Baby Wipes app

So it's not an app to show your baby how to wipe his bum or whatever, it's an app for babies that lets them wipe the screen. At my job there is an adorable 18 month old I've sorta become friends with (not in an MJ kinda way). I have a fair amount of down time at the job and so play with my iPhone. The little one likes to climb on me to get at my iPhone and is very clever in picking up how the iPhone works. He loves to wipe the homescreen and watch the icons go sliding by, but I'm afraid he'll inadvertently change a setting on my iPhone or delete a program or something. I have been looking for an app for babies to mess around with but I haven't found it yet. Baby Wipes would be a great app for 18 month to 4 year olds to let them have an interactive fun time with the wipe feature of iPhone/Androids. It doesn't have to do anything, it just has to have stuff on the screen that would respond to wiping. It could just be a big bubble on the screen that you can move around the screen by wiping, or it can be a bunch of side wiping screens with different images on each screen. What companies should I apply to to pitch this app idea and help work on it? I have lots of ideas for different things to wipe.

I know of some french devs who are working on an app for children. Maybe will you find it some interest?

http://little.frogames.com/

It's not intended for 18 months old kids though, but you may have ideas playing with.

You better not be driving when that kid's around or in your car, bro.

I remember two cousins of mine, who, as kids, had a fuckton of toys. Their room was literally knee-deep in toys. So at a time where we were at our grandparents' house, my grandpa gave them some spare bottle caps. They played THE HELL out of those bottle caps, despite having been brought up with a ton of expensive toys.

Not intending to turn a blind eye toward your motivation in developing an idea, but to anyone interested in such an application I can only really suggest that they offer the little guys something else to play with. I'm not sure I could be persuaded by the argument that says kids should be growing up in a technologically driven world necessarily with the aid of multimedia platforms: in the case if junior, here, he's essentially turning such a platform into a game of physical interaction, something he could just as well be doing with something bouncy or fuzzy... and considerably less expensive. Like an abacus! And let's not forget the chance to gain an understanding about the world around you through sense of touch. The material of an iPhone isn't much to babble home about.

But yes I could be wrong. Much of my unease with the whole idea feels even to me strangely technophobic, and ignorant of the changing times. I'm still one of those people who insists that the feeling one gets from weighing the paper in your hands and smelling the print from off the page is what elevates the book above the wonders of the Kindle. On this point, I must admit; I've yet to be persuaded!

(Compiling a list of the top one hundred things I treasure most in life, dropping an encyclopedia on a desk and closing a hardback with a "thud!" after a satisfying read must rank in somewhere near the top)

There are tons of apps that do visual stuff in response to touches. Even so, I wouldn't give an iPhone (or any similar Android phone) to a baby. They're designed to make it easy to exit any app at any time. This isn't something an app can just override.

I'm still one of those people who insists that the feeling one gets from weighing the paper in your hands and smelling the print from off the page is what elevates the book above the wonders of the Kindle. On this point, I must admit; I've yet to be persuaded!

I don't care one bit for the feel of the paper, but I have to say there are few things as annoying as wanting to read your current book and not being able to because your battery ran out.

Aliotroph? said:

They're designed to make it easy to exit any app at any time. This isn't something an app can just override.

You must have never had the "pleasure" of dealing with McAfee mobile security locking up a phone then, although that's not exactly an ordinary app.

Hellbent said:

So it's not an app to show your baby how to wipe his bum or whatever, it's an app for babies that lets them wipe the screen. At my job there is an adorable 18 month old I've sorta become friends with (not in an MJ kinda way). I have a fair amount of down time at the job and so play with my iPhone. The little one likes to climb on me to get at my iPhone and is very clever in picking up how the iPhone works. He loves to wipe the homescreen and watch the icons go sliding by, but I'm afraid he'll inadvertently change a setting on my iPhone or delete a program or something. I have been looking for an app for babies to mess around with but I haven't found it yet. Baby Wipes would be a great app for 18 month to 4 year olds to let them have an interactive fun time with the wipe feature of iPhone/Androids. It doesn't have to do anything, it just has to have stuff on the screen that would respond to wiping. It could just be a big bubble on the screen that you can move around the screen by wiping, or it can be a bunch of side wiping screens with different images on each screen. What companies should I apply to to pitch this app idea and help work on it? I have lots of ideas for different things to wipe.

Fisher Price has a handful of (free) apps targeted at toddlers (you can probably just search Fisher Price in the app store). Those along with This thing made my girlfriend's iPhone a pretty handy tool for shutting our cute lil one up for a while. It's got a cover over the main iPhone button so they can't exit out of whatever app you give it to them with, too.

Maes said:

You must have never had the "pleasure" of dealing with McAfee mobile security locking up a phone then, although that's not exactly an ordinary app.

McAfee's strategy seems to involve clogging up systems so bad viruses don't have the resources to do anything.

No, I've never seen any mobile version of McAfee. Takes crazies to want one methinks.

Aliotroph? said:

No, I've never seen any mobile version of McAfee. Takes crazies to want one methinks.

With some phone models (e.g. Sony Xperia Neo) you don't have much of a choice: it comes preinstalled (and, presumably, preconfigured by God-knows-who) and if you forget -or worse, were never given- the unlocking pin...good luck getting your phone back.

I think the only way out is a factory reset or better yet, rooting and installing an unfucked OS next time.

Maes said:

I remember two cousins of mine, who, as kids, had a fuckton of toys. Their room was literally knee-deep in toys. So at a time where we were at our grandparents' house, my grandpa gave them some spare bottle caps. They played THE HELL out of those bottle caps, despite having been brought up with a ton of expensive toys.

My experience as a kid was that the simplest vacations, toys, games were absolutely the most fun. I used to go to a summer camp that was real rustic and simple. We played capture the flag, made rope toys, and slept in dinky tents that didn't always keep the water out, but those are some of the best memories of my life. I never had legos, but instead had bulding blocks--mostly made up of square wood blocks with other assorted wooden blocks and pieces. Building stuff with those was great. Kick the can was probably one of the funnest games we played as kids (aside from capture the flag). None of those games require anything fancy. I did have a fast traxx which was really fun, too, but after awhile it broke or I got bored with it.

@Alfonzo: I was expecting this sort of response. I have always kind of been uncomfortable with how kids are being encouraged to learn computers at such an early age, but seeing the baby's natural affinity to the glowing iPhone and his ability to figure out so quickly how to wipe was pretty cool and he gets such a kick out of wiping the screen. It seems like such a simple, innocent and entertaining thing for him to do.

@Sodaholic: I put him on my lap and play peek-a-boo while driving down the street: he covers my eyes and says peek-a-boo! He loves the game, and it's a great way for me to sharpen my mindfulness skills. Don't worry, I don't play this game while I'm driving through town, so the risk of hitting toddlers is greatly reduced.

I hate babbies.

Technician said:

I hate babbies.

To quote myself from another Hellbent thread: "babies suck".

Babbies are kind of a 50/50 experience. They're humbling and entertaining when they're being good, but when they're being self-centered scream machines they're not so fun. Not really something they can help though.

I can actually tolerate babies more than small children.

I love babies but I couldn't eat a whole one.

Nomad said:

our cute lil one up for a while.

Are you really a daddy or am i misinterpretting this?

Babies are ok but it's preferable that they belong to some other sucker.

40oz said:

Are you really a daddy or am i misinterpretting this?

I am a daddy. Come at me bro!