Philips Sonicare For Kids

What the app is for

Philips Sonicare For Kids is a companion app for children's brushing, used with the Sonicare for Kids toothbrush. Its main character is Sparkly, a furry creature that children look after as they brush. The app is built for children who need a reason to brush properly, and for the parents who want to see how they are getting on.

The developer says the full set of features needs the toothbrush, which connects to the app over Bluetooth. Without the brush paired, the timer, coaching and rewards described below are not available.

The developer reports that 98% of surveyed parents found their children brushed longer and better with the brush and app than with a toothbrush alone. It also reports that 96% of children brushed for two minutes or more across 2.8 million connected Gentle brushing sessions.

Rewards and dressing up Sparkly

Children earn rewards for each completed brushing session. Those rewards go on gifts that can be used to dress and feed Sparkly.

Parents can choose which rewards or credits their children receive. That keeps the reward side in the parent's hands, not left to the app alone.

Two-minute timer and brushing coaching

A timer counts down the recommended two minutes, and the developer says it works in Gentle mode. The aim is to keep children brushing for the full time rather than stopping early.

The app also coaches children on brushing technique. The developer presents this as a way to improve how they brush, not only how long they brush for.

Streak Challenge for twice-daily brushing

Streak Challenge is a game that asks children to brush twice a day. Each day brushed adds to the streak, which is the point of the game.

Brushing history is stored so a streak is not lost, according to the developer. That history is also what the parent side draws on.

Parent Dashboard and several children

The Parent Dashboard shows progress on brushing habits, so a parent can see how regularly each child is brushing. It is where rewards and credits are set.

A parent can keep track of more than one child in the same place. The dashboard is the single view for the household.

Restoring saved progress on any device

Game progress is saved to the cloud. The developer says it can be restored on any device, so a child's Sparkly and streak are not tied to one phone or tablet.

Brushing history is saved the same way. The developer's wording is that a child never loses a streak, which depends on this saved history.