Anxious parents may not care, but the other children might laugh at your kid for carrying this phone.
The KidsConnect GPS Tracker lets parents track their kids’ every movement, review three days of location history, and have parental control of all incoming and outgoing numbers. It will even let parents eavesdrop on the child’s surroundings.
What it is
“The KidsConnect GPS Tracker cell phone is an all-in-one device that lets your child safely explore their world without the anxiety of losing contact,” claims the company’s press release.
Features
• Built in GPS
• Real-time tracking in Google Maps
• Location history in Google Maps
• Geo-fencing: get an alert if your kid leaves a set perimeter area
• SOS will send a text message with the location to up to four cell phone numbers and them autodial the numbers until one is answered
• Only parents can program numbers into the phone via the website
Fear as a sales technique
The statistics on the KidsConnect websites strike fear into the heart of any parent. “800,000 Children in the USA are Reported Missing Every Year According to the FBI,” they say. “That Equals One Child Every 40 Seconds… Don’t Let your Child Become a Statistic!”
Hold the phone. Are that many children abducted each year? It’s more complicated that that. That number includes family abductions, non-custodial parents keeping their children too long and multiple entries for the same missing person. “Only 115 were ‘stereotypical kidnappings,’” reports Slate Magazine.
Still, nobody wants their kid to be the statistic. Is this a good way to keep your kids safe? Mike Dean, Managing member of KidsConnect, thinks so.
How did you come up with the idea?
“We were looking for a unique product in a market that’s underserved,” says Dean, adding that they are also working on a phone for seniors.
Have you had any success preventing or solving child abductions?
“Not preventing, but God forbid it happens, you can help track the children,” Dean says. “Should a child get kidnapped, even if the kidnapper finds the phone or breaks it… you can’t turn it off without a password, but should they break it or find a way to disable it, at least you have a starting point.”
Won’t the kids just leave it behind if they don’t want to be tracked?
“You say to them, ‘make sure you answer your phone, you don’t answer your phone, you’re in trouble,’” says Dean. “That’s what I always told my kids when I gave them their cell phone, I said ‘there’s one rule, don’t ignore my call. If you ignore my call, I call you once, I call you 15 minutes later, if I don’t get an answer from you, you lose the phone for the day,” says Dean.
“It’s not just a tracking device, it’s also a cell phone, so parents can call their children,” he says.
Why not buy a regular phone?
“A lot of parents don’t want to spend $40 a month for a cell phone plan for their kids and give them an Android or an iPhone with access to the Internet and text messaging,” says Dean. recalling a customer who purchased a phone for her daughter.
“She just ordered it because she found out that her 13 year old daughter was texting dirty pictures of herself to a 19-year-old boy. She says ‘I need to be able to get in touch with my daughter, she needs a phone but i don’t want her having Internet and Facebook and text messaging and everything else.’”
Dean noted that his customer was getting it as a punishment for the girl, “but I don’t really care, but it’s a great concept too.”
Age Range
Dean says the phone is targeted towards 4-11 year-old children.
This writer is hopeful that children that young aren’t left alone, and is also skeptical that they would have the presence of mind to dial the phone in an emergency situation.
Are they for sale?
They’re apparently available in the U.S. on the company’s website mykidsconnect.com, as well as Amazon and eBay and Shopify. Cell phone plans range from $12.95 to $16.95 per month. They aren’t available in Canada, yet.Dean ran a crowdfunding campaign for the phone last month on IndieGoGo; it raised only $10 from two backers.