Lively Mobile2 Reviews

Lively’s company name should be changed to “Deadly,” because the level of stress it inflicts on the senior citizens it markets its products to can definitely be hazardous to their health. The facts: two phones were ordered directly from Lively, including activation, and neither phone could be activated. After hours of listening to customer service robot voices, hold music, and conversations with representatives who had no idea what they were doing, we finally reached Lively's activation department. They admitted that Lively had put the wrong SIM cards in the phones by mistake. (Oops!) Rather than correcting their own mistake, Lively sent us on a long trip to a Best Buy that was miles away, claiming that a Lively representative there could activate the phones if we paid for new SIM cards.

I bought the emergency button for my mother. It was difficult to get set up. The instructions that came with it were easy to follow but it didn’t work- I had to spend a lot of time on the phone with 4 different people to get it set up. They were all very nice and easy to understand but felt if they had a better website that maybe a lot of that would have been unnecessary.

The Lively lady that I talked with was, at first, friendly and helpful until I learned what the final monthly charge would be. The advertisement read $14.99 per month. After all of the taxes and other costs the bill was over $27.00. I expressed my concern and she blamed me for giving her a wrong number on the account She continued to complain that she had allowed me extra time and that the company rules for time spent with customers was 10 minutes. The implication was that I should have been thankful for the extra time spent on me.

Lively (GreatCall) has been a huge disappointment. The Out and About feature doesn’t work on iOS, and it took endless rude customer service calls before anyone even admitted it was a widespread issue. Tech support promised an update but nobody knows anything. Terrible support for a device seniors are supposed to depend on.

Lively has changed for the worst. I’ve used their mobile devices for at least 6 years. Was fairly reliable. However, the last 2 months have been bad. The device started rebooting 4-5 times a day and audibly announcing something like, “Your device is now up and running”. It’s very loud. If you were at church, you’d be embarrassed. I called in to complain. They suggested that I order a new one for $96. I received the order, and it did the same thing. It, too, is now rebooting and audibly announcing the start-up dialog. Again, this goes on 4-5 times a day.

I recently purchased a Lively device on 8/29/2025 at Best Buy. I called to activate the device and 3 times no one answered. On the 4th call, a rep answered, and I complained to them about calling 3 previous times without being helped, and she hung up on me. Classy customer service.

Called Lively customer service re inability to view data used. Customer service said to resolve buy new phone or do factory reset with contacts remaining available. Followed reset instructions on phone, was told to turn off phone and allow updates which should be about 15 minutes. Contacts did not remain, could not make calls, next day 55 minutes will customer service trying to regain contacts and service. Told to allow 5 minutes for set up to complete. Unable to make calls and message noted no cell service.

This company takes advantage of the elderly! Threatening to send his bill to collections. When he is unable to use a phone anymore for the past 4-5 months. Phone was dropped in water so no use. Have called to cancel several times and no one does, customer service does not notate the account of any conversations like they say. They sure have a good sale pitch but will rob you when you want to stop paying for their service. Sorry excuse of a company!!

I have been with this company for years. I have zero complaints. Press the button and there is a person on the other side in seconds... Always pleasant. When my unit had a problem I called and within two to three days I was sent... Free of charge... A brand new one. Their pricing is great and so are they... I'm 80+ and feel very safe having them with me 24/7.

Former Lively cell customer. I paid Lively automatically via charge card. I cancelled in Sept. and they continued to charge me an additional month. I appealed via my credit card and prevailed. Now, two months after I cancelled and 1 month after the credit card company ruled in my favor, Lively continues to try to collect from me directly. Very unethical.

I'm a 70 year old woman who is not tech savvy. I bought a little flip phone for my mother, so when I lost my phone, I got myself a phone with Internet capabilities. Except that you don't have Internet capabilities. We know we're not getting a quality phone from this company from the start. Ok, phone is loaded with Google Chrome, which doesn't work. This is my second attempt to write this review due to "chrome not responding". I disabled chrome, which took away my ability to use the Internet altogether. I've called for help, but according to the company, no one can help me until the "cycle" passes. Maybe it's a lunar cycle, that makes about as much sense as this phone. I'm embarrassed to say that I hate this phone to the extent that I want to cause it pain.

Updated on 02/20/2024: I received a complaint response which did not address any information I complained about. I entered a billing contract and paid hundreds of dollars more on auto pay. Seniors are being duped for not being tech savvy. Shame on this company!

My dad has dementia but still drives. Wanted a phone that was easier to use. We had to switch it back to Android version because he could not maneuver through the Lively version or find contacts. The GPS is easily 30 minutes delayed which is useless in his finding his location. Even when I hit refresh it shows he is still somewhere else when he is already home. Cheap enough but not reliable in an emergency locating him. The panic button is not good at all for dementia as he kept hitting it multiple times a day because it in is large and red so he thought it was the calling button or enter button like on a TV remote. I switched it back to Android which then the emergency button no longer is used. I do not suggest this phone for anyone with mild to moderate dementia. My dad is unable to learn a new phone. Idea is great as far as GPS but it should be more accurate. We will be looking at other options.

The customer service rep that answered the phone this morning sounded like she just woke up and was hung over and was obviously working from home. When I first started using them a few years ago, they sent me all free equipment to get their hooks into me. They were always good about replacing their faulty equipment too. But recently they raised their prices, dropped fall detection with no notice and just now tried to charge me $19.99 for replacing their faulty charger. No thanks, I'll pass. Just another greedy company not caring about their customers. I don't want to line their pockets any longer. I suggest you pass as well. They only care about one thing and it's NOT YOU!

I got the Jitterbug phone from Lively for my husband over 6 months ago. The battery started overheating even when it was not being used. I tried several times to call their customer service department only to get the message that they had longer than normal hold times, leave a message & they would call back. I received no call back. There is no online assistance. There is no tech support.

I wanted a basic, cheap, easy to use and carry phone to use in the event of an emergency or problem at home or away. I found this phone couldn't provide a reliable connection even at home in perfect conditions in a heavily populated area. I had trouble just turning it on and off, and doing basic set-up. I called customer service on my land line but didn't get any feeling of improvement from the woman I talked to and returned the phone after one day. I had driven cross country alone without a cell phone when there were pay phones, but I've gotten old and thought I should have a cell phone. This one wouldn't have given me any more confidence.

Got a Jitterbug Flip2 phone for my elderly dad in a nursing home. It is NOT SENIOR FRIENDLY as highly promoted. It's all around too SMALL (keys, screen, buttons), volume too low, and contact info is hard to set up and locate. Dad is frustrated and doesn't want to use it. So, he's 91 and his family doesn't get to talk to him very often. Although I got the red color, it still ended up in the facility's washer and the screen no longer works. Have only had it for a month, so very disappointed and it's going in the trash. The only good thing is the emergency button, but you don't need that in a nursing home. Save your money & frustration and check out other options.. like the RAZ Memory Cell Phone. They've actually spent time and research to understand senior needs. I'd rather pay more for quality & value.

I bought a Jitterbug phone for my older brother who lives alone and has some memory issues. I called and got assistance to activate it and was ready to bring it over to him, however, the next morning there were already three spam calls with messages. They were offers saying that his "business" was eligible for up to $30,000 in loans and no credit check was needed. He should just call right away so they could proceed. Another message said he could get a retroactive claim for his employees to get refunds of thousands of dollars. Every day there were more such messages, even though I blocked them as they came in. They use a different phone number each time, but the messages they leave are always about business benefits, no credit check and financial hardship.

I got tired of wearing this heavy device around my neck and got an Apple watch to use instead. Since Lively is a month to month service, I was under the impression that if I didn't pay, my service would be stopped. But apparently that policy has recently changed. TO CANCEL YOU MUST CALL IN. I did that, but I received no confirmation that it indeed had been cancelled. No email, no note on the website. They refuse to confirm.

Earlier this month, I bought my 85-year-old mother a Lively Urgent Response Device. We had multiple frustrating customer service calls trying to get the first device connected, I finally convinced the rep that we could not keep trying to install the unit and he had me return it and they sent a new device that was supposed to be all charged and programmed and would be ready to use out of the box. Since our first attempt went so poorly, I drove up again to help my mom install the replacement unit. It seemed to be charged and active but despite my mom charging the device I couldn't see that it was connected on the app on my phone and my mom was frustrated and concerned that she kept seeing a flashing red light, or no light or a green light. I emailed asking for someone to verify if it was working but received an email saying it could take multiple days for a response.