Let's face it, our lives are hectic. You can think of plenty of times you've driven off without something you really needed that day. It's a frustrating fact of life and, when it happens, we have to turn around and get it or live without that item for the day. Losing track of things was a common problem - until now.
3 Signs Bringrr Is Perfect For You.
1. You turn around mid-trip because you forget your things.
2. You always misplace your keys.
3. You worry about your pet running away.
3 Ways Bringrr Can Solve Your Problems.
1. Bringrr will always notify you that your most important items are in the car before you drive away.
2. BringTags turn anything (including your keys) into bluetooth beacons, so you can easily find misplaced items.
3. The Bringrr App will notify you if your missing item (or pet) is found by the Bringrr community.
Bringrr Makes Losing Track Of Your Things, A Thing Of The Past.
So Bringrr Is More Than Just A Car Charger? How Does It Work?
Yep. Simply pair your phone with Bringrr via bluetooth, and it will make sure you never drive off without your phone again. Every time you start your car, Bringrr will search for your phone. If your phone's not there, Bringrr notifies you with a friendly flash and sound.
What If I Want To Make Sure The Rest Of My Stuff Is With Me Before I Drive Away?
Good question! This is where BringTags come in. You can attach BringTags to the items you want to keep track of, and worry less. As soon as you start your car, Bringrr searches for your phone and tagged items, like your wallet, backpack, laptop - you name it! If anything is missing, Bringrr will let you know. You will receive a notification on your phone, specifying which tagged item you've left behind.
Can I Schedule Bringrr To Look For My Tagged Items Only On Certain Days?
Definitely. You can use the Bringrr App to create a schedule for your tagged items. Bringrr will search for them only on the days and times you specify.
If you travel frequently, schedule the app ahead of time so you don't leave any crucial items behind. Because you can't turn around for your things once you're on a plane!
Can I Use My Current Calendar App With Bringrr?
You can! Bringrr works with Apple Calendar and Google Calendar. Once you’ve tagged your items and created item profiles on the Bringrr App, you can use the Notes section (Apple Calendar) or Description section (Google Calendar) to tell Bringrr what you need for that specific event. Simply type the word “Bringrr:” followed by the names of the items you don’t want to forget. The Bringrr App syncs with your calendar, and Bringrr will remind you to bring your tagged items. It’s that easy!
- iOS Users: You can set up Bringrr reminders by using the Calendar app on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or even at iCloud.com.
- Android Users: You can set up Bringrr reminders by using Google Calendar on any Android device or even at Google.com/Calendar.
As long as Apple or Google Calendar syncs to your smartphone, you will never drive away without your important things again.
What Else Can BringTags Do?
Outside of the car, BringTags help you find your misplaced items. You can use the Bringrr App to track down your tagged item by distance, within a 50-150ft range. The App will guide you toward the item's location. If you still can't find your item, just activate the BringTag's built-in speaker to find it by sound.
Ok, But What If I Still Can't Find My Misplaced Item?
Chances are, it's lost. The good news is you are not alone! Just mark the item as 'missing' on the App. This will silently and discreetly put the entire Bringrr community on the lookout for your tagged item. When anyone with a Bringrr gets within range of your lost item, you will get a notification of its location; securely and anonymously. Your location is never shared with anyone else. Maintaining your privacy is very important to us.
Wow, That's A Lot Of Distance Covered! Tell Me More.
- Bringrr charges any USB device
- BringTags can be shared with the people in your life
- BringTags last a year and never need to be charged
- BringTags have an interchangeable battery
- BringTags use Bluetooth LE so your smartphone won't suffer from battery loss
- You can log in the Bringrr App from anyone's smartphone to find your misplaced tagged items
- The App saves the last GPS location of your tagged items so you can easily find them later
- The App updates Bringrr so you get all the latest features
I'm A Developer. Is Bringrr Open Source?
Yes, you will be able to integrate Bringrr and BringTags any way you see fit on any app you want to develop. You will be able to sign up as a developer on our website and get access to the Bringrr API. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
How Does Bringrr Work With Google Glass?
Seamlessly. With Google Glass, all of Bringrr's features come alive in front of your eyes.
- If Bringrr notifies that you’ve left something behind, Glass will tell you what forgot to bring.
- Assigning BringTags with Glass is easy. Just specify your item and the tag you want to use, and Glass takes a picture.
- If you misplace something, just ask Glass. You will be taken right to your item.
- If a lost item you’ve marked as missing is found by the Bringrr community, Glass will guide you to the item's location.
So What Colors Can I Choose From?
Bringrr comes in black, and BringTags come in white. Manufacturing different batches of colors is costly, but if we meet our stretch goals we will be able to manufacture more colors. So help us spread the word and choose your favorite color!
What's The Story Behind Bringrr?
We'd love to share it with you! It all started with our CEO's uncanny ability to forget his phone everywhere. And when we say everywhere, we mean everywhere; home, office, bar, park bench, you name it. For most of us, our smartphone is a crucial tool that we can't go without. So if you ever leave your phone behind, you're most likely not going to go about your day without it, you will drive back and get it. We wanted to solve this problem. When conceiving the idea of Bringrr, we wondered what kind of devices were already available that could prevent us from turning around mid-trip to get our phones. After searching for a product that could possibly do this, we found only devices that leashed the phone to you, which could result in a lot of false alarms. That’s not the problem we wanted to solve. We wanted a device that could be left in the car and practically forgotten until it was needed. So we thought of things that are always in your car, and the first device that came to mind was a car charger. Light bulbs went off in our heads! It’s stationary, everyone needs one and it’s out of the way. Why should your car charger just charge your phone and do nothing else, is the question we asked ourselves. With that in mind, we got to work. Shortly after, Bringrr was born.
We then went a step further and asked ourselves, what about remembering to bring everything else? During our first brainstorming session, the answer almost came instantaneously; bluetooth beacons! The name “BringTags” was conceived even faster. We wanted BringTags to easily attach to things so Bringrr could search for them in addition to our phones. Our team didn’t stop there. We wanted to add other features to the tags that made them usable outside of the car. The problem of forgetting goes hand in hand with misplacing your things. So making BringTags able to find your misplaced or lost items was just the natural evolution of the Bringrr system. Adding a speaker to BringTags so we could find our misplaced items by sound, on top of using the Bringrr App to find items by distance, was our way of creating a complete system. We were very excited to tackle the challenge of making the age-old problem of driving away without your things, a problem of the past. This motivated us to act quickly and begin the design process to make Bringrr and BringTags a reality. After months of planning and engineering, we had the first prototypes.
How Was Bringrr Engineered?
Very carefully. The basic engineering concept behind Bringrr is simple.
We currently have a fully functioning prototype of Bringrr that works as shown. This was completely developed by our team from scratch, without using any off-the-shelf products. For the BringTags, we used the TI SensorTag development platform as a base to create the prototype. Since then, we have designed our own circuitry and developed the firmware, so BringTags communicate with Bringrr. The prototypes currently work with our early stage app. We have a functioning version of the Bringrr App for iOS that allows us to test our prototypes and make sure they work correctly. The Bringrr App(s) for Android and Google Glass are currently in the preliminary stages of development.
Here is everything we have developed so far:
Bringrr
- Power circuit board developed
BringTags
- Bluetooth circuit board developed
Enclosures
- Original enclosure for Bringrr
- Final enclosure for Bringrr & BringTags
How Will My Contribution Help?
The cost of manufacturing Bringrrs and BringTags only becomes possible when we meet the minimum order requirements for the components. We have fully functional prototypes that we’ve carefully refined. This means all we need is to have a certain number of Bringrrs and BringTags spoken for before we can begin the process of manufacturing the first batch.
We will be going through our hardware manufacturing partner in Tucheng who will be able to produce all of our components in house. Our partner has decades of manufacturing experience and is capable of producing high volume orders quickly, so they will be able to make as many units as we need.
Your contribution will help us with:
- Finalization of hardware designs for our manufacturer
- Procurement of the finest quality parts available
- Programming of the infrastructure of the website and mobile apps
- Hardware quality control and various testing stages
- Ability for us to add more colors
- Production of the Bringrrs and BringTags!
What Does Your Timeline Look Like?
We’re right on schedule! Here’s what we have accomplished so far and what we have coming up:
Who's On The Bringrr Development Team?
Aldo Beqiraj is the marketing visionary behind Bringrr who has been an entrepreneur since he was only ten. He strives to grow Bringrr and is responsible for assembling, managing, and directing our team. His expertise in hardware engineering is an invaluable asset that has fueled his drive for innovation and creativity. Aldo is also our lead graphic designer whose eye for design and photoshop skills are second to none. Although Aldo works the standard entrepreneur shift of 80 hours per week, he will be receiving a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts - Lowell in the spring. Aldo is working on the PCB layout and manufacturing preparation for Bringrr, as well as overseeing the engineering design process. He is also designing the overall flow, look and feel of the Bringrr website and mobile/Glass apps.
Nick Zakas is the head of the engineering team and specializes in hardware and firmware. He is relentless in his work, and moves at a lightning-fast pace which keeps everyone motivated to work even harder. He manages to balance time between Bringrr and his demanding school work and will be graduating with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts - Lowell before this Kickstarter project is over. Nick is leading the hardware and firmware development of Bringrr.
Andrew Webb is the lead software engineer who oversees the development of the mobile and web infrastructure. Dedication to perfection is what drives him to frequently go on coding marathons into the late hours of the night. Andrew excels at security management, and is always tweaking his code for the best way to keep everyone's information safe. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts - Lowell. Andrew is creating the web and mobile infrastructure of the Bringrr website and the Bringrr iPhone app.
David Rocca is the lead mobile application engineer who specializes in server security. His knowledge and experience in mobile application development allows him to effectively optimize for the best user experience. David meticulously organizes his code, making it easy for the rest of the team to add and improve features. He is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts - Lowell. David is developing the Android and Google Glass apps for Bringrr.
Reginald is the Cat who inspired BringTags. Exploring cabinets, playing fetch with straws, and hunting the red dot are his areas of expertise. As fearless as he is adorable, Reginald is always excited to socialize and make new friends, especially if they have turkey. When he isn’t filming his next big scene, he enjoys hiding keys and taking naps in the sunlight. While he won't be graduating college, Reginald will be putting on his Party Cat Hat to celebrate his second birthday this January.
This All Sounds Great! How Can I Help?
We're glad you like Bringrr! We've been working very hard to bring the world a system that makes forgetting your things, well, a thing of the past.
Please pledge and help us grow the Bringrr community. Every share & tweet counts, so please tell your friends and family (and even your cat!) about Bringrr. One by one, we can create something amazing together, and solve the age-old problem of leaving your things behind.
Thank you for your support, Kickstarter!
We can't wait to see where this amazing journey takes us.
All thanks to you.
Risks and challenges
Safeguarding your privacy, proving our prototypes worked, and overcoming critical technical questions with our app, server, and website were the biggest risks with this project. We have taken all the necessary steps to prepare for the various risks that come up when designing a product which combines electronic hardware and software. Reducing these risks was our primary focus before launching our Kickstarter.
The only remaining risks we might encounter concern logistics and unexpected delays in the manufacturing process. However, our manufacturer has produced thousands of units for other clients and has been successful in overcoming and preventing these kinds of issues. We are confident that we will be able to follow our timeline and begin shipping on schedule.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
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Up to 10 active BringTags can be tracked and remembered at a time, however you can have as many item profiles, and shared BringTags on your account as you can handle!
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Bringrr can pair with any bluetooth enabled device to check if it's there or not. For your phone to search for BringTags and keep track of them in your car your device must be at least Bluetooth Smart Ready (Meaning it is Bluetooth Low Energy capable). We will be releasing the app on iOS, Android, and Google Glass. International - Same as everywhere else. To check if your device is Bluetooth Smart Ready you can go to Bluetooth's product catalog and search for your device here.
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Nope. You can use the Bringrr as is and it will still charge your devices, pair with your phone and alert you if it is missing. You will need to use the Bringrr App along with the BringTags, however the apps will all be free. Using Bringrr and BringTags together increases the functionality of both devices, and just makes everything easier.
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Yep, Bringrr will work without interfering with the normal headset or hands-free operation.
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No. You will not know when this happens, the other users BringTag location is sent discreetly and anonymously to our cloud servers. Then the Bringrr cloud servers send the BringTag location update to the owner, and none of your Bringrr account information or location will be shared with them. All that person will receive is a GPS location of their BringTag.
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Nope, BringTags (and all of our communications) use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is designed to consume very little power. Your phone battery will keep about the same amount of charge as your regular usage, and the BringTags are designed to last 1 year with regular use.
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The Bluetooth range on Bringrr is set to about 15 feet. But, when the signal passes through your car doors and walls it becomes significantly less, so it is highly unlikely that Bringrr will think your tagged items are with you in the car when they are still in the house.
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At the end of the project, we will send a survey to confirm your order. So if you want multiple orders please be sure to add on to your total pledge amount. You can also message us after your pledge and specify which additional rewards you would like and as long as your pledge reflects the shipping and amount for each reward we will ship them. (Example: 2 orders of the $105 reward, just update your pledge to $210 (105+105) and we will ship you 2 orders, or $226 for international (105+105+8+8))
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We’re working with our engineers to figure out if this is possible, and if so which devices it will work with!
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The BringTags are not able to locate your phone currently, unless you have tagged your phone and use another Bluetooth LE compatible device.
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We sure do! And we are having a blast experimenting with them.
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No. Unless you specifically give permission for another user to share one of your BringTags, no one else will be able to see your location, or any other data associated with your account.
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Funding period
- (42 days)