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Bay Alarm Medical offers affordable waterproof medical alert devices starting at $27.95 per month that you can wear in the shower or pool.
Updated April 16, 2026
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Bay Alarm Medical is an extremely popular waterproof medical alert system that’s both affordable and feature-rich. With Bay Alarm, you get high-quality equipment and a 15-day risk-free trial to test it out.
Medical Guardian is a well-respected brand that boasts an A+ BBB rating. All of Medical Guardian’s help buttons are waterproof. That makes this option perfect for active wearers or those who want to wear their help button in the shower.
ADT goes beyond making their wearable devices waterproof — they also made their Wall Mount Button waterproof. This is a perfect solution for those at heightened risk while showering since you can mount a large button right in your shower.
The bathroom is one of the most dangerous rooms in the home, and a medical alert device that can't go in the shower leaves you unprotected exactly where you need it most. Slip-and-fall accidents are far more common than most people realize, and many happen while bathing or getting in and out of the shower. Having a working device on your wrist or around your neck in those moments can be the difference between a quick response and a delayed one.
Water resistance is one of the key factors we evaluate when testing medical alert systems. We submerge devices and wear them in the bath to verify they stay fully functional under real conditions. Bay Alarm Medical came out on top for waterproof performance, with Medical Guardian and ADT Health close behind. Read on to find out which one is the right fit for you.
>> Read More: The Best Medical Alert Systems of 2026
We brought our Bay Alarm Medical SOS Smartwatch swimming so we could press the SOS button on the side if we needed help.
| System |
Bay Alarm Medical
|
Medical Guardian
|
ADT Medical Alert System
|
Lifeline
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking |
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
| SecureScore™ | 9.3 | 9.1 | 8.9 | 8.2 |
| IP Rating | Up to 67 | 67 | 67 | 67 |
| Monthly Fee | Starts at $27.95 | Starts at $27.95 | Starts at $26.99 | Starts at $27.95 |
| Upfront Costs | Starts at $0 | Starts at $149.95 | Starts at $99 | Starts at $99.95 |
| Read Review | Bay Alarm Medical Review | Medical Guardian Review |
Everything about Bay Alarm Medical is easy. When purchasing our system, their website clearly showed our options and how much each one costs. Once it arrived at our doorstep, getting our system up and running only took about 15 minutes. Using it on a daily basis couldn’t be any simpler either.
>> Check Out: Cheapest & Most Affordable Medical Alert Systems of 2026
We bought a Bay Alarm Medical SOS Smartwatch so that we could test Bay Alarm’s most water resistant device.
While all of Bay Alarm Medical’s wearable devices offer some amount of water resistance, they’re not all equal. They all worked after we showered while wearing them, but some we needed to take off before hopping in the pool.
More specifically, the SOS All-In-One and the GPS Help Button only received an IPX6 rating whereas the SOS Micro and SOS Smartwatch received an IP67 rating. The second number in those ratings refer to the water resistance of the device with the six meaning it can withstand being sprayed with water, but cannot be submerged, whereas the seven means the device can be submerged in three feet of water for up to 30 minutes.
Did You Know? A seven rating for water resistance on the IP scale is as high as you’ll get for a medical alert device. That’s largely because these devices require a pushable button and movable parts are difficult to make fully waterproof.
Bay Alarm Medical delivers some of the best equipment in the industry at surprisingly competitive prices. They’re one of the more affordable options out there — especially for couples, since they offer monitoring for two devices at the same monthly rate as one. Here’s a current look at Bay Alarm Medical’s pricing:
| System | SOS Home | SOS All-In-One 2 | SOS Micro | SOS SmartWatch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront Costs | None | $149 | $149 | $199 |
| Extra Alert Button | $40 | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| 360° Bundle | Not Available | +$20 per Month | +$25 per Month | +$25 per Month |
| Fall Detection | +$10 per Month | +$10 per Month | +$10 per Month | +$10 per Month |
| Cellular Support | +$7 per Month | Included in Base Price | Included in Base Price | Included in Base Price |
| Base Price Per Month | $27.95 | $34.95 | $34.95 | $39.95 |
Industry Comparison: While Bay Alarm’s pricing increased slightly in recent years, they remain competitive in the medical alert market. Medical Guardian’s home systems also start at $27.95 per month, while Lively offers lower-cost plans beginning at $24.99 monthly. Check out our Lively price guide and Lively review to see if their affordable options will fit your needs.
The pendant that came with our Bay Alarm SOS Home system is water resistant so we could take it with us in the shower.
Where Bay Alarm’s usability really stands out is with their mobile app. Caregivers can see the location of their loved one clearly displayed on a map with a pin showing their location. That’s typical of a caregiver app, although when we tested MobileHelp, we found out that some providers limit the amount of times you can check up on your loved one’s location. Bay Alarm let us check as often as we wanted.
That’s not all, though. Bay Alarm’s mobile app lets caregivers manage every aspect of the user’s account. It let us check our purchase history, change emergency contacts, and add home entrance details for first responders. This makes it so your loved one doesn’t need to worry themselves with all the technical details of their medical alert system.
The rest of the system takes a similar approach where the responsibility of the user is minimal enabling them to receive as much help as they need to manage the system.
| Connectivity | Landline and cellular |
|---|---|
| Fall Detection | $10/month |
| In-home Range | Up to 1,000 feet |
| Battery Backup | Up to 32 hours |
| GPS Option | Yes |
| Money-back Guarantee | 15-day |
If you’re looking for an at-home system you can still use when meandering through your garden or lounging on your back porch, Medical Guardian should be at the top of your list. Their at-home systems feature an impressive 1,400-foot range and all of their wearable alert buttons are at least water resistant.
Unlike with Bay Alarm Medical, every wearable Medical Guardian device is IP67 rated. That means you can take them in the shower or swim with them. As a reminder, we could only swim with some of Bay Alarm Medical’s alert devices since they were only rated IPX6.
Medical Guardian’s MGMove charged us extra if we wanted to access the Messages & Reminders feature.
Regardless of which system you want, expect to pay for the equipment upfront or finance it with Medical Guardian. No free equipment here. If you’re looking for free equipment, Bay Alarm Medical offers their at-home system with no upfront fees and ADT offers all of their systems with a flat $99 activation fee but no cost for equipment.
We understand why Medical Guardian charges for their equipment, though, because it’s some of the best in the industry. They made our list of the best medical alert smartwatches and the best medical alert necklaces. Here’s how much Medical Guardian charges for their equipment and services:
| Medical Alert System | MGHome Landline | MGHome Cellular | MGMini | MGMini Lite | MGMove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment Fee | $149.95 | $149.95 | $149.95 | $149.95 | $199.95 |
| Shipping Fee | $12.50 | $12.50 | $12.50 | $12.50 | $12.50 |
| Additional Pendant | +$2.99 per month | +$2.99 per month | +$2.99 per month | Not Available | Not Available |
| Fall Detection | +$10 per month | +$10 per month | +$10 per month | +$10 per month | +$10 per month |
| Price per Month | Starts at $27.95 | Starts at $34.95 | Starts at $39.95 | Starts at $42.95 | Starts at $38.95 |
>> Learn More: Medical Guardian MGMove Review 2026
Medical Guardian’s app is functional, but we think it could use a redesign to make it more user friendly.
Medical Guardian’s app gets the job done, but it doesn’t match the polish or ease of Bay Alarm’s. Navigation is less intuitive, and caregiver account management isn’t as seamless. Caregivers can still track device location, but the overall experience requires more effort. See our Bay Alarm vs Medical Guardian guide for a full side-by-side breakdown.
Where Medical Guardian stood out in our testing was range. At 1,400 feet, we had no issues staying connected while swimming in a backyard pool, and we had full flexibility in choosing where to place the base station without worrying about signal drop.
| Connectivity | Landline, cellular, and Wi-fi |
|---|---|
| Fall Detection | $10/month |
| In-home Range | Up to 1,400 feet |
| Battery Backup | Up to 36 hours |
| GPS Option | Yes |
| Money-back Guarantee | None |
Bathrooms are one of the most dangerous rooms in most homes with slippery floors, hard surfaces, and hot showers that can cause dizziness or fainting. As a result, a significant portion of falls causing in-home injuries occur in bathrooms.2 ADT’s wall-mount medical alert button offers IP67 waterproofing and works with their at-home or on-the-go system with no upfront costs. Most providers only offer wall-mount medical alert buttons with at-home systems.
ADT Medical’s wall-mount alert button carries an IP67 waterproof rating, meaning it can handle full submersion without issue. That makes it a natural fit for the bathroom. We recommend mounting one in the shower or near the tub so it’s within reach when you need it most.
That same IP67 rating applies across every alert button in ADT’s lineup, which is a meaningful advantage. You never have to think twice about which device to wear before a shower, a swim, or any other activity where water is involved. Whatever you’re doing and wherever you’re going, any button you choose can come with you.
FYI: During a medical event, you can become cognitively impaired. That’s when having a large, wall-mounted help button becomes useful. You don’t need to think about where it is or how to untangle it out of your clothes. All you need to do is hit the big button on your wall and help will be on the way.
ADT Medical’s pricing structure includes a $99 activation fee across all systems. While they advertise “free equipment,” this activation fee effectively serves as a fee for the equipment. That said, $99 remains competitive compared to other providers — Medical Guardian’s systems, for example, start at $150 for equipment. Plus, ADT regularly discounts this activation fee down to $59.
Either way, $99 is an affordable price for a medical alert system considering Medical Guardian’s systems start at $150. Here’s a complete breakdown of ADT Medical’s prices:
| Medical Alert System | Basic | Plus | On-The-Go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activation Fee | $99 | $99 | $99 |
| Wall-Mount Button | Not Available | +$2.99 per month | +$2.99 per month |
| Additional Pendant | $14.99 upfront + $5 per month | $14.99 upfront + $5 per month | Not Available |
| Fall Detection | +$11 per month | +$11 per month | +$11 per month |
| Monitoring Fee | Starts at $26.99 per month | Starts at $34.99 per month | Starts at $ 36.99 per month |
ADT Medical takes a streamlined approach to usability that sets it apart from Bay Alarm and Medical Guardian. There’s no mobile app to download or learn, and the equipment is designed to work right out of the box. Setup is about as simple as it gets: charge your devices, call ADT to activate your system, and you’re ready to go. For users who want reliable protection without the learning curve of a feature-heavy platform, that simplicity is a genuine selling point.
| Connectivity | Landline or Cellular |
|---|---|
| Fall Detection | $11/month |
| In-home Range | 300 feet or 600 feet, depending on system |
| Battery Backup | Up to 20 hours |
| GPS Option | Yes |
| Money-back Guarantee | 30-day |
AARP members can save significantly on a Lifeline medical alert system through an exclusive partnership. The benefits include free shipping, free activation, and 15 percent off annual subscriptions. Together, those savings bring the cost of an at-home system to under $100 upfront, covering your first month of monitoring. For AARP members shopping for a medical alert system, it's one of the stronger discount programs available.
All Lifeline devices with a help button — except the base station — can be submerged in water for up to 30 minutes. We appreciate this consistency across their product line, as it makes it simple to understand your device’s waterproofing without having to check each model individually.
If you’ve browsed Lifeline’s website, you might think they only offer three systems. However, the Home and Mobile Systems each have two different configurations, bringing the total to five distinct systems. That can make price comparisons tricky, so we created a Lifeline pricing table comparing all your options:
| System | Home Landline | Home Cellular | On the Go Standard | One the Go Mini | Smartwatch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Device Fee | None | None | None | None | $159 |
| Setup Fee | $99.95 | $99.95 | $99.95 | $99.95 | Free |
| Shipping Cost | $29.95 | $29.95 | $29.95 | $29.95 | $29.95 |
| Fall Detection | +$15 per month | +$15 per month | +$15 per month | +$15 per month | +$15 per month |
| Key Lockbox | Free with an annual plan or $2.95 per month | Free with an annual plan or $2.95 per month | Free with an annual plan or $2.95 per month | Free with an annual plan or $2.95 per month | Free with an annual plan or $2.95 per month |
| Monthly Fee | Starts at $27.95 | Starts at $34.95 | Starts at $39.95 | Starts at $44.95 | Starts at $34.95 |
Pro Tip: AARP members get $50 off of their Setup Fee through the free activation promotion. That means you won’t get that discount when buying a Lifeline Smartwatch since they label the upfront cost as an equipment fee instead of a setup fee.
We were able to have our Lifeline system fully set up and functional within 10 minutes of it arriving at our house.
Setting up a Lifeline alert system is remarkably straightforward. It took us just four steps — one of which was simply unpacking the equipment from the shipping box. Our entire setup process took approximately 10 minutes from start to finish.
After that, we also set up the Lifeline mobile app which provided nearly as much functionality as the Bay Alarm mobile app for caregivers. However, we still preferred the Bay Alarm mobile app. Our Lifeline app was slow to refresh and missed notifications from time to time. Aside from the mobile app, though, using our Lifeline system to request assistance was simple.
>> Read More: Philips Lifeline vs. Medical Guardian 2026
| Connectivity | Landline or Cellular |
|---|---|
| Fall Detection | $15/month |
| In-home Range | Up to 800 feet |
| Battery Backup | Up to 30 hours |
| GPS Option | Yes |
| Money-back Guarantee | None |
We don't run a dedicated waterproofing lab, so we rely on the International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) IP rating system.3 The IEC publishes standards that define levels of water and dust resistance for electronic devices. Once we identified which medical alert systems offer water-resistant devices, we purchased 10 systems and put them through their paces. Here's what we looked at:
Those are our core criteria, but our team of senior care experts digs into every aspect of a system that could make a difference during a medical emergency. After hands-on testing in real home environments, we consult industry experts and actual customers to get a complete picture of each system's quality before making any recommendations.
We appreciated the sleek design of the Bay Alarm SOS Smartwatch.
An IP rating uses two numbers to indicate how dustproof and waterproof a device is. The first number measures dust protection, and the second number measures water protection.
For waterproofing, most wearable medical alert devices have a 6 or 7 rating. A 6 can handle water jets from any direction—think rain or shower use. A 7 allows submersion in up to 3.3 feet of water for 30 minutes, making it safe for swimming.
For dustproofing, devices usually have a 6 or an X. A 6 means the device is completely dust-tight, protecting internal electronics. An X means it hasn’t been tested for dust resistance.
We bought the Medical Guardian MGHome Cellular which includes a waterproof help button pendant.
We strongly recommend choosing a medical alert system that includes at least one wearable waterproof device. Here’s why:
A waterproof device adds peace of mind and protection for everyday scenarios—and unexpected mishaps.
Almost everyone benefits from a waterproof medical alert system—it just depends on how much water exposure you expect.
For those who swim or participate in water activities, we recommend a wearable with an IP67 rating, such as those offered by Medical Guardian, ADT, or Bay Alarm Medical. If you only need protection in the shower or light rain, devices with an IPX6 rating will be sufficient for most people.
No, not every medical alert system offers waterproof devices, but most providers at least offer some wearable devices that are water resistant. If the device has a built-in speaker or microphone, odds are it is at most water resistant.
You can only swim with your medical alert device if it has an IP67 rating. That means the device can be submerged in up to 3.3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes.
It’s a bit of a misnomer to call a medical alert device waterproof. If you submerge any medical alert device deep enough into water, it will spring a leak. When a medical alert system advertises a device as waterproof, they typically mean it has an IP67 rating, meaning it can withstand being submerged in up to 1 meter (about 3.3 feet) of water for up to 30 minutes.
No, some of the most affordable medical alert systems offer waterproof devices. For instance, Bay Alarm Medical's in-home systems include waterproof medical alert pendants and start at $27.95 per month, about average for the industry.
Generally, medical alert devices with built-in microphones or speakers are not going to be waterproof. But, to know for sure if a device is waterproof, you need to look up its IP rating. Devices with an IPX6 rating can withstand powerful water jets and are safe for use in the shower or rain, while devices with an IPX7 rating can be temporarily submerged in water up to 3.3 feet deep for up to 30 minutes.
University of Nebraska Medical Center. (2024). Learning from Falls — Falls in the Bathroom. https://www.unmc.edu/patient-safety/_documents/2024-08-collaborative-call-handout-post-call-follow-up.pdf
Verywell Health. (2025). How Showering Can Worsen Symptoms of Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS. https://www.verywellhealth.com/problems-showering-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-3973041
International Electrotechnical Commission. (Accessed 2025). IP ratings. https://www.iec.ch/ip-ratings
