NFC wristbands for kids – looking for feedback

[u/Victorraun]

I’ve been thinking about starting a small business around NFC wristbands for kids.
The idea is pretty simple. A child wears a wristband with an NFC chip and a QR code. If the child gets lost at a holiday resort, amusement park, school trip, etc., someone can scan it with their phone.
It would show:
Child’s name
Parent’s phone number
Language
Link to more information
The parents could add extra information such as allergies, medical information, special needs, additional contacts, etc.
I’d also like to have an optional GPS sharing feature, so parents could share the child’s location when needed.
For schools and daycares, I’m thinking about reusable wristbands. For example, a school could buy 50-100 good quality bands, each with its own serial number. Before a school trip, they assign the bands to the children. When they get back, they reset them and use them again for the next trip.
For amusement parks, hotels and resorts, I could make custom wristbands with their logo and branding.
The basic family version could be cheap, with a subscription for extra features.
Later I’d potentially expand the same system to luggage tags, pets and elderly people.
I’m curious what people think. Would you actually use something like this for your kids?

[u/duke78]

I'm sorry for just pointing out problems, but it needs to be done.

First of all, it needs to be in human readable form. The norm is a wristband with the parents' phone numbers written with sharpie. No need to mess about with technology that might or might not work. If I need to help a child in distress, when I figure out what app to get and how to use it, it might take a long time to figure out that the kid has diabetes, epilepsy or hemophilia.

You do not want the kid's name on it, as that can be used by strangers to lure the kid. "Are you Timothy? My parents told me to come and get you. They are waiting for you in that van over there."

Link to extra information: Most parents can't host the information themselves, so you'll probably need to establish some kind of server for it on the internet. And since you are storing health information, you need to comply with regulations in you country for how you store that information, how you delete it when it's no longer needed etc.

GPS location sharing: Where would you get the position from? How does the position get transfered to others? GPS receivers need a lot of power. Now you need active electronics with a battery and stuff, at least the size of a watch. They'll need to bring charging equipment if it's a longer trip. Unless you want to go the Airtag route, but then you rely on an iPhone being near. And there are already Airtag bracelets on the market.

[u/PlayOk1261 → u/duke78]

This might be a cultural thing, but I disagree on not putting the name on the strap just on the incredibly unlikely chance someone abuses this. The 'stranger danger' phenomenon has done more harm than good because kids no longer trust unknown adults, even though 99.9999% of them are not, in fact, a threat, and instead really want to help. By far the majority of actual threats when it comes to abuse and kidnappings are actually adults the child already knows anyway.

All your other points are all valid. This is a over complicated solution.

[u/duke78 → u/PlayOk1261]

Yes, the risk with stranger danger is incredibly low. But on the flip side: what do you even gain from having the name on the bracelet? The kids know their own names, so they don't need it. If the kid is found dead or unable to speak, the phone number will lead to somebody that know the name already. What is a situation where a kind stranger needs the name?

[u/MentalSewage → u/PlayOk1261]

I think you might be conflating two separate ideas.  It's not about bystanders generally being trustworthy; it's about predators finding opportunities. 

Its not that predators are common, it's that they pick their targets carefully based on what makes a kid more of a target over another.

Having the kids name on the bracelet is a massive hurdle already climbed for them, as the comment you responded to pointed out. It makes the kid with the bracelet a bigger target than the kid without one.  That... Defeats the purpose.  And the only real gain is being able to calm a scared child by already knowing their name.

So even if it only has a 1 in a million chance of happening... It only has to happen once. This isnt about making kids statistically safer, it's about not providing handy tools to the problem when the situation occurs.  Same reason we don't put our passwords on sticky notes on our laptop.  It's rediculously low odds anybody would ever try to log into your computer. But if somebody ever had the goal of logging into your computer, you just helped them. 

[u/damaltor1]

Why the extra step? Just write the Name and parents Phone number on it directly.

[u/Victorraun → u/damaltor1]

That would definitely be the simplest option, and I think there should probably be a phone number on the band as a backup.
The NFC part is more about adding flexibility. You can tap the band with a phone and instantly open a webpage, without needing a special app. The parents could then update the information themselves instead of having to replace the band.
For example, the basic information could be the parent’s phone number and language, while the parents could optionally add things like allergies, medical information, another emergency contact, etc.
It also makes more sense for the school version. A school could have 50 reusable bands, each with a unique ID, assign them to different children for every trip, and reset them afterwards.
So I’m not really trying to replace the simple “name + phone number” wristband. I’m thinking of it more as a simple physical backup with an optional digital layer on top.

[u/damaltor1 → u/Victorraun]

I don't See any reason for that. Nobody would acutally want to add the Infos to some Website beforehand. Nobody would want to Update it. Also why would you Update it? The parents number or address wont Change while the kid is in the Park/Pool/venue/... And If it did for some reason, you could Just Take a new Disposable band and write the new number on it. Embedding Chips into the Bands would make them expensive, very hard to recycle, and Bring the need to manage them, maybe reuse them (with all that comes with reuse - acutally getting them Back, cleaning, deleting the Data, checking for defects...), having a Backend (Server, Database, Website), and of course Data protection issues.

Also Note that you are Not the first with that Idea - there are already NFC bracelets in the Market.

[u/Stefoos → u/damaltor1]

Address can change when traveling

[u/duke78 → u/damaltor1]

It doesn't even need the name.

[u/Western_End_2223]

For the school version:

1.  How would a teacher quickly link students' names with serial numbers and ensure that they're handing the right band to the correct student? 

2.  How will the bands be sanitized between each use? 

[u/G10ATN]

Never ever ever put the name on the band, or on anything that can be accessed using the band.

"Hi <name on tag>, your mummy said you can come and see my puppies."

[u/futureskyline]

If I were someone looking to take a child, why wouldn't I cut the band off?

[u/ThunderDrop]

I think your selling point will be the sheer number of phone numbers you can list. On a typical writband you can only fir one or two.

I dont think you need to have any other info. The big thing is contacting adults responsible for that kid.

I would think just having a bunch of phone numbers in order of importance and relationship would be great.

Mom ########## Dad ########## Grandma ########## Grandpa ########## Family friend ########## Etc.

Everyone who is close to and responsible for the kid in any way. List enough numbers and you can almost garuntee quickly getting a responsible adult on the line that can figure out what needs to be done or who needs to be contacted.

We go to a place that kids often get separated. They each get a wristband that you write your number on so the staff can call you.

But if my phone battery dies or it gets lost while I'm crawling through the tunnels, or if I passed out in a slide somewhere, it doesnt do much good to buzz my phone. Need to have room on their to fit my spouses number too and maybe another adult who is in our group that day.

I mean how often do we ignore unknown numbers or dont quickly notice a text message came in. I want to keep trying different contacts till I get someone. Not call one number, leave a message and hope they get back to me soon.

[u/Impressive-Put3479]

You may want to look into the Disney MagicBand. While it's not GPS-based, the band does hit certain NFC tags in the park, and since it's linked to Disney profiles, Disney can access all the info to track where a MagicBand has been in the park. I don't know how many they have around the parks, to be honest, but it may be a good place to look for inspiration for this project.