Verizon Care Smart

The problem

An older adult wants independence, not supervision. Their adult child wants reassurance without intruding. One product had to serve both people without making either feel watched, and an emergency feature had to be fast without being easy to trigger by mistake.

Key decisions

1. Keep the watch radically simple. High-contrast text, simplified circular touch targets, a small fixed set of trusted contacts and plain language.
2. Make Get Help intentional. Testing with older adults showed frequent false emergency dispatches from accidental taps on the prominent emergency button. We replaced the single tap with a slider, which eliminated accidental dispatches without slowing access in a real emergency.
3. Move the complexity to the family app. Configuration, medication reminders, check-in status and remote Medical ID management live with the caregiver, along with low-friction location alerts and fall notifications.
4. Frame safety as a companion, not a monitor. Fall detection, location and the Trust Circle are presented as support the wearer chooses, with group chat keeping the family connected day to day.

How we validated it

We tested with both sides of the dual-user model: senior wearers, focusing on contrast, touch targets and accidental-trigger prevention, and family caregivers, who needed fast location alerts, fall notifications and remote Medical ID management.