Silicon Valley has long sought to disrupt virtually every aspect of modern life. Now comes technology’s final frontier: old age. Tech that’s specifically designed for seniors is a growing market, fueled by inexorable demographic trends – about 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day.

Senior tech is increasingly showing up in assisted living facilities and nursing homes. A company called It’s Never Too Late proffers a massive 70in high-definition touchscreen computer that provides older people with little prior tech experience easy access to everything from travel videos and music playlists to a library of college lectures. Paro, a robotic seal stuffed with sensors and actuators that react to voice, light and touch, is being used to help those experiencing memory loss and social withdrawal. A movie system called 3Scape provides immersive 3D filmed content for the elderly and mobility-challenged in order to stimulate cognitive function and relieve depression and anxiety.

“At retirement communities these days, technology is no longer a selling point, it’s an expectation,” says Davis Park, executive director of the Center for Innovation and Wellbeing at Front Porch, a not-for-profit company that manages 12 retirement communities nationwide.

Paro is a robotic seal that responds to touch and sound. Photograph: University of Brighton/PA

San Francisco’s Bay Area is ground zero for the emerging senior tech boom. The Trousdale, a new assisted living center in Burlingame, California, touts itself as a “technology-driven community and innovation hub inspired by Silicon Valley”. Every new resident at the Trousdale is issued a tablet computer, and all of the bedrooms feature smart sensor lighting that adapts to the routines of each occupant. “Find the best version of you,” declare print ads for the Trousdale, accompanied by a photo of three silver-haired residents crowded around a tablet computer, laughing uproariously.

Rhoda Goldman Plaza, a residential care facility in San Francisco, offers “decision-support tools” to address the challenges of growing older, including a Useful Apps club that allows residents to “unlock the potential of your smartphone”. The senior-targeted apps include pill organizers, medication reminders and guides on how the elderly can use Amazon Alexa.

Sunny View, a retirement community in Cupertino, California, features the sort of leading edge technology you would expect from a residential community located just minutes from Apple’s world headquarters.

Sunny View offers its residents everything from immersive 3D virtual reality systems to “exergame” bikes that use computer-simulated environments to promote wellness through competition.

Several tech companies have joined in on the gold rush to mine the golden years. Aiva Health, a Los Angeles-based startup, uses Google Home, Amazon Echo and smart speakers to support a mobile app for assisted living caregivers that manages help requests, performance reports, and remote controls for TVs, lights and thermostats. ElliQ, “the sidekick for happier aging”, is a robotic voice-enabled assistant designed to make it easier to make video calls, set medication reminders and arrange doctor appointments. GreyMatters is an interactive storybook app that pairs visual reminiscences with music and games to jog memories. The senior tech field is quickly becoming more crowded than the early bird special at a South Florida restaurant.

“Right now, I’ve got 15 startup companies waiting to pitch their technology,” says Jennifer Bayard, senior vice-president of clinical operations at Carlton Senior Living, which operates 11 communities in northern California and has tested several new technologies at its facilities. “My phone is ringing off the hook with calls from entrepreneurs.”

Even venture capital firms are hoping to land a silver-haired unicorn. Honor, a San Francisco-based startup offering a technology platform that provides personalized senior home-care management, has raised $115m in VC funding. Los Angeles-based Renew Health, a startup promising to “transform medication management”, has raised $13m in seed money, and its employees include alumni from Microsoft, Oracle and Snapchat.

From smart toilets to virtual assistants

No area of life is safe from being disrupted by technology, not even the bathroom. The TrueLoo “smart toilet” optically scans and analyzes the contents of a toilet bowl to detect signs of dehydration, viruses and urinary tract infections. The TrueLoo is currently being tested at several northern California senior living communities and has secured a round of venture capital funding before it even hits the market.

“We’re creating the bathroom of the future,” says Vik Kashyap, co-founder and CEO of Toi Labs, maker of the TrueLoo. “We’re trying to prevent health problems before they become too late to treat. And in terms of the overall user experience, we’re trying to make it as seamless as possible.”

This isn’t the first time that tech startups have attempted to crack the senior market, and past efforts have had only limited success. But with the steady ageing of the baby boomers, many startups believe that this market is poised for explosive growth. The oldest baby boomers are now approaching their mid-70s; the youngest are old enough to qualify for a senior discount at McDonald’s. By 2035, the number of Americans 65 years and older will outnumber children for the first time in US history. For a tech industry that worships at the altar of year-to-year growth, the numbers are enticing.

An elderly woman in Miami tests out a virtual reality device marketed to the elderly. Photograph: Rhona Wise/AFP/Getty Images

So far, technology aimed at seniors is a decidedly mixed bag. Some of it is truly transformative, significantly improving the lives of users by monitoring their health, stimulating their brains, exercising their bodies and connecting them to loved ones. Other technologies fail to live up to their hype, a reality familiar to tech users of any age.

“Twenty years ago, the whole concept of having seniors engage with technology was looked at somewhat frivolously,” says Jack York, president and co-founder of It’s Never 2 Late, the company that designed the touchscreen computer system used at Sunny View. “But seniors are just as thirsty to stay engaged as any age group. If you expose them to things that are meaningful to them, you get better behaviors, they eat better, they’re more engaged.”

Togg, a device that uses wall-mounted radar sensors to monitor breathing, positions and activities of nursing home residents, has shown promise in limited trials. The technology employs algorithms that help predict falls by analyzing a wide range of data about an individual’s motion, gait, heart rate and even number of trips to the bathroom.

“It’s really cool technology,” says Neil Tantingco, owner of Evergreen Residence Assisted Living in Visalia, California. “We’re testing it right now in 15 rooms, but I want to make it a standard throughout the facility.”

Seniors are just as thirsty to stay engaged as any age group. If you expose them to things that are meaningful to them, you get better behaviours, they're more engaged Jack York

Voice-controlled virtual assistants such as Alexa have proved the most popular. Eskaton, a not-for-profit that provides services at more than 30 senior communities, recently deployed Alexa at one of its facilities and it became an instant hit. Less than 40% of residents were using standard tablet computers on a weekly basis. With Alexa, that rate climbed to 80%.

“We didn’t anticipate Alexa would be that popular,” says Therese ten Brinke, Eskaton’s project coordinator. “Voice control is so much easier and more natural for seniors instead of learning how to use a tablet.”

However, other technologies fall well short of their promise. Standard laptop, tablet and desktop computers are far from being user friendly for older adults, who often struggle with complicated user interfaces and difficult-to-manipulate keyboard and mouse controls. Many become frustrated trying to perform even simple computer functions, much less advanced tricks like pressing the “skip this ad” button without accidentally clicking the nearby link that sends you to the advertiser’s website.

Other times, technology specifically aimed at older people seems to be a solution in search of a problem.

“We’re bombarded by a lot of startups selling technology, and some of them don’t have things worked out,” says Sylvia Chu, executive director of the Trousdale. “I saw a presentation from one company that was selling a device that looked like a giant fax machine that dispensed medications with the press of a button. But it wasn’t any better than having someone put the medications in a weekly pill organizer.”

GeriJoy, an MIT startup, has designed a tablet-based application that lets older people interact with a virtual talking dog, which the company says helps users be less lonely “because they always have someone to talk to.” But when the device was tested at Evergreen Residence Assisted Living, it proved to be more alarming than companionable. The virtual dog’s bark was harshly robotic-sounding, confusing many residents. To make matters worse, the remote caregivers tasked with interacting with users’ questions and comments over an Internet connection were based in the Philippines, causing technical and cultural problems.

“Sometimes, the dog would answer a question and the patient would be two or three conversations ahead,” says Neil Tantingco.

“And because the remote caregivers were in the Philippines, they didn’t always understand certain references. Like, they didn’t know what Walgreens was.”

Sometimes, the technology failed for a reason all too familiar to computer users everywhere: lack of tech support.

“Technology for seniors is a great marketing tool, but unless you support it with training, it’s useless,” says Candiece Milford, managing director of marketing at Rhoda Goldman Plaza. “It’s a constant learning curve because they forget how to use the device. Some of them are terrified when the computer screen times out and goes blank, because they think they’ve lost everything.”