New App Lets Moms-to-Be Share Baby’s Heartbeat With Friends: Would You?
You’ve shared that you’re pregnant, your first ultrasound photo, let strangers touch your belly, shared your due date and maybe even baby’s name. So, what’s next? Sharing baby’s heartbeat.
BabyWatch, the latest mom-oriented startup to mark its territory in the baby product realm, has launched a baby app that allows moms-to-be to record and send out the sound of their unborn child’s heartbeat. The app uses a handheld ultrasound (connected to your smartphone with an audio cable) to create a visualization of the sound of baby’s heart beating and then records the beats per minute. Urška Sršen, co-founder of BabyWatch, said that their product differs from others because “[Other pregnancy apps] are mostly focusing on the well being of the mother, and they are not focusing on the social aspects of this sound file sharing. And by doing that, we’re are trying to build a community around our product.”
On the company’s website, the makers of BabyWatch say, “We make tracking pregnancy easy, relaxing and interactive. BabyWatch allows active, working and modern mothers-to-be to hear their baby’s heartbeats from the comfort of their homes and to share these moments with friends and family. The future of prenatal care lies in making medical technology easily accessible and understandable. Our product is opening a new niche in the quantified self movement and encouraging moms-to-be to be more active and engaged in prenatal care.”
Sršen, from Solvenia, and co-founder/CEO Sandro Mur (from Croatia) took their product first through a startup bootcamp in Berlin before launching it for the US market. They felt that their product is most likely to appeal to women pregnant with their first child and to those women that have struggled in previous pregnancies. BabyWatch, Sršen says, will help reassure women suffering from anxiety and stress that their baby is doing well. Another population the app will hit the ground running? Techy moms and dads who want to keep of track of every first — even in-utero!
Want to see what BabyWatch in action? Check it out:
Currently available for iPhonesand Driods for $99.99, the company’s long-term goal is to sync the BabyWatch app with doctors’ offices in an effort to better remote monitoring for women.
Though there are obvious bonuses (like sharing immediately with family, friends and other loved ones) and being able to tell instantly whether or not something is wrong with baby (because those precious seconds could be lifesaving for so many women), what about the drawbacks? The product, useful as it is, could malfunction and what if the reading is wrong? Or what about the added stress and anxiety you’ll feel to check it constantly to make sure baby’s doing okay?
Would you use BabyWatch to share baby’s heartbeat with friends and family?
