A little beacon clips onto the seat. A small tag sticks to each car's base. Both parents' phones know which car the seat is in, whether it's empty, and how warm it is in there. Built by a dad who got stranded at daycare drop-off.
One morning I went to take our baby to daycare. Got to the car. No car seat. It was in my wife's car, and she was already across town. I worked from home that day and started building this.
Michael, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Prototype 9 is in our driveway right now.
A coin-sized tag lives on the base that stays in each car. Set it up once.
It listens for the tags, feels whether the seat is empty, and reads the temperature. Months per charge is the goal.
Which car, who has it, whether it's empty, how warm. Alerts when something is off.
The seat knows which base it's clicked into. Not roughly where. Which one.
A pressure pad under the cushion. Both phones see it.
An alert when the temperature is off and the seat isn't empty.
Daycare, 7 to 6. If the seat leaves at the wrong time, you know.
Two phones, one seat, no texting "do you have it?"
The tag goes on the base. The clip goes on the seat. No tools.
It was my first thought too. An AirTag tells you roughly where something is, when someone's iPhone happens to walk past it. That's a different job.
I'm building a small beta batch, then launching on Kickstarter. People on this list get the early price and the first units. That's the whole deal.
No. LittleBeacon is a convenience product and an extra check. It is not a substitute for checking on your child yourself, and it will never be sold as one. Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle.
Any infant seat that clicks into a separate base. The tag sticks to the base, the clip goes on the seat, nothing is drilled or glued to the seat itself.
Each base has a small Bluetooth tag. The unit on the seat listens for them and knows which one it's sitting on by how strong the signal is. Near a car is not the same as in it, and it can tell the difference.
The unit sleeps until the seat moves. The goal is months on a charge. I'm testing that right now and I'll publish the real number, not a hopeful one.
iPhone first, because that's what we have. Android after launch.
Early price goes to the waitlist first. I'll tell you before anyone else.
Your seat's location goes to your household's phones and nowhere else. No ads, no selling data, no strangers' phones involved.
Beta with a few families first, then Kickstarter. The waitlist gets the date before it's public.