Many wearables record your movements but one firm has developed a range designed to help you track other people. These include bands that keep tabs on your children, your elderly relatives and your pets. Each device is controlled via an app where a parent, concerned relative or pet owner can monitor and track its wearer’s every move.
The range was unveiled by Chinese tech giant Haier at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Its child and senior bands have GPS technology built-in but while the former is bright and colorful, the latter has a more classic look with a leather strap. Both are waterproof and are fitted with proximity sensors that feed location to an app where users can monitor the wearable’s movements on a map.
Concerned parents and relatives can also use the app to set up safe zones, meaning if a child or elderly relative leaves the zone, the app will send them an alert. The app also stores a log of the wearable’s GPS history. Although many apps and bands track people in a similar way, Haier claims its devices differ because the microphone on each doubles up as a speaker.
Similar to how a baby monitor works, the user can listen to ambient noises around the device to determine their location if there is a problem, for example. Users of the app can also talk to the wearer through the band.
And for pet owners, Haier has also developed a smart collar that works in a similar way but for cats and dogs. In the future Haier said it plans to launch an SOS service that can be accessed directly from the band in the case of emergency.
The company didn’t announce prices or availability for the devices.