Bay Alarm Medical Review 2025

What Is the SOS Smartwatch?

Bay Alarm Medical has an impeccable reputation for protecting seniors. All of its devices are reliable, and its monitoring plans quickly notify emergency personnel anytime users need help. The SOS Smartwatch is no exception. Its main feature is an SOS button located on the side of the device. One push, and help is on its way. In fact, you can add fall protection to your plan, and help will show up even if you’re not in a position to push that button.

Of course, almost every medical alert system includes these features. Unlike traditional systems, though, you can wear your smartwatch anywhere, so you’re always protected. Just press the SOS button and you can talk with Bay Alarm’s monitoring team using the watch’s two-way talk immediately. Then, they can dispatch emergency personnel directly to you using the watch’s GPS.

Of course, the SOS isn’t going to replace an Apple Watch. But then, that’s not really what it’s for. Its primary purpose is to keep you safe in the event of a medical emergency. It’s still stylish and comes with useful smartwatch features, though. That’s why it takes a spot on our list of best on-the-go medical alert systems.

Holding the Bay Alarm Medical smartwatch

SOS Smartwatch Pricing

Needless to say, the SOS Smartwatch costs a lot less than an Apple Watch. Like we said, though, it’s more apt to compare the SOS Smartwatch with other on-the-go medical alert systems. So, here’s how it compares to the SOS All-In-One 2, SOS Micro, and Medical Guardian’s MGMove.

$200 is certainly not pocket change for most of us, and it’s worth noting that the SOS Smartwatch is more expensive than the SOS All-In-One 2, at $149. You’ll also pay more long-term since the monitoring fee is five dollars more.

In addition, we should point out that the Bay Alarm SOS Smartwatch costs exactly the same as Medical Guardian’s MGMove, but significantly less than the $299 UnaliWear Kanega Watch.

Cost of Add-Ons and Accessories

Bay Alarm offers all of its packages in two versions. You can get the standard version or, for an extra $10, add fall detection. Charging extra for this service is standard in the medical alert industry. The fact is that, while it can be a life-saving feature for some seniors, not everyone needs this extra protection. By making it an add-on, companies like Bay Alarm ensure that those who don’t need it don’t have to pay for it.

If you choose the smartwatch, you can add a 360° Bundle for $25 a month extra. Basically, this bundle includes an in-home system in addition to the watch so you’re covered whether you’re at home or out and about. In addition, the 360° Bundle includes several accessories such as a lanyard, a wearable emergency button, and a wristband. As with all other Bay Alarm plans, you can also add Fall Detection.

Holding extra pendant for Bay Alarm Medical home device

Here’s an overview of the add-on equipment Bay Alarm Medical offers.

SOS Smartwatch Features

If you’re looking for the capabilities you’d get from an Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch, the SOS is going to disappoint. Nevertheless, we found it came with a number of handy extras. It still has some smart watch features, including:

• Watch Face: Because the device is digital, you can choose between several watch faces, including large, easily readable numbers. We prefer the one that mimics an actual analog watch face, as it brings us back to the days of wearing our old wristwatch.
• Weather App: The SOS includes a fully functioning weather app. It’s perfect if you’re trying to decide whether it’s a good day to work on your garden or to let you know a dangerous storm might be headed your way.
• Water Resistance: With an IP67 rating, the SOS can be submerged in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. That means you can wear it with you in the shower or take it with you on a rainy day.
• Step Tracking: The SOS lets you know how many steps you’ve taken today. You can use it to push yourself, of course, but you also can use it to remind you when it’s time to rest.
• Goal Tracking: Keeping track of steps is a great start. The SOS builds on that with their goal-tracking app allowing you to track all your fitness goals from limiting your sodium intake to swimming more laps at the pool.
• Internet Connectivity: Obviously, the SOS features built-in internet capabilities. It has to communicate with the Bay Alarm monitoring center. The smart watch’s 4G LTE Sim card also allows for two-way talk and instant messaging.
• GPS Tracking: The SOS also has enough processing power to allow for GPS tracking. That way, if you press the alert button or the device detect a fall, Bay Alarm’s monitoring station can know where you are and tell emergency personnel where to find you. Caregivers are also provided with the GPS location of your device.
• Fall Detection: Of the smartwatches that offer fall detection, the SOS is one of the few that have made it reliable. It uses AI technology to distinguish between an actual fall and a quick movement of your arm. Unlocking this feature adds $10 to your monthly bill.

Even for a medical alert system, we think the SOS could use one or two additional features. How many times can we say it? This isn’t an Apple Watch, but it might be nice if it included an integrated caregiver app, for instance. Still, the SOS offers convenience in addition to safety. It’s also worth remembering that it’s about $650 cheaper than an Apple Watch, so there’s that.

Expert Examined

From Christopher Norman, a Board-Certified Geriatric Nurse Practitioner with the National Council on Aging (NCOA)

“As a healthcare provider, if I have a person that I see and they have complaints of poor appetite, low energy, and fatigue, and I check their smartwatch and they’ve only been recording an average of a few hundred steps per day, I’m going to have all kinds of questions about why the person with these symptoms is not moving so much. Factoring in someone’s activity level provides valuable context when an aging adult or their caregiver has concerns.”

User Experience

We can talk all day about the Bay Alarm Medical SOS Smartwatch’s features and specs, but that’s not going to give you a sense of how well this device operates day-to-day as a medical alert system. So let’s talk just a bit about our experience using this device.

Holding the Bay Alarm Medical smartwatch

Buying Experience

Buying the Bay Alarm Medical SOS Smartwatch – or any of the company’s other medical alert system packages – is as easy as pressing the big “Buy Now” button in the middle of the screen. Of course, you may want to poke around before you buy to make sure the SOS is what you want. The website includes an instant messaging customer service app, so you can ask any questions you have about this or other products.

Once you’ve clicked that button, though, you have two additional choices to make. First, you pick your monitoring service. Turns out that was simple, since the SOS Smartwatch was preselected. Next, you pick which bundle you want – the Standard, Fall Detection, or 360° Bundle.

We selected the Fall Detection plan. We also chose a larger-sized wristband that works on wrists up to 8 inches (the standard size is seven inches).

Then, we chose if we wanted to pay monthly, quarterly, or annually. To our surprise, they all average out to the same monthly price. The quarterly plan comes with free shipping, and the annual plan comes with one free month of monitoring, though. Not worth handing over a bunch of cash upfront for us, so we opted to pay monthly.

We were then offered various accessories, including an additional charger, a lock box, and a Vial of Life kit. The next page asked us to sign up for a warranty for $2.95 a month. Finally, we were able to sign up and enter the information needed to make the purchase.

As we got closer to the checkout process, things got weird. Bay Alarm Medical advertises everywhere that shipping is free with certain plans, and the plan we chose should have granted us that. We weren’t able to make it work though. We tried contacting customer support, but we didn’t hear from them until it was too late.

To make matters worse, we could not figure out how to check out with all our devices. We had to order each one separately, which meant paying for shipping twice.

The cherry on top was waiting for our packages. Bay Alarm Medical estimates that shipping will take between four and six business days, but we didn’t get our devices for over a week.

Charging

Before we did anything else, we plugged our SOS in to charge. The device came with a minimal charge, but we wanted to make sure it was full of juice before we put it through its paces. No problems there: the charger plugs into any standard outlet.

We were disappointed in the watch’s six to eight hour battery life. Most medical alert smart watches we’ve tested last between 16 and 24 hours. Other mobile wearables like emergency buttons and lanyards can go as long as 10 days between charges. Six to eight hours will cover you for a night out on the town or a shopping trip, but a full day event could leave you vulnerable.

Customer Support

Since we mentioned customer service, we should add that Bay Alarm Medical’s support is on the slow side. You can contact them by phone, email, and chat, but each method has specific office hours.

If you work full time and can’t get a moment outside of your tasks, you may need to send an email and wait. We should note that the customer-support hours and experience are different from the 24/7 help the emergency call center offers. That was much better, in our opinion.

Installation Process

Upon arrival, the battery for the SOS Smartwatch was mostly charged, at 85 percent, so we were able to start setting it up right away.

Since we put in our medical information when buying the smartwatch, we didn’t need to re-enter it.

Response Time

Upon putting on the watch, we instantly tested the response button. After holding the SOS button for five seconds, we had to wait for 16 seconds to get in contact with Bay Alarm Medical’s monitoring agents.

That response time is par for the course with most medical smartwatches, although the waiting period may be up to 50 seconds. That’s less than other medical smartwatches, such as UnaliWear, which has a waiting period of up to 66 seconds.

The fall-detection sensor also worked very efficiently. We tested it for a week, and it became more accurate over time.

Bay Alarm App

The Bay Alarm Medical SOS Smartwatch currently does not come with an app for family members and caregivers to track you. The company’s website says that its team is working on an app, but the fact that it isn’t currently available is the device’s biggest flaw.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for a medical smartwatch on a budget, the Bay Alarm Medical SOS Smartwatch is a good choice. The device works exactly as advertised, but don’t expect much else from it. The fall detection was accurate during our testing, and the watch fit comfortably, never feeling too tight or loose.

The lack of apps outside of weather and steps leaves a bit to be desired, and the fact that Bay Alarm Medical hasn’t set up a tracking app for caregivers yet may steer you away. If you want to look for something more fashionable or from a name brand — and you don’t mind paying more to get more accessories — we recommend an Apple Watch.

If you have an older family member who doesn’t care about fancy tech and just needs an emergency system they can wear on their wrist, the SOS Smartwatch will do the trick.

FAQs About the Bay Alarm Medical SOS Smartwatch