcements ("you've got the doctor at three")
- TV simplification and curated playlist launching
- Family-managed automations from a phone
- Reducing the need to use apps, screens, or complex remotes
What Home Assistant cannot safely do
- It is not a medical device
- It is not an emergency alarm
- It is not fall detection
- It is not wandering protection
- It should not be relied on as a medication safety system
- It is not a replacement for carers, family support, or professional advice
Every guide here is for routine support, reassurance, and daily orientation — alongside whatever else is in place.
Dementia clock vs voice button
An honest look at when a dementia day-clock or reminder clock works, where they fall short as reading becomes harder, and when a spoken voice reminder may land better. Side-by-side with smart speakers like Alexa.
Voice reminder button
A one-button voice helper. Press once, hear the time, the day, today's plans, and any reminders the family has added. Built with the Home Assistant Voice PE and a shared Google Calendar.
Colour-coded TV buttons
Six big coloured buttons that replace the TV remote — radio, news, three favourite YouTube playlists, off. Built with an LG WebOS TV, a Google TV dongle, and six Zigbee buttons. No menus, no voice commands.
Alexa for elderly parents
An honest UK guide to Amazon Alexa, Echo Show, Google Nest and other smart speakers for elderly parents — what works in the mild stage, where the wake-word ceiling is, and how they compare to purpose-built devices like Sentai, Reminder Rosie and RemindMeVoice.
Which guide should I start with?
- Voice reminder guide — if the main problem is orientation, daily reminders, and "what's happening today?"
- TV buttons guide — if the main problem is TV confusion: normal remotes, smart-TV menus, input switching, or finding familiar programmes.
- Dementia clock comparison — if you're still deciding between a clock, a smart speaker, or a spoken reminder button.
- Join the RemindMeVoice pre-launch list — if you want the outcome without setting up Home Assistant yourself.
Can Home Assistant help with dementia care?
Home Assistant can help with everyday routines, reminders, buttons, TV simplification, and reducing interaction friction. But it is not a care system, medical device, emergency system, fall detector, wandering alarm, or substitute for professional support. Treat anything built from these guides as helpful routine support — not something safety-critical.
Don't want to DIY?
RemindMeVoice is the managed version of the voice-reminder button — a pre-configured device, a phone app for caregivers to manage reminders, and someone to email when something needs attention. Same idea, none of the Home Assistant.