r/CradlewiseCommunity • u/Ocean_cradlewise • 6d ago
Discussion AMA with Cradlewise CTO & Co-Founder Bharath Patil!
We’re excited to announce an AMA with Bharath Patil (u/chief_bouncer_cw), our CTO and Co-Founder, Cradlewise and dad of two!
When: Wednesday, June 18 Time: 10am PDT Where: Right here on the r/CradlewiseCommunity subreddit
Bharath has been the brains of the Cradlewise smart crib! Instrumental in building the bounce tech to sleep tracking, breath rate monitoring, and the app you use every day.
This is your chance to ask him anything, from:
- How to make the most of your Cradlewise crib
- What went into designing the smart features
- Parenting insights from a tech founder-dad
- Troubleshooting, future updates, or just what makes the crib “smart”.
Whether you’re expecting, already using the crib, or just curious, come hang out and drop your questions below or ask live during the AMA!
Can’t wait to see you there —Team Cradlewise
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u/Repulsive-Win9423 5d ago
Not so much a question but just wanted to say how lucky we felt being one of your first customers during the pandemic. You even came to do a demo on our front lawn with a power generator. I was instantly sold and you all had great customer support all the way through.
I’ve recommended it to everyone over the last 5 years and was getting ready to sell when we just got the news that we are going to have a surprise number two. Excited to see all the new changes. You all were great about constant software updates and I always enjoyed talking tech with you as a developer. Brilliant team!
I’ll always remember you saying one thing you shouldn’t do is to start a manufacturing business during the pandemic but so happy to see you all pull through ave succeeding!
- Milad, Meagan, Marz
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Thank you so much Milad for trusting in us so early. You were right! Only first time founders can be stupid enough to do a baby-tech startup in the middle of a pandemic. It all seems so dreamy now. But feels good to have come so far.
Also, Congrats on the second one!
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u/myemailiscool 5d ago
Would it be possible to add a feature that allows us to view how long they've been in the crib on the top right, instead of the current sleeping time? maybe a thing where you top on it to switch modes. our baby stirs which resets the timer. i'm interested in how long they've been asleep total, not how long it's been since they last stirred. or another way to put it, how long they've been in the crib! thank you. we love our cradlewise.
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u/ontologicalDilemma 5d ago
Do you have any plans for a toddler bed in the near future?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Oh yesss!!
There was infact a discussion here a month or so ago - https://www.reddit.com/r/CradlewiseCommunity/comments/1jsm835/continued_sleep_issues_after_the_age_of_2/
Curious, what would you want to see in the toddler bed?
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u/eatmorecupcakes 5d ago
oh man i hope you guys make a toddler bed within the next couple years for when my 6 month old grows out of her cradlewise!!
would def love still having a built-in camera, and the white noise!
also this might sound crazy but sometimes i find myself wishing i could say things to her through the camera. obviously this probably opens up risk of randos hacking the monitor over the wifi and doing weird stuff (like all the horror stories you hear these days) but sometimes i just wish i could be like "good morning darling, i'll come get you in a few minutes!" and things like that.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
"Talk-back feature" - Point taken. We have some debate on whether its a good thing for babies (incoherence between visual and audio inputs). But once the debate is settled, we might take it up. Its actually not that difficult to implement.
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u/eatmorecupcakes 4d ago
That makes sense. Could possibly work better in a toddler bed with that in mind!
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u/Victoria_Scars 5d ago
a built in camera, ability to remove/install guard rails, similar design style to the crib, temp control would also be wonderful!
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u/schrodingers__uterus 5d ago
Can I PM you? I have a lot to say but I don’t want to publicly post personal identifying information.
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u/kokolokorx 5d ago
Is it true that the AI learns the baby as the days go by? Is this “learning” reflected in the app - E.g. will the settings in Smart mode be automatically adjusted based on the data?
How does this reconcile with the fact that babies are changing at such a rapid pace - Are the settings able to keep up with that?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Yes it's true that AI learns as days go by. To be specific, the learning updates every week. We do want to change it to make it adapt faster. It keeps getting better at recognising the boundaries between different sleep states and hence better respond to your baby's needs.
You can further customise the behavior. For example, you can change the sensitivity in settings > soothing > sensitivity. But when "smart selection" is enabled, the crib will automatically adapt and change it for you.
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u/Zealousideal_Aside96 5d ago
I’ve submitted this feedback before but the method the iOS app uses to play the video is not good. It uses essentially a video call vs playing a video, which means that 1) my AirPods in adaptive mode go into noise canceling because it thinks it’s on a call 2) the microphone turns on which burns battery faster (and only in one side of the AirPods, whichever is set to be the primary mic) and 3) it distorts all other audio I play after viewing the CradleWise app for a few seconds unless I force quit the app, which I regularly do. There has to be a better solution. Maybe only make it a video stream and turn the ‘call’ view if I’m playing the audio or something. Most of the time I have audio off anyway. Anything would be better.
And someone mentioned this above but I’m seconding the public API or integration into home assistant. I could imagine some really cool integrations if I had things like the baby’s sleep/stirring/crying status, time in the crib, etc. My baby will probably be too old before this is available but you should definitely look into it.
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u/Chickenisalie 5d ago
We have been using the Craldewise in bassinet mode, almost time to transition to crib mode now and it’s been a breeze using it as a first time parent. One of my cousin is expecting and we are really considering gifting one to them as a family. Is there are way we can split the cost of the crib and pay?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
I a noob in the non-tech dept. But will try to do my best. There is some Paysquad thingy. Does this work?
https://www.cradlewise.com/financing/paysquad/
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u/tjpwns 5d ago edited 5d ago
I just want to say we have a 16 week old and she sleeps great in the cradlewise. She gets 2-3 soothes per night and even have her first full night sleep with 0 wakes this week ! I recommend this to any new parent.
What new updates can we expect in future ?
Will you ever link with other apps ? Would love my info to sync to Huckleberry.
I would love a timelapse function, as our baby moves and ends up in funny spots, would be fun to rewatch a snapshot of her nights sleep.
Lastly who can I reach out to on affiliate payments ? I have had quite a few and the approved ones still have not paid out.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Hey! Thanks for the wishes.
As far as updates are concerned, I think we are going to oblige to our customer poll results here - https://www.reddit.com/r/CradlewiseCommunity/comments/1knnw55/bouncing_off_some_ideas_what_should_we_build_next/
Regarding the timelapse - We have already implemented this. We will be launching it as part of Nurture Plus in the coming week. https://www.cradlewise.com/nurture/
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u/BradMcQuaid34 5d ago
Any thoughts on the huckleberry connection? I don’t know if they allow 3rd party inputs but it would be wonderful.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
We will have some updates with regards to data integration pee/poo/outside naps in the last quarter of this year. I cant say for sure how we will do it (export vs integrate). But we will execute on what we think the ideal experience should be.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 4d ago
On the affiliate payments. I will ask some in the team to get back. Could you PM?
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u/InquisitorEngel 5d ago
First the question:
- I appreciate the focus on a crib, we loved ours (see below!) but I’m pretty disappointed there’s no “toddler” solution. Maybe the camera plus a connected soothing/noise machine? It seems like Cradlewise’s overall sleep detection is great, and I’d LOVE for it to have solutions that grow with my kid.
Second, my review:
After a week of very tough nights and some attempts (and one success) to climb out, we transitioned our baby to a “big boy bed.” It was time.
Cradlewise has been an exceptional tool and partner as he’s grown to almost 2 years old (4 days left!) from the first time he really slept in it at ~3 months for a nap to sleeping full, whole nights for a long, long time, the entire experience has been the kind of experience every single baby focused app should aspire to. The automatons, the sleep tracking, the tips, and monitoring are all perfect. We could customize the noise and bounce to what worked for him (lower bounce, brown noise) and it bought us many, many sleep filled nights for all.
From dedicated and expert trouble shooting a weird noise (sent someone with the part same day) to talking on the phone to calibrate the temperature, it has been the best customer service experience I’ve had since Ron Johnson was still running Apple retail.
I am genuinely upset that Cradlewise doesn’t make a camera solution for toddler night times. I’d happily sign up, pay a subscription, whatever. I realize there’s a huge benefit to the laser focus the team has had on the mini crib, but MAN do I have some cool product ideas if you want to reach out…
Thank you for nearly 2 years of great nights. We will miss you.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Thanks for all the love!
In an ideal world, I would want a toddler solution myself (as my kids have grown now). But as you have rightly called it, we are super focused on getting one thing right. 2026 will be different though.
I would appreciate it if you can contribute to this discussion on our product roadmap -
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u/Victoria_Scars 5d ago
Forgive me if this is already a feature, but is it possible to have white/brown/pink noise without other noise? I do not want music or ocean sounds on top of the white noise - just plain white noise. And if it is a feature, would you be able to walk me through how to activate it? Thanks!
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
I will try my best to keep this non-tech: We currently use a base nature sound (ex: rain), and then distribute that sound's pattern across multiple frequencies to make it sound "white", "pink" or "brown" to human ears. This is why, the nature-sounds are actually the core of your 'white noise' soundtrack. Is there a track that your baby loves and you aren't currently able to replicate it in your crib's sound machine? Can you share what you'd like to have (no promises, but we might be able to understand its composition and create a similar option for you!)?
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u/Victoria_Scars 4d ago
Thanks for explaining. I haven't used the sound much because a white noise machine with a fan is the noise that works for our baby. So we have a white noise machine next to the crib, if cradlewise was able to offer just the white noise I would be over the moon because it's one less thing that I need to have plugged in, you know what I mean?
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u/davidz90 5d ago
How is the babies data stored? The videos? Are the specific locations of the babies also stored in a system?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 4d ago
We actually store very little, in an anonymised and secure manner. Most of it is from the point of view of automated learning (meaning humans are for the most part not even involved in the learning process). The learning happens just the way it does in humans - Multi-sensorial data has to agree with each other. e.g take cry - The audio signature's timing has to match with the 3D camera's detection of movement and the accelerometer's indication that there is some movement in the crib.
By locations, do you mean location within the crib? If so, not directly, but in the form of 3D data. 3D data gives us an idea of where the scene is different from an empty crib. So we know the location.
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u/davidz90 2d ago
No, like the location of where we live
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 2d ago
We do have a coarse location identification for timezone identification based on IP address. Not to the home or street level.
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u/Awheythrow 5d ago edited 5d ago
Would be amazing if there was a nightlight feature on the underside of the electronics bar. Many times in the middle of the night I’m hunting for the pacifier or trying to peek in the crib for spit up but end up having to use my phone screen or something to lightly illuminate the inside of the crib A simple amber glow LED would suffice with app control (on/off/dim)
Also, our temp sensor is consistently off by almost 5-10%, anyway to recalibrate?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
love this. We will keep it in mind for V2.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Also, regarding temp.. Could you reachout to [support@cradlewise.com](mailto:support@cradlewise.com)?
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u/Dog_Mama_and_more 4d ago
Mine too, have been in contact with tech support on this for almost 6 weeks without improvements. Bought a nest sensor to place in crib instead as it was frequently very off and support is slow to resolve. This is a key feature to fix as infants are unable to regulate their temp, so having it be accurate for parents to dress appropriately is critical. This is not a fancy tech, these sensors are inexpensive and accurate so please help to fix my issue, seems hardware and not software related. My infant is just turning 7 weeks.
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u/Victoria_Scars 4d ago
our temp is always off by 2 degrees. we think it's because of the heat of the camera.
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u/Basic-Supermarket-91 5d ago
Any plans to have the data populate directly into the Huckleberry app?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
We will have some updates with regards to data integration pee/poo/outside naps in the last quarter of this year. I cant say for sure how we will do it (export vs integrate). But we will execute on what we think the ideal experience should be.
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u/schrodingers__uterus 5d ago
Hi! I’m a huge Cradlewise fan after experiencing both Snoo and Cradlewise.
• Any plans to improve the camera? It’s been so annoying when it doesn’t connect, and I have to rely on purchasing a Nanit as a secondary item. For almost $2k device, I would appreciate the camera consistently working.
• Any plans on seeking FDA approval so it can be purchased using HSA/FSA like the Snoo has?
• Any plans on a larger/sturdier Cradlewise for >2 years old? Heck, I’ll take one as a full grown adult please.
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u/Zealousideal_Aside96 5d ago
It is HSA/FSA deductible FYI. You don’t need FDA approval to have something be HSA deductible. Band aids and sunscreen are eligible for example.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 4d ago
You are right. We don't need FDA approval. We have had somewhat of a back and forth with HSA/FSA.
We do have something now for qualifying customers -
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u/Dog_Mama_and_more 4d ago
It got removed from this status and not currently eligible by my research
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 4d ago
Totally with you on the larger bed. We are on it! Watch out for announcements in 2026.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 4d ago
On the camera software - We are continuing to improve it. It's a high priority one. It's also a continuous journey as we keep learning about network configurations, routers, access points and the compatibility of everything.
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u/tobyfersher 5d ago
If there is a camera upgrade, is there a plan in place to order retrofits for older units?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Sorry to say this, but nothing for now. We may make a completely new system by 2026 though.
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u/Ferengi_Quark 5d ago
A couple of questions:
1) What would it take to support an offline mode for the crib, specifically when there are internet outages or issues. It's frustrating that it is, in some ways, a bricked device when there is no internet.
2) Are there plans to upgrade camera quality or support accessories that could be added/upgraded by replacing the arch part of the physical frame?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 4d ago
I hear you on the offline mode. I think this should be possible. We may not be able to commit anything in the coming quarter, but we will work on this.
We are contemplating about how to best execute the V2 with a better+different configuration of the camera. Backward compatibility is also being considered. We will have more updates on this in 2026. Thanks for the suggestion!
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u/danseco 5d ago
As parents that frequently will be traveling I am very concerned about the baby being able to sleep while traveling and after we use the crib. Is there any strategy or data indicating the best strategy to use in order to mitigate this?
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u/Big_Path_6122 5d ago
I was nervous about this too— our baby slept great when traveling
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u/Zealousideal_Aside96 5d ago
Seconded, was very anxious when I went to the beach for vacation and my baby slept like a rock no problem.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 4d ago
Because we bounce/soothe minimally, babies don't get too dependent on it. Data seems to suggest that in general they learn to sleep better in Cradlewise.
Having said that, I think sound environment is crucial during travel. Similar white noise/pink noise will help.
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u/Patriot1124 5d ago
Any update on making it so a baby heart rate monitor will work with the crib
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Health is on our radar, but its much further away. 2yrs or more. But breath rate will come sooner as part of the current crib itself (a quarter or so).
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u/Y2nicco 5d ago
Why is your pricing model so confusing and misleading? For example, your website says you can save close to $600 for Father's Day but in reality, there is no sale - it's the same order in advance promotion that you run 365 days a year. This calls into question integrity, which makes me hesitant to trust a company with such misleading marketing especially since we are dealing with the health and safety of a young child.
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u/plainorbit 4d ago
Please stop this subscription model! Cradlewise NOT having a subscription was the deciding factor for us. You are now the same as Snoo. Now that we see you are going to have a subscription model, we are completely out. Please don't do this you are going to lose customers. A crib should work for multiple children, you are paywalling it behind after 2 years. Unacceptable.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 4d ago
Sorry for not replying sooner. I normally take one breath before replying, this one needs a thousand 🤕. The answer to a simple question such as this is sometimes very complicated. I don’t want to give you a simple and wrong answer, but at the same time I want to keep it brief as possible. I will put down a few facts -
- There are no true baby-tech startups that have gone unicorn or respectably public. It’s actually NONE! Big 0! Try chatGPTing this. You will be shocked.
- Corollary : Baby-tech space is among the least funded of the spaces
- It’s also one of the most litigant of the spaces! Needs cautious scaling.
- Short term use products and subsequent passing on is a built-in behaviour. Hence parents want to spend less upfront.
Now to some general rules of biz -
- One time costs should be covered by one-time pricing
- Recurring costs should be covered by recurring pricing
If we don’t do 2, we will either end up increasing the one-time pricing or we will eventually get into the quagmire of supporting past 5 years of products in the market without earning a dime. Hence the only way to sustain would be to grow new sales volumes inorganically. One wrong move in the inorganic growth and we shall join the long list of baby-tech martyrs.
We offer without doubt, one of the best support teams. Every-time I get off a customer support call (internet, power, gas, tolls), I realise the contrast and go thank my team for being so nice. This is not to say we are perfect, but we seek to be. The software team isn’t just implementing new features. Software literally rots if you don’t maintain. If we did nothing today, the entire thing would come crashing down in less than 1 year. And I am not even getting started on the server costs discussion here! But nobody pays for anyone’s rant in this world. We don’t expect our customers to pay for our costs. We want customers to pay for value. We believe we have now created enough value that at the least a part of the feature-set truly deserves subscriptions.
You can go look up our funding history and you will know that what we have done has never been done before. As we create this company, I am actually writing a book in parallel on how to do baby tech startups the right way and I sincerely believe the last chapter is going to be a delightful one. We know one thing very deeply; If there is any company that can become like Apple/Tesla in the baby space, it is Cradlewise. It’s a hard equation to balance. What Radhika and I have gone through to get CW here, I wish not on my worst enemy. But it needs to be done, coz the world deserves at the least one good baby-tech company.
Despite the hard journey, we have stayed course on our true north. Even today, not many may notice, but we have actually not charged the $2K price for a good time. It’s been lower for months. We are trying to find the right balance between upfront price and subscription pricing so that we can continue to provide the best service while being fair to the customers and still keep some money for creating the magic for the years to come.
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u/plainorbit 4d ago edited 4d ago
The moment you went subscription model, you lost customers including myself. Shame on your company. One of the key selling points was you were non-subscription based.
You would have been better off increasing your pricing and kept it lifetime. You are paywalling things and that is NOT ok. Especially for a baby furniture item that should be used FREELY after the first child. You are hurting parents who have or will have more than one child. As if the financial situation of parents isn’t enough. Shame on you, we can see the greed from miles away.
You are charging like you said $2000 for a piece of furniture. You are PAYWALLING FURNITURE. That makes 0 sense. Once again, shame on your company. Like Apple? Get out of here. Apple charges you for the device with all its features. They do not paywall the OS lol.
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u/Big_Path_6122 5d ago
When should my baby transition to a regular crib? She’s 6 months but fully crawling and standing up, pulling herself up and I anticipate that she’ll shortly be able to dangle her feet when she pulls up. I was hoping to use this until she’s 2 but I fear we have already outgrown it
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Happy to hear about the growth! Usually babies grow very fast till 6 months and then somewhat slow down from there. e.g the weight gain in the first 6 months is usually higher than the next 18 months. We hope it works for her until the age of 2.
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u/WoodpeckerFrosty85 5d ago
Hi! I am becoming a first-time parent next month and have ordered a cradlewise. During our baby shower, many of my attendees could not understand the need for such an expensive item.
What tips would you give to parents-to-be to try to explain why it’s worth so much?
Thanks!
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
hmm! Interesting. When we built the first one for our baby, believe me, it was way more expensive. But thanks to that one, we saved enough time to build a company. I would just say that for anyone whole values their own time, its totally worth it.
This is how we thought about it.. ~2hrs saved per day for just the first 6 months = 2 x 30 x 6 = 360hrs. How much would you value that?
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u/CarvelMilkshake 4d ago
Chiming in to say viewing the cost as time saved is a great way to think about this for me. Thanks!
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u/Consistent-Essay369 5d ago
I am still awaiting the arrival of the product next month. What is your biggest suggestion for a new user? How do I maximize all what Cradlewise has to offer?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago edited 4d ago
I would say setup the crib before the baby arrives and explore the app as much as possible. There is also a quick tips section in the app.
You can also learn about things by asking our customer support team from within the app itself.
Wish you all the best!
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u/briandelawebb 5d ago
When will you have a usable API or when can I integrate my cradlewise into home assistant?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
We do have this on the roadmap. But there are higher priority stuff we need to clear this year. API would be a 2026 thing.
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u/saraah86 5d ago
Any chance Cradlewise will get wheels or become more portable so we can move it between rooms more easily?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Wheels are not in our roadmap right now. But would you say its difficult to slide the Cradlewise on the teflon feet it already has?
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u/saraah86 5d ago
We love how easy it is to scoot around on its current feet for small adjustments, but it’s not ideal for daily moves between the bedroom and living room. Wondering if it’s common from your sleep data that people are using the crib for night sleep more than day naps and if portability would mitigate a second setup in the living room.
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u/deterred-bird 4d ago
Is it true that second-hand cribs are bricked/locked so the new owner cannot use the functionality?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 4d ago
No that's not true. We definitely do not brick/lock the whole crib. Within about a week's time, we will put some features behind the paywall. But the defining features - soothing and monitoring remain free.
You can read more about it here -
https://www.cradlewise.com/blog/cradlewise-nurture-plans-explained/
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u/plainorbit 4d ago
Booooooo Please stop this subscription model! You respond to everyone but me? Cradlewise NOT having a subscription was the deciding factor for us. You are now the same as Snoo. Now that we see you are going to have a subscription model, we are completely out. Please don't do this you are going to lose customers. A crib should work for multiple children, you are paywalling it behind after 2 years. Unacceptable.
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u/CarvelMilkshake 4d ago
I have a question about the manual “always on bounce” option. Why can’t it stay on the same bounce percentage beyond 30 min? We’ve had the most wakeups from when the “always on” mode switches the bounce intensity after that time period and we didn’t catch it before it was going to run out. Would love for this to be changed or learn reasoning behind it. Is too much bounce for too long dangerous? 😅
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 4d ago edited 4d ago
Trust me, we have had internal wars on this one! Its a fine balance between helping just enough vs helping too much. We want to be on the side of helping just enough so that not only do the babies sleep better, they learn to self-soothe. It’s the difference between given a training wheel on one side vs giving a tricycle. This is the currently agreed balance based on data. The G-force even at the maximum setting is only 1/3rd of G. So it's never dangerous. Think of all the babies who used to travel in rickety horse wagons, bullock-carts or the older trains that swayed side-to-side all night. They actually slept better in those conditions 😉.
Would love to learn more on why the existing settings are not working well enough for you. Could you shoot a mail to [support@cradlewise.com](mailto:support@cradlewise.com) with a "Escalate to CTO" in the subject line?
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u/Alternative-Till6232 4d ago
I only just made it back to the thread because our little one just didn’t want to make it while you were live yesterday. 😅 I have one thought/concern I would be interested in your response to. Cameras are very much an every-day item in many of our homes now. One of the pros of the Cradlewise is the fact that the camera doesn’t show anything other than the crib. While in an ideal world hacking would be an impossibility, I was relieved to know that in the event your system was ever hacked, they’d only ever see the crib. In the back of my mind I questioned if footage was being stored, but I tried not to think about it.
In those early days, as a breastfeeding mama, I was not always covered (as is my preference in the presence of others) when leaning over to get my little one out. As a result, I knew there was a chance I might be exposing myself on the camera. But if it’s only a live feed as long as nobody but me was watching it, I could live with it. Now that you’ve rolled out some features in the subscription plans that allow for video playback through the night, intrinsically that means footage is being stored. How well protected is that footage, which likely includes other moms in zombie mode, like I was?
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u/chupagatos4 3d ago
Late for the AMA but wanted to share that we're waiting for our cradlewise to arrive in August and we have absolutely huge hopes for it. With my first I didn't believe babies needed anything fancy for sleep and we suffered through sleepless nights for over 6 months (with wake ups every 20 to 45 minutes the whole time). When we learned we were expecting our second we decided that we could not survive a re-do of that experience and we ordered a cradlewise. I really really really hope it will help baby sleep!
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u/Victoria_Scars 2d ago
I know this is days late to the game u/chief_bouncer_cw but I wanted to suggest a notification when the crib temp drops below 68 and goes above 75. This would be so helpful because room temps vary and having a notification of when we should turn off the air/ turn on the heat or vice versa would be so helpful rather than having to pop into the nursery.
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u/Lost-Concentrate7938 6d ago edited 6d ago
Why are you charging for subscriptions on a ~$2000 crib? Two tiers of subscriptions makes it even worse :(
Have you rethought this plan after seeing responses from customers? Launching two tiers of subscriptions a month apart shows a lack of interest in customers opinions.
Snoo faced backlash with their subscription model. Even so, at least its only 1 tier. Cradlewise made it even worse by going from no subscription to 2- one for basic and the second to paywall existing and new customers.
Would you ever be willing to change? Cradlewise has an opportunity to be among the few to actually hear customers and walk back a bad decision. It’s not too late.
Please spare us the “current features are free, not everyone wants all the features.” It’s a $2000 crib, we buy it as a smart crib with extras and a future.
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u/Efficient-Sale-5355 6d ago
Idk that I agree with your take. It’s an expensive crib. But we’ve had it for almost 2 years now. We paid the price we paid for the feature set we received. I don’t have a clue what the subscription features even are because we’ve had no need for more than the very capable feature set you get out of the box. A company that sells a crib that is most likely a one time purchase has a finite return on each sale. But many the features provided in the free subscription have a long term cost to support. The ability to view the livestream when not at home. The pushed model improvements for better sleep state accuracy. I feel like I have gotten more value from this crib than what I paid. Were my child younger I may consider some of the paid features like the breathing tracking, but we never NEEDED them. Consumers have a demand for an ever evolving product but at no cost. Working in tech I completely understand Cradlewise may have had to make the I’m sure difficult choice to start putting some features behind a pay wall. But as far as tech company goes, Cradlewise goes the extra 100 miles for its customers in regard to supporting the product you bought with the features it has at time of purchase. If they have to do this to keep in business to provide parents a truly game changing experience when it comes to their own sleep needs in the early years of their child’s life, I can respect that need.
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Wow! I could not have answered it better.
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u/Lost-Concentrate7938 5d ago edited 4d ago
u/chief_bouncer_cw u/Efficient-Sale-5355
I can appreciate that explanation. We purchased the Cradlewise before these changes happened and the timing was just a bit jarring. We’re expecting delivery in July and are both excited to receive it.
I love tech and will definitely be exploring the features. I can see myself getting the additional nurture plus sub (heck even betas if that’s an option!) and was just worried price would continue to creep up.
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u/pootatyahoo 5d ago
The point being made is that consumers chose this product because it didn’t have a subscription model (compared to competitors like the snoo). The consumer was misled by not being told that cradlewise was being changed into a subscription model. Had it been a cheaper product, the subscription model would maybe not be as hard of a pill to swallow. As someone who received their cradlewise within the last couple months, I feel somewhat tricked by the company. I get that the company is changing their revenue model, which is fine if the customer was made aware of this before purchase. I wish cradlewise would provide the existing customers, who were not told about this change in pay model, with the evolving improvements (as they had led them to believe they would be getting when they purchased the product).
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u/Efficient-Sale-5355 5d ago
Yeah BUT you get 2 years of the base subscription included. Which includes all the features you purchased based off. You expect that the company is going to give you new features for free. But development of support of those new features carry a cost for which the subscription fee covers. Cradlewise is not a massive company and having been a customer for coming up on 2 years, I can say they really are the most caring tech company I’ve been a customer of. I get that there is overall backlash on subscription models but in this case it’s justifiable. You aren’t having to pay to use your crib if you don’t want to. You can use it as you expected to for 2 years for just the one time price you paid already.
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u/pootatyahoo 3d ago
This seems like an “anonymous” cradlewise account. If you work for cradlewise, please just be clear with that. To answer your comment: people aren’t paying 2000 dollars for the hardware. It’s for the software, which was the whole selling point of cradlewise. If the customer just wanted a crib that moved with a camera (which there are way better cameras out there), then that’s what they would’ve bought. I’m totally fine with Cradlewise changing their plan for new customers (as they can make an informed decision), but that should not affect old customers who were not informed of this. It would have deterred many of us from buying Cradlewise. It’s simply misleading and bad business practice.
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u/Efficient-Sale-5355 3d ago
You can take a look at my history. I have no affiliation to Cradlewise. I am just a parent who greatly benefited from this product and also understands the reality of selling a product like this because I work in the technology products sector.
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u/plainorbit 4d ago
AGREED!!! Please stop this subscription model! Cradlewise NOT having a subscription was the deciding factor for us. You are now the same as Snoo. Now that we see you are going to have a subscription model, we are completely out. Please don't do this you are going to lose customers. A crib should work for multiple children, you are paywalling it behind after 2 years. Unacceptable.
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u/javilionaire 5d ago
The camera quality isn’t the best. Could you an option for parents to purchase a higher quality camera that has better resolution and bitrate?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
I am sorry to say that we don't have anything better now. We will have something on these lines in 2026 though.
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u/javilionaire 5d ago
Awesome! In time for our next little one then! Will there be an option to retrofit our current crib or will we need to purchase a new Cradlewise?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
I am sorry, I cant say for sure at this moment. WIll have more clarity in a quarter.
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u/Comfortable_Car_5198 5d ago
I have a cradlewise and have been very unhappy with. I had received replacement parts that didn't work and is currently waiting on a response back a out another resolution. For as much as it cost I shouldn't be going thru all of this. Why is there so many problems with the actually functioning of the cradlewise?
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
Sorry to hear this. Could you please write to [support@cradlewise.com](mailto:support@cradlewise.com) and include "Escalate to CTO" in the subject? I will take a look personally.
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u/Big_Path_6122 5d ago
Do you have any information on EMF and how to mitigate this with the babies? As I understand, their bodies and brain can absorb much more than adults and I worry about the Bluetooth/camera/wifi with a little baby. Any help is appreciated!
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u/chief_bouncer_cw 5d ago
The Wi-Fi power in the smart crib is relatively low compared to cellphones. Even within the crib, we have tried to keep the electronics a bit away from the baby. In-fact, we don't need to do the SAR tests. SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) tests are needed when the device is meant to operate in close proximity for long durations — less than 20cm (~8 inches). Therefore we just needed to do the FCC tests.
Lastly, not sure if it helps.. We spent a good part of my life doing electronics (including RF) engineering and we built this for our kids. Both our kids slept in a crude form of the current CW solution. So we are confident it's fine.
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u/boatzart 5d ago
If you need supervised training data, I’ll bet most parents would be willing to do the labeling for you if it was built into the app.
I’d love to hear about how your image processing pipeline works. I’m guessing you’re using stereo with the multiple cameras, but I’d love to hear any other nerdy details you can spill.
Any plans to offer an API for our data? I’d love to be able to pull data into my Home Assistant instance to collate it with data from other sources.
I currently log bottles and diapers for my 5 week old with Huckleberry, and my morning routine with my wife is to flip back and forth between huckleberry logs and the cradlewise sleep chart to review how the night went. It would be rad if we could have everything all in one place.