Giving your young children a phone can be helpful in many ways. Not only will it allow you to communicate via calls and SMS, you can also turn on the GPS to track their location in real time. Provided they don’t drop their phones while climbing a Pirate Ship Playhouse or destroy them from doing any of the raucous things little children do, that is. The Filip offers a less troublesome alternative.
Made by Filip Technologies, it looks like a regular kiddie watch, complete with an oversized design and a selection of bright colors that should appeal to young boys and girls alike. Because it’s worn right on their arm, there’s less chance that they’ll leave it somewhere accidentally or lose the phone while running in the yard. It’s tough, too, complete with IP63 water resistance, so it can stand children’s rugged play.
To use, parents install the accompanying app on their iOS or Android phone, link it to their child’s Filip (up to five devices can be added), and it’s set up. Similar to GPS phone tracking apps, you can monitor your child’s location at anytime, as well as set it to provide alerts when the child steps away from your predefined safe zones. You can send messages to your child’s Filip at any time, as well as talk to them over AT&T’s cellular network. Filip can store up to five numbers, which children can call directly from their wrist.
The device comes with an emergency button that, when pressed, will send a text message to all of its five stored phone numbers. It will also start recording ambient sound, then begin calling the stored phone numbers one by one until someone answers, so you can hear exactly what’s going on in case the child is in any sort of bad situation.
Filip is available now, priced at $199, with an accompanying service plan on AT&T for $10 a month.