Has anyone worked on something for the Gizmo?
Hi Everyone! Raising this up from the dead. Has anyone come up with a solution for this? My kids really did not like wearing watches so hoping for an airtag/smarttag type solution.
2 Likes
Joining this.
Any idas?
1 Like
We ended up getting the SyncUP Kids watch from T-Mobile (similar to Gizmo from Verizon). Integration into HA wasnāt a primary concern, but would be a nice-to-have feature. Iām assuming thatās a pipe dream as you can only manage it from an Android App on phone. No web interface, or anything else. But will follow this thread incase thereās any development.
Detailed info on airtags
Someone could beg secure mobile networking lab to build python version of Airgaurd or a full HA integration.
This sucks, still no good product for this usecaseā¦
Can you not use an Apple Watch and iPhone for this?
I use these with my kids and have no issue tracking them.
Well, my 7 years old is still in a phase where I expect that the thing will get lost sooner or later, so want to keep the cost down. Watch and iPhone? Even second hand solution will be at least 2-3 times more expensive than some watch with GPS and Call function.
Secondly, I want her to just have a watch (to keep distraction down), not a mobile phone. Apple Watch does not have a call function and tracking does not work without phone as well.
The Apple Watch does have a SIM option.
A little more expensive but considering your saving on an iPhone it balances out. Then get an iPhone a few years down the line and the non-SIM watch.
For a 7 year old - At what point are they really alone? I went down this route, once the kids decided they wanted to walk to school with friends but they were 9-10.
Sounds like a Apple AirTag is what you need here.
That isnāt active, right? I.e. it canāt send a GPS location if some iPhone isnāt around (which there is not for 7 year old who goes through some park), nor it allows to contact me if something goes badly.
Oh, I update, thanks. But yeah, the cheapest celluar apple watch I can find in my country is for 350$ (new, second hand are hard to get as this is 2022 model? not sure, canāt find many that would be below $300). Secondly, it seems it only actually pair and works with iPhone, so I would need some iPhone anyway, so we are at what, at least $500 assuming I buy a second hand (let alone I donāt need it).
For a 7 year old - At what point are they really alone?
I mean, now. The little one goes from school to home alone, crossing one small street and about 15 minute walk (800m). Other times they would go with their friends via a bus, leave that bus, cross one street with lights, then hop onto another bus. Fairly normal for where I live.
Airtag is not an active device AFAIK.
Fair enough - I am jealous that you live somewhere a 7-year-old can roam free 
.
If you are in the Apple system, the whole process works well. Apple āHomeā triggers a whole load of automation in HA and does geofencing better and more reliably than anything else I have tried.
Cost-wise - yes, it is expensive, but the watches last, and so do the phones - so the total cost of ownership is less than we were paying with Andriod devices.
I envy you that your kids donāt lose a thing after a week 
ā¦
Following this in case someone comes up with something. My daughter is nearly 2 and already Iād like to be able to see where she is. Can imagine that feeling will only get worse as she gets older.
1 Like
Me too following, Iām interested
Not for everyone, but one could search the keywords āLoRaā and āGPSā - the range would be shorter than any cellphone network, but no need to pay any monthly fee.
It is possible to build your own LoRa repeater(s) to more range, plus, there is also the LoRaWAN.
So can be done - but again, not for everyone.
I came up with the following solution: a small Android phone supporting eSim (rakuten mini, might be only available in Japan tho) and the home assistant companion app.
Rakuten mini is great because itās a cheap and very small smartphone on Android 9. (A bit bigger than a credit card). It can easily be hidden in a small bag.
eSim was a must because I found a eSim provider offering a 1gb of data only without a time restrictions at 2 euro (Bnesim one time plan).
From my testing, one day equals 20% of battery drain and around 5Mb of data consumption.
Using it for about a week now and so far so good but I am a bit unsure about this eSim provider on the long term.