Monkey Jabber, a GPS-enabled walkie-talkie watch that provides easy-to-use communication between parents and their kids, has been developed for families to stay safe by keeping in touch of their whereabouts. The gadget is aimed for kids who aren’t quite yet old enough to have a cell phone, but need a way to keep them connected to their families when they are apart.
Jacob Moshinsky, a single dad and CEO of the Toront-based company, created Monkey Jabber when he lost track of his 7-year-old son during a day at an amusement park.
“He had run off to the bathroom, but then didn’t come back,” said Moshinsky. “I panicked. I was scared and felt completely helpless, asking strangers, security, anyone who would listen if they’d seen him.”
Durable, scratchproof and water resistant, requiring neither WiFi or Bluetooth access, kids can communicate freely with their parents’ smart phones by “radioing” their children at any time. In addition, parents can relax with the unique “safety zone” feature, allowing a parent to set an adjustable 100-meter range with an alert on a parent’s smartphone if a child leaves the zone, allowing the parent to find the child’s location to within 5 meters on the app. There is also an SOS feature that allows kids to instantly alert parents in an emergency while simultaneously initiating a voice dialogue. Simply put: with Missing kids reports signaling 500,000 missing kids a year, it’s wearable peace of mind.
Wherever there is cell phone range, a parent will be able to track their child within 5 meters, or about 16 feet. Many devices advertise 3G service, but actually use the CDMA network that has largely shut down in North America. Monkey Jabber has state-of-the-art iCloud technology with LTE GPS tracking. It was developed by tech industry professionals who made the GPS capability their top priority. Moshinsky was shocked to discover the failure of this basic function in the trackers he bought before inventing his own. “It only makes sense to have the absolute best possible GPS tracking capabilities. You set the parameters of your child’s area at the mall or amusement park, and get an instant notification on your phone if they move past the limit,” said Moshinsky.
Additionally, Monkey Jabber operates for 24 hours at a time with regular use, and up to three days if not used much. Other watches run out in under 12 hours. Parents need that full day-long period to get safely to the point where they are back at home in their routine, plugging in their own phone and their child’s device at the same time. The phone and watch work together, so they should have similar battery lives.
Being a tech entrepreneur himself, Moshinsky had a head start on figuring out a kid-friendly solution that could eliminate this common parental concern, driven to make sure every parent had the opportunity to benefit from his invention.
“Amusement parks, supermarkets and public spaces should not instill fear in parents,” added Moshinsky. “With today’s tech advances, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to easily track our kids and get to be the fun, easy-going parents we want to be.”
Additionally, during school hours, Moshinsky developed a feature to ensure kids don’t start Jabbing during classes, keeping distraction out of reach.
Monkey Jabber lets the parent talk to their child anytime for a quick check-in to see how they’re doing, or if they need help. Family networks can be set up too, so that grandparents or other caretakers can be in on the secure channel with your child, increasing their safety further. This is the perfect feature for parents of kids between the ages of five to twelve, who aren’t ready to buy their children a cell phone, but would like to be able to communicate with them easily. There is also the ‘cool’ factor of being able to walkie-talkie with their friends in the playground- any two Monkey Jabber kids can ‘radio’ each other just for fun.
A special alert button allows kids to notify the parent instantly if there’s an emergency. If a young child fell off the monkey bars and hurt his arm, or an older child feels scared in a situation at the mall, the SOS notification and can immediately run to their assistance from wherever you are. The SOS feature also launches a two-way conversation so that your child can tell the parent what’s happening in real time.
The Monkey Jabber watch has a fun look to it, and can withstand anything a child can do to it. Most kids won’t wear something if they don’t think it’s cool, and that anything they do wear is in constant peril from bumps, whacks and scratches. That’s why Monkey Jabber is water resistant, scratchproof and reassuringly durable. The logic behind this is that if a child has an emergency where they may have hurt themselves, a broken watch is not going to do its job. Along with durability, the watch is also cyber-secure, with IOTA security service at a low monthly fee.
Moshinky is no stranger to technology. Prior to creating Monkey Jabber, Moshinsky built a successful career with over 13 years in global telecom and CPG. Most recently, Moshinsky led the Product Development and Strategy at TELUS for Push-to-Talk Solutions (PTT). Before joining PTT, Moshinsky served for four years in numerous product and service management roles with Rogers Communications where he launched and managed wireless and wireline products, and three years in product and marketing roles at Cadbury Adams.
An Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign to generate capital for an initial production run launched on November 15. Parents can stay updated via Monkey Jabber’s website and social media.
For more information, visit http://www.monkeyjabber.com/.
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