Best of CES Safety Tech Awards 2026
SimpliSafe
How we chose the 2026 CES safety tech awards
Me at CES 2025
Image: Rebecca Edwards, SafeWise
SafeWise has been researching, testing, and reporting on safety and smart home technology for over a decade — and we’ve been walking the floors of CES since 2018. For 2026, we refined our process to highlight the innovations genuinely moving safety forward for families, homes, and communities.
This year, we selected our winners ahead of the CES tradeshow, using a combination of hands-on testing, interviews and discussions with product teams, deep-dive research, and insights from trusted industry partners. Our goal was to spotlight brands delivering meaningful improvements in safety, security, and accessibility — not just shiny new gadgets.
We evaluated products and services across a diverse range of categories, including home security, cybersecurity, senior support, disaster readiness, pet safety, and more. Our expanded scope reflects the reality that safety today reaches far beyond alarm systems — it touches everything from data protection to aging-in-place technologies.
Our selection criteria
To choose this year’s honorees, we looked for technology that demonstrated excellence in one or more of the following areas:
Innovation that solves real safety problems
We prioritized solutions that address common safety, security, or preparedness challenges — whether physical, digital, or environmental. Products needed to clearly show why they make life safer.
Upgraded capabilities and substantial improvements
We rewarded brands that meaningfully enhanced existing categories — such as introducing multi-sensor detection, AI-powered analysis, cybersecurity integrations, dual-lens cameras, or smarter automation.
Proactive and preventive safety features
We focused on tech built to prevent harm before it happens, including predictive monitoring, early warning systems, hazard detection, and automated response features.
Impact across the lifespan
From baby monitors to aging-in-place tools, we considered how well each product supports safety for individuals of all ages and abilities — especially in categories like senior tech, family safety, and accessibility.
Brand commitment to safety
Through interviews, product briefs, and company discussions, we assessed whether safety and security are truly part of the brand’s mission — not just marketing language.
Credible performance and user experience
We evaluated each product using a combination of:
- SafeWise field testing
- Long-term or historical testing when available
- Third-party lab data and certifications
- User feedback, reviews, and reliability indicators
- Expert conversations and demos
- In-depth research and comparison to other products and services
Don't keep your award a secret!
If you're interested in using the SafeWise Best of CES badge in your marketing materials, please contact our official partner, Wright’s Media, about available usages, license fees, and award seal artwork at [email protected].
Please note that Wright’s Media is the only authorized company that can provide SafeWise brand materials. For more information, please click here.
What makes a 2026 winner
By choosing our winners before the official start of CES, we got to spend more time vetting the tech in real-world conditions and less time racing across the show floor. The products and services we’ve selected stand out because they:
- Deliver measurable safety benefits
- Represent new thinking within their category
- Improve accessibility, convenience, or independence
- Demonstrate thoughtful design and real-world application
- Have the potential to meaningfully shape the future of home and family safety
We couldn’t recognize every impressive innovation we encountered this year — but the companies we honored most clearly embodied the spirit, criteria, and purpose of the SafeWise CES Safety Tech Awards. These brands are leading the way in helping all of us build safer homes and communities through technology.
