Safety and privacy
The one thing Edgewater can never do is miss a child. Here's how we design and test for that, and how we treat a camera in your backyard.
The rules the alarm follows
A false alarm is annoying. A missed child is unthinkable. Every rule is biased toward alarming.
- The siren never waits. It goes off in under a second, before the camera, the app or the internet are involved.
- The camera can only switch the siren off when it's sure. If it's uncertain, or doesn't answer in time, Edgewater treats it as an emergency.
- A child and a pet get the same full alarm. Only things like toys, leaves and the pool cleaner are filtered out.
- An emergency keeps sounding until a person responds. It doesn't time out on its own.
- A broken sensor is reported, never read as calm water. If the sensor is damaged or unplugged, you're told right away.
- It starts up armed. After a power cut, or if the software ever gets stuck and restarts, Edgewater comes back on guard by itself.
How we're testing it
Each stage has to pass before the next one starts.
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On the bench
The siren has to fire in under a second, 20 times in a row, with the Wi-Fi switched off. Every alarm rule above is covered by automated tests that run on every change.
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In a test pool
We'll record 500 entries by a dog and a child-sized mannequin, day and night, alongside the things that should not alarm: wind, rain, a leaf blower, toys and a robotic cleaner.
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In real backyards
Ten free pilot installs with San Diego families in early 2027, so we can measure false alerts in real conditions.
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Certification
Testing to ASTM F2208, the U.S. standard for pool alarms, planned for spring 2027. We won't sell a single unit before we have product liability insurance in place.
What we measure ourselves on
Missed entries: zero
Every test entry by a child-sized object or a pet must trigger the alarm. One miss means we stop and fix it.
False alerts per pool, per week
How often a phone buzzes for wind, toys or the cleaner. Fewer false alerts is our main promise, because it's what keeps families from unplugging their alarm.
Still armed after 90 days
The share of units still switched on three months after install. An alarm only protects anyone if it stays on.
A camera in your backyard, done carefully
Parents don't want a hackable camera pointed at their kids. Security is designed in from the start, not added later.
- No continuous recording. The camera's analysis happens on the box, and there's no live stream to the cloud.
- Clips only after a trigger. A short clip is saved only when something goes into the water, and it's encrypted.
- Signed software updates. The box only runs code that comes from us.
- Pointed at the water. The camera faces across the pool's surface, not at the neighbors.
- Your choice on training data. With your permission, clips and sensor readings from triggers help us improve the filter. You can say no.
Edgewater is a backup, not a babysitter
The biggest risk with any safety device is false confidence. Edgewater is designed for the minutes when nobody is watching, not to replace watching.
Keep doing the basics: a fence with a self-latching gate around the pool, an adult watching whenever kids are in or near the water, and swimming lessons. Every Edgewater box and screen will say that supervision is still required.