The internet is dark and full of terrors.
From Logan Paul's recent YouTube controversy to beloved kids’ character Peppa Pig drinking bleach, graphic and inappropriate content populates every corner of the web.
And these days, adults aren't the only ones surfing.
Explicit content leads as one of the top dangers children face when exposed to frequent and open use of mobile technology. And with the average kid receiving their first smartphone at the age of 10, that’s putting a lot of young eyes in front of a lot of potentially dubious content.
Angela Smith and her husband Michael Smith hope to limit mobile web risks for kids through their startup Yip Yap.
If you built this to stop me from handing my phone to my kid, you have to have YouTube on it.”
While apps exist to offer parental controls over what children can and cannot see on their devices, Angela Smith said these controls don’t do enough.
Together, they developed their own apps and hardware to safely introduce children to mobile technology — and at even younger ages.
“There’s not an app out there that provides child controls and communication,” said Michael Smith. “When you look at existing parental control apps, those are apps that are designed for parents to decide what you don’t want your kid to do. They are really targeted toward teens and tweens and meant to integrate with the apps that are popular within that age group.”
But Yip Yap isn’t after that market. Instead, the Smiths are targeting five- to eight-year-olds with an alternative to having to use mom’s and dad’s phones. It’s also giving parents the ability to add features on the device, as opposed to removing them like many other safety controls.
“As we’ve built out the system, we asked people, ‘What are the reasons you’re handing over your phone to your child?’” said Michael Smith. “The overwhelming response: was, ‘If you built this to stop me from handing my phone to my kid, you have to have YouTube on it.”
So they built out the only YouTube player in the market without advertisements and pop-up videos. Michael Smith said making family phone calls was the second in-demand item from parents.
“We are an ‘opt in’ system,” said Angela Smith. “Parents create their children’s networks. They invite people into that network, and they control who can come into that network and how they can communicate. You can select which YouTube videos your child can view, or if the child has used enough YouTube, you can lock it out entirely.”
We are an ‘opt in’ system. Parents create their children’s networks. "
Michael Smith called Yip Yap’s system an individual private network for each child. He noted how their four kids’ networks each look very different from one another’s — as customized by the parents.
Yip Yap’s solutions include the Pipsqueak, an unbreakable, waterproof and Wi-Fi-powered phone that enables calling, videos, music and photo storage, available for $119.99. Users can also run the Yip Yap app on their old, unused iPhones for $4.99/month, which limits web access and allows parents to choose what they want their children to be able to access from the parents Yip Yap app.
The husband and wife duo recently appeared on A&E Network’s Rooster and Butch show, which is the West Texas equivalent of ABC’s Shark Tank. Originally filmed in July, Michael and Angela Smith pitched their Pipsqueak device for a potential investment. They didn’t get that investment due to concerns over the longevity of the product, but since the show’s filming, Yip Yap has raised funding from Quake Capital.
The Smiths said that they are focusing on raising a seed round while working on new features within the app like video chat and Android access.
