

Show HN: KytePhone turns any Android into a kids-friendly phone - martythemaniak
http://www.kytephone.com

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TamDenholm
Can i get an old person version of this with big type and no distractions? My
gran still has issues just making calls on a mobile phone and as much as i'd
like her to be able to send and receive text messages, all attempts have
failed.

~~~
ohgodthecat
I can see the reasoning for this but I cannot see the reasoning for giving
older people (who have trouble with technology) smart phones.

The best option I could possibly think of for an old person that can't grasp
the concept is something like Siri for sending/receiving text messages (though
I haven't used it so I have no idea what the learning curve is). Otherwise
just give them a phone that acts like a phone.

~~~
corin_
My grandmother (91) is still mentally sharp (though a little forgetful now,
but still surprisingly unforgetful for her age) but has difficulty using the
simplest of nokia phones - things like the fact that you have to press a
button to dial, or to hang up, confuse her after a lifetime of non-mobile
phones.

I've never seen her try a smartphone, but I imagine having a touchscreen with
big buttons that say "dial now" and "end call" would be easier than dialing in
a number and thinking "I know there was something else I had to do now..."

~~~
schiffern
Why not detect when they've typed enough numbers and automatically connect?

libphonenumber validates numbers based on your locality:
<http://code.google.com/p/libphonenumber/>

~~~
darklajid
Have to see how good that works in Germany.

Prefixes/area codes are different length:

+49 30 ... -> Berlin +49 221 .... -> Cologne +49 2389 ... -> Small town where
I grew up

If you solve that, you'll notice that the number afterwards has the same
problems on a bigger scale.

Some (especially small towns) have 3 or 4 digit local phone numbers. Big
cities go up to 7 (Or more? No idea, but I know numbers from 3 to 7 digits in
length). And length varies within the same area code. So (area) 1234 might be
valid, as is (area) 12356.

I fail to see how that could work reliably. Thanks for the link - now I'm
trying to figure out what they know that I don't. :)

Edit: Skimmed the project. They have a binary (protobuf?) file for phone
number metadata which seems to be a huuuge number of regular expressions.

For the reasons listed above I claim that that way you cannot find out if a
number is 'done' typing using this library. Looking plausible? Yes. But you
cannot replace the dial button in DE for all I can tell.

~~~
Drbble
It's obviously _possible_ to encode all phone numberd, since, you know, your
landline doesn't have a dial button, but calls connect.

Timezone data is a (smaller) mess, but that has been encoded in a library.

~~~
darklajid
I very well might be mistaken. But I don't buy it.

My landline is constantly connected to the operator. My totally clueless
understanding of this voodoo box called telephone is that each digit is passed
on to 'the system', initiating a call when I hit a valid number (or resulting
in an error tone).

I do not believe that it is possible (outside of the telephone network) to
encode this information. You could create a huuuuge snapshot (a digital phone
book..?) and by the time that data is on any device you care about it's
already out of date.

Sorry, I don't believe you and don't think that it is obvious.

Edit: Stole the idea of checking the wikipedia link for DE from the UK sibling
thread. See:

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/+49>

Note things like

" (0xxxx) xxxxxxx

In area codes that use four digits, newly assigned numbers (for all locations
from May 2010, some cities earlier: e,g, Heidelberg already in May 2003) have
a length of seven digits, also yielding a total length of eleven digits.
Grandfathered numbers may be as short as three digits (seven total) in very
rural areas."

Reread the last sentence. Not feasible. End of story. You know if a number is
valid if you try to call it.

You could say 'aaah, but new numbers follow scheme X so lets just have a
database (phonebook) of all current numbers first and fallback to the rule
later'. No idea if that would work and how it reacts to someone canceling his
contract for one of these gazillion 3 or 4 digit numbers.

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ryandvm
This is a really good execution.

I had a similar idea except it was for old smartphones without data service.
There are millions of them floating around out there that would make perfect
household mini-tablets for kids.

~~~
vyrotek
As the father of two kids who beg to play on my phone all day I think this is
a great idea! I have an old Android phone which I would love to let them play
games and take pictures on. Maybe there are even some specific kid friendly
wifi apps they could use. (Send pictures to grandparents?)

~~~
martythemaniak
The nice thing about Kyte is that it doesn't mess with any of the phone's
data. This means you can install it on your own phone, log in and give your
phone to your kids. When you need it back, you just log out and have your
phone back.

~~~
vyrotek
I don't think Kyte solves quite the same problem for kids from 1-6 years old
or so. I never let my 4 year old out of my sight with my current phone. So I
don't really need a 'kids mode' for it. I'm more worried about what they'll do
physically to it :) I'm more interested in turning an old deactivated phone
into a toy that I don't have to care about if it gets flushed down the toilet.

~~~
martythemaniak
In it's current state, I think Kyte is great for kids ages 6-10, ie, those who
are ready for their first phone, but who would have to get a dumbphone right
now because their parents don't feel comfortable giving a full smartphone.

Over time, I hope we'll get Kyte to a stage where it's useful for kids both
older and younger than this age range.

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codypo
This looks like an excellent implementation of a great idea. It's actually
somewhat similar to what we do at Famigo (see
<http://www.famigo.com/sandbox/>), though we're much more about content
management and recommendations than GPS and telephony features.

With respect to the location feature, AT&T actually offers a somewhat similar
service called AT&T Family Map for a monthly fee of $10-15. I believe that's a
white-labeled version of an existing app (it might be Life360, not sure) with
some integration into their back office APIs. I really encourage the Kyte
folks to do some investigation here; other carriers might be looking to solve
similar problems with respect to family location. That is, after all, the
carriers' most lucrative market segment.

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j_s
I love the idea and would be interested in encouraging people I know to try
this out, but I need to know who the customer is for this product... the
privacy of children is something that seems extra important to protect rather
than sell to advertisers or whoever is paying the bills for this product.

~~~
martythemaniak
This is definitely something we need to address on the site, and we'll update
it in the next few days.

We think showing ads to kids or selling their personal information is
completely unacceptable and will never do that. The way we plan to make money
is though the classic fremium model - the basic features (including the ones
we have right now) will be free, but we'll ask parents to pay for premium
features.

Right now, carriers charge $10/month for GPS and $5 for call limits. We want
to give these away for free and provide parents with real value they feel good
about paying.

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vessenes
So, I have a stable of old android phones I will try this on. Quick q -- my
gnexus claims it is not compatible with kytephone. Why is that?

~~~
Zikes
Incompatible with ICS, maybe?

~~~
Rabidgremlin
I suspect so because you cannot get rid of the onscreen system bar along the
bottom.

I wish Google would create a security permission for apps to be able to turn
this bar off.

~~~
ConstantineXVI
Allowing it would create security issues; nothing to stop the app from showing
a fake system bar that appears to let you out of the app, but actually keeps
you in and snoops information. And having no hardkeys means there's no 'safety
hatch' that you know will get you out of the app (like Flash's "esc to close"
warning)

------
bearwithclaws
I love this. But the landing page looks like some interstitial ad which my
first reaction is to look for a "skip this ad" link on top.

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K_O_G_I
My wife and I were actually just talking about something like this a couple
days ago. Great idea, and looks like a great implementation! Great to have a
way to limit what the kids can do and with whom, so the phone remains a tool
and doesn't become a distraction and/or addiction for the kids. Maybe I should
put this on my own phone! :)

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DavidSJ
I feel bad for any kid who's forced to use this instead of a real phone.

~~~
martythemaniak
Kyte is currently aimed at young kids, around the ages of 7-10. At that age,
no parent feels comfortable giving a full smartphone, so kids either end up
with no phone or at best a dumbphone, if they really need to stay connected.

Our intent is not to censor or limit kids, but the exact opposite - we want to
make a product that gives parents peace of mind so they'll be able to get
their kids the smartphone they want.

~~~
DavidSJ
I suggest you not try to speak for every parent. Also, it'd be best if you
didn't use euphemisms for censorship.

~~~
bryne
I'll bite - no _good_ parent.

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luke_s
I was actually looking for something like this recently - this look great!
I'll definitely try it out with my son when he gets a little older.

One feature I would love to see is the ability to set time limits on gaming -
like you can have 1 hour of playing games per day, or 5 hours per week. I've
tried looking around for apps which would do that and there is nothing good.

------
mhd
While I think that the general idea is great, I'm a bit torn about the
monitoring. Not so much about the location, more about what they did with the
phone. To stay within the realm of flying devices, it does sound a bit
helicopter-y to me. Is it really healthy for either party to go through usage
logs to find out how long they played Angry Birds etc.?

~~~
kevinpet
It's all about how old the kids are. To me, this is clearly not appropriate
for teenagers, but entirely okay for younger kids. I don't think it's targeted
at teenagers either -- restricting the numbers called is something they
wouldn't go for.

~~~
mhd
I got that, my concern isn't about the privacy, but about micro-managing your
kid's life. The fact that this is in the intro video makes it appear to me as
an essential feature. No "oh, by the way, if you really want to you can check
what your kid did today", but having it as a prominent feature of your web
management platform.

My worries isn't "should parents be allowed to know that", but "should parents
_care_ to check that all the time".

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estel
Just wondering why it's seemingly limited to US only at the moment? (Or at
least, not the UK).

~~~
martythemaniak
That was my bad in the developer console, it should be available world-wide
now.

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pkamb
> _Your name so we know what to call you._

The name of the person who's setting this up? Or the kid's name?

~~~
martythemaniak
That's the parents name. By default, it'll create and add that contact when
the phone is first activated.

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prezjordan
Second startup this week I've seen involving kites. Same typeface too ;)

Looks great! Plans for monetizing it?

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derekeder
whats to prevent the kid from turning the phone off and on again to exit the
program and get normal access?

~~~
ConnorWGarvey
I don't know how they would disable that and the home button on a non-rooted
phone.

~~~
there
The home button sends an intent that this application would just act as the
default receiver for (just like the Amazon Fire tablet does for its custom
homescreen), though if they are still giving access to the Market, a kid could
install another launcher that responds to that intent and switch out of this
app.

~~~
just_testing
Yes, but the intent of Kyte Phone is to make the phone simple.

If the kid can replace the default launcher, she does not need an special UI
in the first place.

(If all you want to do is micromanage your kid's life through GPS monitoring,
is it possible to install a hidden GPS tracker?)

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webwanderings
Would this work for Android tablet as well?

~~~
martythemaniak
It only works on Android 2.2 and 2.3 right now, but we will get it working
with tablets and 4.0 phones soon.

We've heard from parents that they hate it when their kids mess around with
their tablets, so I think it'll work well on tablets.

~~~
Tichy
I only hate all the annoying popups that mess up the experience for my kid (18
months). I just want him to be able to stick to one app, maybe even just
scroll and zoom around (I have no dedicated children's app, used Google Maps
for example - or even the Touch Screen test app which displays colorful
circles where you touch the screen).

There are too many elements on the tablet that trigger some overlay over the
current app and that are not easy to get rid off (for example the close button
doesn't work while you touch some part of the app behind it).

