Answers

Porchlight, in plain answers

Short, factual answers about Porchlight: what it is, what it costs, who it is for, and what it deliberately is not. Everything here matches what you will find on the rest of the site.

What is Porchlight?

Porchlight is a care-engagement and family-communication platform that keeps families connected to the older adults they love. A chosen companion voice calls at the same time each day for a warm, unhurried conversation on the phone the person already uses. Minutes after the call ends, the family receives a plain-language summary with a simple 1–5 signal.

What is a daily check-in call service?

A daily check-in call service places a short scheduled phone call to an older adult every day and reports back to their family. It is a conversational alternative to cameras, wearables and constant checking-in texts. Porchlight's version turns each conversation into a written summary rather than raw audio for the family to sift through.

How much does Porchlight cost?

Plans start at $39 a month for Check-In, $69 a month for Family Circle, and $99 a month for Peace of Mind+. Yearly billing is available at a lower effective monthly rate. There is no contract, no equipment to buy, and you can cancel at any time.

Does the older adult need a smartphone or an app?

No. Porchlight calls the phone they already use, including a landline, and there is nothing for them to install, charge or learn. The app and dashboard are for the family, not for the person receiving the call.

Is Porchlight an alternative to a medical alert button?

It solves a different problem. A medical alert button responds after something has already gone wrong, while a daily call is about noticing gradual change — energy, mood, clarity — before it becomes a crisis. Porchlight is not a monitoring device or an emergency response system, and in an emergency you should still call 911.

What happens if nobody answers the call?

Porchlight retries and, if the call still goes unanswered, sends a missed-call alert to the family. Escalation follows the rules the family or organization sets, not a fixed script.

Does Porchlight provide medical advice or clinical monitoring?

No. Porchlight does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or clinical monitoring, and it does not connect to hospitals or health records. The daily 1–5 signal is a plain-language read on how the conversation went, never a clinical assessment.

Who is Porchlight for?

It is built for families with a parent or relative living independently, and for organizations that need a daily touchpoint between visits — home care and care management agencies, senior living communities, and health plans, PACE programs and aging agencies. Families set it up themselves in a few minutes; organizations can start with a pilot.

How long does setup take?

About five minutes. You choose the companion voice, set the call time, and add the family members who should receive summaries. No hardware ships and no home visit is required.

How does Porchlight handle privacy?

Calls are used to produce the summary the family receives, and the family controls who is in their circle. Porchlight publishes its position on how the AI companion behaves and what it will never do on its AI ethics page.

What is a care-engagement and family-communication platform?

It is a way for a family, and sometimes a care team, to stay connected to an older adult and to each other. Porchlight does this through a warm daily phone conversation on the phone the person already uses, followed by a shared written update the whole family circle can read, with reminders and a care log alongside.

How can a family stay updated on an aging parent who lives alone?

With Porchlight, a chosen companion voice calls at the same time each day. Minutes after the call ends, everyone in the family circle receives the same plain-language summary with a simple 1–5 signal, so siblings are not relaying news to each other and nobody has to guess how the day went.

Is Porchlight just an AI calling service?

No. The daily call is how Porchlight works, not what it is. Porchlight is a family-communication platform: the conversation is shaped by a profile the family writes, the update is shared across the family circle, and the family stays in charge of reminders, who is included and what happens next.

How do care organizations use Porchlight?

Home care agencies, senior living communities and health plans use Porchlight as a daily touchpoint between visits. Each person gets a daily conversation, their family gets the update, and anything worth attention is routed to the organization's care team.

Go deeper

Porchlight is not a medical service, a monitoring device, or an emergency response system. In an emergency, call 911.