15 Best Smart Home Devices to Help Aging in Place in 2023 (Local Tips & Reviews)

Like Amazon’s devices, Apple’s iPad can provide news, weather, podcasts, and other entertainment. However, because it taps into the App Store, you can also load games, video streaming services, and anything else your loved one may appreciate. We also like the iPad because it can combine multiple smart-home devices with one voice command: For instance, loved ones can say “Siri, turn on the living room” to power several lights—and you can combine those lights with smart plugs, cameras, and other smart devices, as long as they support Apple’s smart-home platform, HomeKit. Siri voice commands and HomeKit are not compatible with as many smart-home devices as Alexa is. However, if your loved one is a little tech-savvy, they can also use the iPad to access the apps for all of the devices we mention elsewhere in this guide. Since we first published this article, the Apple iPad (10th generation) has been released, but we still think the 9th-gen version has enough power for daily use (and you can save a few bucks on it, since it’s a little older).