For parents who want to keep a close eye on their young children, a tracking device is probably the best option in the market right now. It may sound Black Mirror-esque but when it comes to children’s safety, parents will want the best options out there. Apparently, Amazon has been working on their very own kid tracker called Seeker which was supposed to have been released last year. But now leaks of the tracker as well as some details have leaked.
Amazon Seeker of course has GPS tracking which is probably one of if not the most important component of a kid tracker. It’s meant for children aged 4-12 years as most teenagers most likely have smartphones already and tracking your teens is a whole different conversation. The device is a wristband but can also be worn on a keychain or a clip. It would be voice-activated so Alexa is most likely in play here. It would also have things like two-day communication with the parent as well as access to Kids+.
As per some documents leaked about the device, the idea of a kid tracker was conceived by Amazon back in 2019. They originally planned to release it commercially in 2020 but of course, the pandemic happened so that was probably shelved. It would have wireless connectivity through an embedded cellular modem and would be priced at $99. The year’s access to Kids+, which is at $2.99 per month, was the added bonus.
Despite the leak, we don’t know if Amazon plans to still pursue a release of this device. There is a worldwide semiconductor chip shortage which has delayed a lot of device launches and even led some OEMs to cancel products they would supposedly launch. So Amazon may most likely postpone or cancel something like this which may very well be the fate of Amazon Fetch, a dog collar tag that they announced back in September 2019.
In any case, there doesn’t seem to be a clamor for kid tracking devices right now. Still, it would be interesting to see if Amazon does eventually decide to release this as there is still a niche market for devices like this.
