MOBI Smart WiFi Automatic Pill Dispenser with Alarm & Lock

This is the BEST THING IN THE WORLD for taking care of my elderly mom. She cannot lie anymore abut whether she took her pills or not (phone calling her every pill time did not even work); she cannot lie about which days she took them and which days she did not. She cannot tell me anymore that she missed a few days but is "catching up" by taking more than a days worth in a single day (give me a coronary why don't you!) I set it up and lock it down -- it makes an obnoxious beep when its time to take pills that even she cannot ignore -- Do you appreciate the value of being able to LOCK IT!!! OK - what sucks - the little pill compartments are really hard to get your fingers into if you drop a pill in the wrong bin...or if like me, you set the thing up 1 dose behind where you mean to and have to shift 14 bins over by 1 bin. But the thing is already large, so suck it up. It is worth the hassle. I wish my mom's wifi wasn't completely used up by all the cameras I have set up in her place. I would have loved to have used the wifi capability to track in advance whether she took her pills on schedule or missed them (she easily ends up hospitalized when missing doses. I was not able to find out whether I can set the phone app up and actually monitor her pill taking from my house across town. But I am hoping that is what the WIFI is for. I can tell you the wifi app is WAYYYYY easier to set up the device that using the device itself. Clicking the + button or - button does something different whether you hold it for 2 seconds, 3 seconds, or 4 seconds. Hated that. Setup was hard. You just have to keep at it until it finally responds right. It is SOOOOO WORTH IT! A hint though...My mom takes 2 sets of pills per day. I set it up as noon and 9pm. She already had her noon pills so 9pm (alarm 2 of 9) was going to be her first time using the device. So I left the first pill bin empty and started with her 9pm dose in the second bin. DON'T DO THAT! Don't worry with what dose she has already taken and which alarm will cue her next dose. Just start with her next dose of pills in bin 1. Every time the alarm goes off, the device shifts over 1 bin. That is all ever. I hope my advice helps you avoid digging pills out of the thing to shift them over a bin. OK - 9 months later there are 3 issues I have found. 1) It is powered by a cord which an elderly person irritated by the alarm can easily unplug. 2) The batteries are only reliable for a short period of time and the dispenser will not dispense pills via battery backup. Not a reliable fallback at all. 3) If you install a lockbox on the power outlet to prevent your person from unplugging the device, they can then unplug it from the device itself. My mom did this, then, after being off her meds for a whole week, and being so crazy without her meds she needed hospitalization, she panicked and jammed the power cord into the latch hole for the battery compartment, destroying the cable. Mobi is mailing me a new cable, but I can find no way to secure the cord to the device. Gorilla glue maybe? If you only need the device for reminders it is great. If you need it to care for someone who goes through spells where she needs to be in a facility, but also has spells where she does not, it doesn't work as hoped. I am now trying one that is a lot cheaper that just runs on batteries. That one has no lock on the battery door. SMH.

This thing is absolute trash!! Wouldn’t connect to the WiFi after 27 tries then I dropped a pill bottle on the screen by accident and it shattered the screen and stopped working completely. Literally a pill bottle what the hell!!

I feel that this medicine dispenser is designed for home usage. The large size, and 28 compartments, makes it too cumbersome to consider it a portable device. Also, it uses a power cord, with a USB power plug included (it uses batteries for backup). As mentioned, it has 28 compartments. They state that it can hold 35 tablets (and they mention aspirins as a size reference). I didn't try to fit aspirins into the compartment, but it's not a large cavity. If your intended contents includes capsules, you'll find that five might be the limit. If you're taking a number of medications, you'll probably need to use at least two compartments. This then provides 14 servings. There is a sliding door that gives access to the compartment. The instructions state to open the door and tilt the dispenser to slide out the medication. To give an example of how narrow the compartment is, only my pinky was able to fully reach into the compartment. To enhance/upgrade the functionality of this dispenser, a mobile app/wifi feature has been incorporated into the device. Connecting/pairing the device to a smartphone/tablet is a bit of a task, which could be daunting for a tech challenged user (older users will probably benefit from technical assistance). The user needs to register an account within the mobile app (MOBI). Wifi information needs to be provided to the app, and then the user selects the wifi broadcast from the dispenser as the wifi source for the phone. As I stated, it's a bit involved to get the dispenser/app/phone properly sorted. The mobile app does provide a convenient alarm/notification delivery system. Thankfully, the dispenser functions can be set and used without the mobile app. So, the clock and alarms (which include audio and visual/light cues) can be set using the on-board controls. If you use other mobi devices, you probably already have the mobile app installed. And, you can easily add this medication dispenser to your IoT (internet of things)/mobi ecosystem. The general price range of similar devices, with a mobile app feature, is $160 - $400+. So, this product resides at the lower end of the price range. So, considering similar devices, it's a good value. However, if you don't need the mobile app/wifi feature, a dispenser with similar clock and alarms are in the neighborhood of $70. Attached are photos to show real world images, with a ruler for size reference. Also, close ups of key aspects are shown for an overview of the dispenser and accessories. The dispenser does function per the descriptions in the product details. I do feel that the compartments are too small. Maybe 14 compartments would have been a better design consideration, providing up to two weeks of servings. The device is well made, and I think the lock feature is a smart addition (as a safety measure). Based on initial impressions, and the mobile app setup concern, this product receives a 4 star rating.

I bought this for my mom to organize her pills. She has some memory problems, and although she doesn't forget to TAKE her pills, she forgets that she TOOK her pills, and she will take multiple doses a day. This product has been an extremely worthwhile tool. It has made life so much easier for me and better for my mom. She lives in assisted living and knows how to use the dispenser. She likes it. I like that I have to fill it only about once a week or so when I visit. However, the product is not polished. There are problems with the app interface, setup, and monitoring. The core functionality is good. But if something happens outside the simple use case or main scenario, things can go wrong. Here are the problems that they should fix: 1. There is battery backup. But, unless you look at the app in a small icon at the top, you don't know if the unit is on battery or not. Mom got the unit unplugged, and I did not notice in the app that the unit had switched to battery. Then the battery will drain, you might not notice, and the unit will go offline. Which leads to problem 2. 2. You are not notified that the unit is offline. You have to check the app to find out. If you forget to check the app, you don't know the state of the system. Mom can't figure out what the state of the system is; if she could, she would not need the dispenser. I didn't get notifications that pills were being dispensed. Distributed problems are hard. How does the system know the difference between intending to stop dispensing pills and something going wrong (and not dispensing pills)? If this were an Apple product, I think that it would be four times more expensive, but all the corner cases would be addressed. 3. If you just fill the dispenser but don't reset the alarms, the system will not continue indefinitely and will stop dispensing after it thinks the original filling is gone. I didn't know that. Not sure if the unit told me that the meds were done. But Mom went a couple of days without her meds when that happened. 4. Kept telling me the batteries were low after I replaced the batteries. I had to completely power down the unit. I didn't know that; not user-friendly. 5. Certain-sized pills can get stuck and have to be pried out. Mom doesn't see them. I've seen that happen about twice over 6 months. Just be aware of that. 6. If you don't have control of the wifi, and the 5GHz and 2.5GHz networks have the same name, you have to jump through hoops to set up the device. My current Android phone would ALWAYS connect to 5GHz, but the unit connects to 2.5GHz. I had to use my ancient Android phone with a special app to set up the unit. So, there are the limitations, but I love it. If the assisted living place had staff dispense Mom's meds, it would be ~$1,000 a month. I am not compensated for this review in any way.

My mother in law was forgetting to take meds, or taking meds at wrong times. This eliminates the guessing. As per all other new things, acceptance of a new gadget will take time.

Use for parent w dimentia. Easy to use and great that she can’t get into it!!

I was really hopeful about this product but it wouldn't connect to my Wi-Fi because 5Gz Wi-Fi is not supported. Only 2.4Gz Wi-Fi is supported. This is noted in the documentation but not on the product listing. I had to order a different brand that I verified in advance would work on my network. I am returning this one.

I didnt buy this from Amazon. I bought it from another retailer. Pros: -It has an app. The app is worth its weight in gold. You can remotely make adjustments to the settings using the app. So far that feature has been seamless. -The alarm speaks fairly loud, requiring them to get up and take their medicine. They have to flip the device over and then the alarm will say "thank you." -There are multiple dosage rings. You can set multiple alarms based on the amount of dosages. -It doesnt require a caretaker to stand over them to take their medicine. It allows the patient to be independent. -It has a key that you can lock the lid in place. The lid is pretty snug and there isnt much space between the lid and the device for pills to slip out. The larger pills have gotten stuck between the lid and their assigned slot. -You can silence the alarm on the device via the app. You can also skip a dose on the app. Skipping a dose is also another way to force the wheel to advance. Cons: -It can be buggy. My biggest pet peeve is that there is no way to manually advance the cartridge wheel. -When youre at the end of the cycle it shows on the dosage rings with orange spaces that are not suppose to be used for medicines. I think it's to allow you to refill, or it's an alert that it needs to be refilled. It is also a starting point. -The instructions are not clear and tell you to align the two triangle marks. There are actually three triangle marks, a faint clear one on the wheel itself, one on the dosage ring, and one of the faceplate. The one on the wheel they dont mention is very important. -The wheel has stopped between dosages and there is no way to adjust it manually. You have to change the alarm to force the dispenser to advance. -Battery low. In one of the dispensers it kept saying the battery was low. We installed the new batteries that came with the device in it, but we went ahead and replaced the dispenser with new batteries. Despite the new batteries and it being plugged in, it still would audibly complain that the battery was low. The battery is for back up. They are not in use if the device is plugged in. -There are multiple settings for the alarm ring mode; A, B, C. There are different volume settings; Low, Medium, High or Mute. But the alarm ring mode, sounds the same between all three options, and the volume setting sounds the same between all three settings, the only one that really works is Mute. -The patient has to tip the device over in order to turn the alarm off. My parent is able to do that but I can imagine some elderly not being as agile to complete that task. -I have set the alarm, watched the alarm go off and the wheel didnt turn. Then I had to go into the app adjust the alarm to force the wheel to move to the next slot. I eventually replaced that device with another one and it seems to be working better. Trying to keep my mom independent. The device I think is worth it but it is buggy so just be ready to iron out the kinks. Customer service is a joke. The QR code in the manual that if you need more help scan here, goes to the manual im currently looking at. How dumb is that? There is nothing available on their website for troubleshooting and their YouTube channel spends more time talking about the wifi and bluetooth connection than any other issues that might occur. From what I could find this is the only medicine dispenser that has an app. I can silence the alarm, I can reset the alarms, I can change the alarm time all remotely. When there are issues when the wheel not being in the right place I can adjust the alarm on the app and force the wheel to advance. My parent lives 25 minutes from me it's important for me to allow them their independence for as long as possible. Also to note my parent has vascular dementia, not Alzheimer's which I hear is much worse. So using this system would be dependent on the severity of the patients dementia.