The Genus

Sep 28, 2026

A client's week is built around appointments: the morning care round, a visit from the GP,
physiotherapy, the grandchildren coming by after school. Until now those appointments were kept in
different places. With this release they come together in one calendar. The client sees it on the
Genus, family members use it in the Genus app, and care professionals manage it in the Community
Portal.

What's new

- Family members can open the client's calendar in the Genus app, see what is planned and add
their own appointments.
- Care professionals see everything planned for a client in one calendar in the Community Portal,
including appointments added by family. Colours show where each appointment comes from.
- Care organisations get a new privacy setting that hides the details of their appointments from
family members.
- Clients can browse forward in My Day on the Genus to see what is coming up tomorrow and later in
the week.


For family members: the calendar in the Genus app

Open your loved one's Genus in the app and tap Calendar. The calendar opens on today. Swipe through the row of dates, or tap the calendar icon at the top right to jump to any day.

Each appointment shows its time, or All day, and who added it. Appointments from the care organisation show its name, for example Added by Example Care, so you can see at a glance what the care team planned and what the family planned. This includes appointments the care organisation plans in its own care system.

A lock marks an appointment you can't change in the app, such as one planned by the care organisation.
Tap any appointment to see its details: the time, the description, how it repeats, and who created or
last changed it.

Adding an appointment

Tap + and give the appointment a title and, if you like, a description. Then choose the date and
the start and end time, or switch on All day. An appointment can repeat daily, weekly on the days
you choose, or yearly, which suits birthdays. It can repeat until a date you pick, or indefinitely.

The appointment then appears on the Genus, in the app of the other family members, and in the
Community Portal for the care team.

Good to know

- Any family member connected to the Genus can change or remove an appointment added by the family.
- Changes to a repeating appointment apply to every occurrence. Removing it removes the whole series.
- Times are always the local time of the Genus. An appointment at 15:30 is at 15:30 for your loved
one, even if you add it from another time zone.


For care professionals: the calendar in the Community Portal

Open a client and click the calendar icon in the header.

The client calendar has been rebuilt so that everything planned for a client appears in one view:

- your organisation's appointments,
- appointments family members add in the Genus app,
- appointments from a connected care system such as Nedap ONS,
- calendars the Genus is subscribed to.

ONS appointments now appear in every view, including the month view, where they could not be shown
before.

Colours show where an appointment comes from:

  • Dark teal: Your care organisation
  • Terracotta: Family, added from the Genus app
  • Light blue: A connected care system or subscribed calendar

Appointment details

Clicking an appointment now opens its details first. They show:

  • when the appointment takes place and how it repeats,
  • the description,
  • its source,
  • who added it and who last changed it.

If you can't change an appointment, the dialog says why. For example, it is planned in ONS and can only be changed there, or another care team added it.

Family members see your organisation's name as the author of your team's appointments, never the name of an individual colleague.

Creating and editing

To add an appointment, click or drag across an empty slot. To change one, choose Edit in its
details.

Appointments can repeat every day, week or year at an interval you set. For weekly appointments you
choose the weekdays. A repeat can end on a date or continue indefinitely. You can also edit and remove appointments that family members added.

Good to know

- Repeating appointments. Changes always apply to the whole series. The dialog tells you this
before you save. Deleting a repeating appointment removes all of its occurrences.
- Monthly repeats. Monthly repetition is no longer available. Existing appointments with a pattern
the portal can't edit, such as a monthly repeat, stay visible and are marked read-only.
- All-day appointments always cover a single day.
- Dragging. One-off appointments can be dragged to another time or resized. Dragging one into the
all-day row turns it into an all-day appointment, and dragging it back turns it into a timed one
again.
- Time zones. Times are always the local time of the client's Genus. If your computer is set to a
different time zone, the dialog tells you.


New setting: keep appointment details private

Some appointments belong to the client and the care team, such as a hospital visit or a treatment.
The client may want the help without a conversation about it. A new setting lets your organisation
keep the details of its appointments private. Family members still see that something is planned and
when.

You'll find it under Community settings → Default Genus configuration → Hide calendar event details for family members (privacy). It is off by default, and a health administrator can switch it on.

When the setting is on, family members see your organisation's appointments in the Genus app with
their time, but without their title or description. Each one appears as Private event (care), and its details read Details are hidden for privacy reasons. Appointments that family members add
themselves stay fully visible.

Good to know

- What it covers. The setting applies to the appointments your organisation adds, including those
from your ONS connection.
- What it doesn't cover. It doesn't hide appointments added by family or calendars the Genus is
subscribed to.
- Older appointments. Appointments created before this update don't record which organisation
added them, so the setting doesn't hide them.
- The client and your team still see everything. The client sees full details on the Genus, and
your team sees them in the Community Portal.
- More than one care organisation. If a client is connected to several organisations, each
organisation's setting applies to its own appointments.


On the Genus: browse the days ahead

My Day on the Genus now shows more than today. Two green arrows beside the date move to the previous or next day. The header names the day: Today, Tomorrow, or the weekday with the date.

- Details. Tap an appointment to read its full description and see who added it.
- All-day appointments are listed first, marked all day. In the Day Overview on the home screen
they have their own All day section.
- Empty days show Nothing planned. If the agenda can't be loaded, the Genus says so rather than
showing an empty day.

The client always sees the full details of every appointment, even when the privacy setting above is
switched on.


Fixes and improvements

- Repeating appointments no longer lose occurrences when several days are shown at once.
- All-day appointments no longer move to the previous or next day in some time zones.
- Weekly appointments now start on the first selected weekday on or after the chosen start date.
- Simultaneous changes: Two changes saved at the same moment can no longer silently overwrite each other. If a change can't be saved, you see an error instead.
- Descriptions from connected care systems and subscribed calendars are shown as readable text
instead of raw formatting code.


Availability

The calendar is available on the Genus. It is not part of Genus Lite.

- The Community Portal and the Genus receive the update automatically.
- Family members get the calendar by updating the Genus app from the App Store or Google Play.

Mar 31, 2026

This release focuses on Flexible Nurse Calling improvements, expanded device support, and quality-of-life updates across the Professional App and Community Portal.

New BLE alarm buttons (Genus Assist)

We’re introducing a new range of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) alarm buttons designed for use inside care homes. These buttons support reliable alarming and (where enabled) indoor location tracking.

Available button types

  • Wrist button
  • Pull cord (ideal for toilet/bathroom use)
  • Wall buttons (fixed buttons for rooms, hallways, etc.)

How to pair an alarm button

  1. On the Genus device go to: Menu → Connect → Devices → Add new device 
  2. In the redesigned selection menu, choose Genus Assist 
  3. Hold the button close to the Genus device
  4. Let Genus search. Genus will automatically detect and set up the button once found.

Indoor location tracking

In care homes where each room has a Genus device, you can enable indoor location tracking to help caregivers respond faster.

How it works

  • Each Genus device can be assigned a room number.
  • When an alarm button is pressed (e.g., in a hallway), nearby Genus devices communicate with each other to determine which one is closest.
  • The Professional App will show a clear location hint, for example:
    “Assistance requested near room 2 & 3” 

Enable location tracking

  • Go to the Community Portal → Community Settings
  • Enable Location tracking 

Coverage for areas without nearby rooms (Gateways)

For locations such as a restaurant or public toilet where no room-based Genus device is nearby, a Genus Gateway can be deployed:

  • The Gateway can be assigned a location name, so alarms can show:
    “Assistance requested near the restaurant”

Current availability

  • At this time, Gateways must be deployed with configuration support from the Genus development team.
  • In a future update, Gateway deployment / configuration will be added to the Deployer App so integrators can manage this independently.

Flexible Nurse Calling — Device visibility

Connected devices are visible in the Professional App, the Community Portal and the Genus device. For every device the battery status is shown as well as the last time it was seen. 


Family access controls (Community Portal)

Healthcare communities can now control what family members are allowed to access when they connect.

You can allow family members to use communication features only, such as:

  • Sending photos
  • Messaging
  • Starting video calls

…without granting access to:

  • Assistance requests
  • Sensor insights

How it’s managed

  • Configure in Community Portal → Community Settings (Insert screenshot)
  • For care organisations, this is restricted by default.
  • If a care organisation wants to grant full access, an admin can toggle full access in Community Settings 

Changes to alarming

This update improves clarity, reliability, and the client experience during alarming.

What’s new

  • Text-to-speech confirmation: the client is informed that the alarm was sent successfully.
  • Text-to-speech for alarm reactions: additional voice feedback during alarm handling.
  • Caregiver alias (client-facing name): caregivers can set an alias (e.g., “Caregiver”) shown to the client instead of their personal name .
    Example: “Caregiver is coming soon” instead of “Thomas is coming soon”
  • Improved text-to-speech voice stability.
  • Repeating assistance notifications: notifications now repeat until handled. This is configurable per team 

Professional App updates

  • Assistance requested system notification is removed when the assistance request is solved (for a cleaner notification experience).
  • Improved date / time formatting for different countries / locales.
  • Video calls now automatically switch to speaker mode.
  • Added historic notifications (view past notifications)
  • New / updated Profile page.
  • Support for unrestricted battery usage (to improve background reliability where permitted).
  • Faster notifications (improved delivery speed).

Community Portal updates

  • Teams added to the client overview
  • New team filter to quickly find and manage clients by team

Manual of the Professional App

A manual for the Professional App was created and can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13OkPckYxuJzTsTCnMmSQGiGIPTx6HAxJ 

Mar 14, 2026

This update adds support for paired smoke detectors to improve safety and ensure smoke alarms reach caregivers and family members quickly—even if the Genus device is temporarily offline.


New: Pair a smoke detector with Genus

Smoke detectors can now be paired to a Genus device using the device connection flow.

How to pair

  1. On the Genus device, go to "Menu" > "Connect" > "Add a new device", select the Smoke detector" and let the Genus device start scanning for nearby devices.
  2. Put the smoke detector into pairing mode by pressing its button 3 times quickly.
  3. Genus will discover the smoke detector and complete setup automatically.

After pairing: smoke detector works independently

Once paired, the Genus device will configure the smoke detector’s Wi‑Fi. After that, the smoke detector can operate independently of Genus.

This means:

  • Smoke alarms will still be delivered to professional care even if the Genus device is offline.

Smoke alarm experience (client, family, and care teams)

When smoke is detected:

In the client environment

  • A warning message is shown on the Genus device
  • The warning is also spoken out loud to alert the client
  • The smoke detector triggers a traditional siren alarm locally

For family and professional care

  • Alarm notifications are sent to phones so recipients can act immediately.
Jan 10, 2026

We’ve added video support to Genus, making it easy to share guided content directly with clients. Videos are ideal for physiotherapy exercises, daily movement routines, and activities that help elderly clients or people recently discharged from hospital stay active, supported, and engaged right from their own environment.



🎥 New Features

📤 Video Uploads & Messaging

  • Videos can now be uploaded to the Community Assets Library.
  • After uploading a video, the Genus platform will resize the video to match the resolution of the Genus and optimize the file size.
  • After a video has been processed, it can be attached directly to messages sent to the Genus.
  • Clients can choose to postpone videos and watch them at a later time.
  • When a client presses play in a message, the video starts automatically.
  • After playback, the client can either close the video or watch it again.

🔊 Improved Volume Controls

  • Added new volume sliders for improved media control. Clearly differentiating the different volume types you're adjusting.
  • Media volume can now be configured in Genus settings, both in the portal and on the device.

🐛 Bug Fixes

  • Various bug fixes and stability improvements.
Dec 02, 2025

In addition to locking specific UI elements on the Genus device, you can now hide them completely.
This behaviour can be configured directly in the Community Portal, giving you more control over the user interface and experience.

For example, if your organisation doesn't want to use the Call Me functionality, you can hide the Call Me button in the photo overlay and in the main menu.

Other Genus updates

  • Greek translations have been refined
Nov 10, 2025

We’ve introduced several improvements to enhance device reliability, streamline testing, and support troubleshooting.

Battery Health Monitoring

A new battery monitoring capability has been added to help ensure device stability.

  • This feature is primarily intended for support teams to verify whether a device’s battery is performing as expected.
  • If the battery behaves abnormally, the system may automatically trigger a remote reboot under specific conditions to keep the device stable and active.
  • Only a small number of devices are expected to be affected by this safeguard.

Faster PIR & Radar System Tests

To simplify testing procedures, the duration of the PIR and Radar system tests has been reduced from 10 minutes to 5 minutes.

  • A successful 5-minute test now confirms proper sensor operation.
  • No further extended testing is required, making system checks quicker and more efficient.

Enhanced Logging

Logging has been improved to give support teams better insight during troubleshooting and diagnostics.

Nov 10, 2025

We’ve introduced a new stress monitoring feature in Genus to help caretakers proactively support their clients’ wellbeing.

What’s New

You can now create a “How are you feeling?” question in the Community Portal. This question uses a predefined reply type with four options:

  • Relaxed
  • Restless
  • Tense
  • Panic

How It Works

When a client responds with anything other than Relaxed, caretakers automatically receive a notification. This allows them to quickly follow up, either by calling or visiting the client, to ensure they're doing well and to help prevent rising stress levels.

This enhancement enables earlier intervention and contributes to improved client care and safety.

Oct 07, 2025

New Voice, Smarter Speech

  • Introducing a new Text-to-Speech voice with improved clarity and natural tone.
  • Now better understands multiple languages, seamlessly switching between them.
  • Clearer Dutch and English pronunciation for more natural conversations.
  • Enhanced volume balance — speech messages now match your ringtone volume more consistently.
Oct 06, 2025

📅 Calendar Improvements

  • Fixed an issue where calendar items around midnight were displayed incorrectly in the Day Structure view.
  • Past events are now removed from the display instead of being struck through, keeping your calendar cleaner and easier to read.
  • When a new event starts, it now automatically dismisses any overlapping event for a smoother experience.

📱 Connectivity & Performance

  • Fixed an issue where the Genus app would not update properly over eSIM connections.
  • Improved sensor connectivity for Genus Routines, ensuring faster and more reliable updates.

🎥 Video Calls & Devices

  • In multi-room video calls, Genus device camera views will no longer appear on other Genus devices — care takers will continue to see both camera views as intended.
  • Fixed an issue where the EV04 battery level was not being displayed correctly.
Sep 24, 2025

We’ve added a new security feature that allows organizations to restrict access to certain parts of the Genus app.

New Features

  • PIN-Code Protection – Lock specific sections of the Genus app using a PIN code.
  • Configurable via Community Portal – Administrators can select which settings are locked and can configure the PIN code in the Community Portal.
  • Temporary Access – When accessing a locked setting, users are prompted to enter the PIN. Once entered, all restricted options remain unlocked for 5 minutes.

Configure it in the Community Portal by going to "Community Settings" > "Default Genus configuration"

Sep 24, 2025

This release includes important bug fixes, stability improvements, and new device support.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

  • VOIP Calls – Fixed issues with VOIP calls after the echo cancellation update. As a temporary workaround, sound level monitoring is temporary disabled when using VOIP.
  • Security Enhancements – Improved authentication security for external APIs.
  • Stability Improvements – Enhanced reliability of alarm escalation restoration after alarm server reboots.
  • Community Portal Updates – Serial numbers are now displayed in the user detail page.
  • Invoicing Integration Fixes –
    • Invoicing customer selection fields are no longer shown when no invoicing integration is connected.
    • Fields for linking resellers or customers to external invoicing systems are now separated for clarity.
  • Addons & Subscriptions – Fixed naming issues for addon and subscription types.
  • Zigbee SOS Buttons – Added support for Zigbee SOS buttons.
Sep 24, 2025

We’ve upgraded the alarm system to make alerts more informative and customisable.

New Features

  • Text-to-Speech for Alarms – Alarm messages and reactions are now spoken aloud using the Genus Text-to-Speech engine.
  • Custom Message Reactions – Personalise the response messages for different alarms.
  • Online Alarm Documentation – Access comprehensive alarm information and guidance through the online documentation. The documentation can be found at https://genus.care/docs/alarm-api 
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