LiveFine Smart WiFi Automatic Pill Dispenser | 28-Day Medication Organizer Up to 9 Doses Per Day for Care Monitoring with Locking Key, Adjustable Light/Sound Alarms for Prescriptions & Vitamins

My dad, who has dementia, had to move from independent living to assisted living after an illness and hospital stay. My brother (who lives nearby) is his main care provider and it became apparent that the medication system they had previously set up (a weekly AM/Noon/PM pill organizer) was no longer working as some doses were skipped or taken too early. If the facility were to do medication management it was going to cost an extra $1000/month on top of the already high cost of assisted living. After doing some searching and reading reviews we chose this livefine pill dispenser along with the livefine atomatic tipper (sold separately) to make things easier. My sibling is able to monitor it through the wifi system and can release a pill dose if our parent is tired and wants to go to bed early. The mechanism is easy enough for our parent to use for now in his current stage of dementia. We have only been using it this week, but we are optimistic that it will help keep him safe and make his retirement savings last longer.

This is a bit tricky to set up at first but, when you do, it works well. Watch out if the power is interrupted or internet glitches. The time doesn’t correct many times and the only way to fix it is to pull the plug and the batteries (which requires the special key included) for at least 1 minute so it will reset and pick up the correct time again (no troubleshooting info included but, I did get an email response with the solution). I use this for my 90+ yr old mother and last time the internet glitched in the middle of the night, I was out of town. So, I had to attempt to troubleshoot with her until I got back. I made it work but, be aware, it’s just like any other Wi-Fi device. It needs to reboot from time to time when the internet goes down. But, it’s been a huge help. Mother even talks back to it saying “you’re welcome” when the unit says “ thank you”. Then she giggles.

This machine was so helpful to us with my mom's pills when she started to have memory troubles! It helped us ensure that she wasn't taking too many or at the wrong time. Unfortunately, it didn't necessarily keep her from skipping them. The machine beeps till you remove the pills, but then she'd leave them around or throw them away sometimes. Now that she lives with me, we still use the machine to remind us, in a busy household, when it's time to give them to her. It holds quite a few large pills in each section and a total of 2 weeks (2x/day) can be filled at a time which is really nice. The only other complaint I have is that it completely stopped working after 3 years, meaning it's now just a big hunk of plastic landfill. I'm conflicted about buying another for that reason, but I decided we really do need it.

After my standard LiveFine 28 automatic pill dispenser finally died, I decided to give this more expensive one a try. That was a mistake. Here are the reasons why I wouldn’t buy this unit: 1) REQUIRES USB power cable at all times. Other reviews that talk about a constant low battery are probably due to the fact that this unit only uses batteries as a backup, and they only work for a few days. The old unit worked for months on one set of batteries. 2) It didn’t mention voice anywhere, and the first time it talked I nearly jumped off the couch. It is annoying and no way to disable it. 3) App has some nice features (like take dose early) but makes filling difficult. 4) NO APP NOTIFiICATIONS. The app *says* it has notifications, but none ever pop up, making the app more of a detriment than a feature. 5) Supports 2.4GHz wifi only! Again, the biggest reason I got this “smart” unit was that I thought I’d get notifications pushed to my phone when it was time for medication. However, there are NO notifications! Combining this with the annoyance of having to keep it plugged in all the time (making it largely immobile) and this is mostly useless compared to the old unit. I’ll be returning this for a “dumb” unit.

The LiveFine Smart WiFi Pill Dispenser is very convenient for scheduling medications and keeping everything organized. The app reminders and dosing setup work well, and the device makes it easier to stay on track. However, the lock is a major weakness. The unit does not come with spare keys, and the locking mechanism feels flimsy. In my case, the lock broke in less than three months, which defeats the purpose of having a secure dispenser. It’s disappointing because the concept is great, but the build quality needs improvement. If you need strong security or long-term durability, keep this in mind.

I have four of these dispensers and they work wonderfully BUT !! I could not find a USA box store that had this WiFi product anymore. The Bluetooth version is on their website and was available at box store websites. Connecting a device to a wireless network that does not have online firmware support can expose your network to malfeasance. (I could not find any reference to the older WiFi versions I bought used.) My best guess is that the wireless connectivity became too costly to support with the ever-changing security landscape. Bluetooth is somewhat more secure since it is not exposed to the Internet as long as the app is kept current. (And that's another risk to have this app on your smart phone without a company presence in the USA.) I don't recommend connecting this device to a traditional home network. (At least not until they provide firmware and device versioning data on a public website.) Norton AV would NOT let me load their website on my computer.

Great dispenser for my mother with dimentia. First I had the dispenser w out bluetooth but she has deteriorated so now I use this model w bluetooth so I can monitor. It sets up easily but I ran into a glitch bc of misunderstanding on my part. I called customer service and they quickly answered and had the problem resolved. They were patient and knowledgeable. A great company and product.

I have more dislikes than likes for this machine. We previously had a battery-operated pill dispenser, but when we saw this one was electric and you could use it over Wi-fi, we were excited to try it. However, that excitement was short-lived. For example, it doesn't work on my schedule vs the old battery-operated machine. My Aunt is on a 14 day dispense cycle. On this electric dispenser, on the 14th day, what I call the red arrow day (this on the machine), it will stop dispensing all together. The problem with this is every 14 days I "have to be" available to refill the machine. To combat this, it would be nice to have more than one key to the dispenser so another family member could help on refill days if I'm unavailable. On the battery-operated machine, I could refill on the 11th or 12th day and there were no problems, the machine would just keep going per its schedule. But not this electric one. Another problem, why can't this machine operate thru Bluetooth if it can operate through Wi-Fi and an app? What if Wi-fi is down, or may Aunt can no longer afford Wi-fi? At least Bluetooth would be accessible. Another problem, though you put batteries in it for backup, oh my, the power outages!! That's a joke! On the old battery-operated machine, the batteries covered it all, and she could even take the machine with her if needed. This electric dispenser, yes, it keeps time when the power is out. But every single time after an outage, I've had to reset the alarms when the power comes back on. This is very annoying. The directions that come with the machine don't address any of these issues for me to see if maybe there is something I could be doing to combat this. I do like the sliding little door over the pill slot itself. It has minimized accidental spilling out of pills and dropping of pills at med dispense times. To me, the battery-operated dispenser had more positives than negatives vs this electric dispenser having the opposite, being more negatives than positives. A word of advice, definitely think of what needs you have before buying this machine for med dispensing for yourself or your loved one..and price points too.