Charging & Care
Keep the device charged, clean, updated, and out of the washing machine.
What you’ll need
Section titled “What you’ll need”Design direction — not built yet.
Very little, and all of it ordinary: the charging cable from the box, a regular charging spot at home — the same shelf every evening, so charging becomes a place as much as a chore — and a soft, dry cloth. No cleaning fluids, no tools, no maintenance apps. The device is meant to be looked after by a kid with a grown-up nearby, and that sets the bar where it belongs: if caring for it needed a manual, it would be too much care.
The part that already works, and works carefully: the device watches its own battery so a kid doesn’t have to.
- When the battery gets low — around a fifth left — the device shows a low-battery warning. It reminds, it doesn’t nag: the warning has a built-in pause before it can repeat.
- If the battery keeps dropping toward empty (around one in ten), the device doesn’t just die mid-song or mid-call. It shows a shutting-down notice, waits a short moment, and then switches itself off safely, saving its state on the way down so it wakes up cleanly.
- Plugging in cancels it. If the charger goes in while the shutdown countdown is running, the device notices external power and calls the whole thing off.
- The device is deliberately cautious here: if it can’t read the battery for some reason, it never guesses — it will not shut itself down on missing information.
Day to day, the screen also looks after the battery on its own: it goes dark after a while to save power and wakes the moment the button is pressed. There is a battery status view on the device, and the battery gauge, charging state, and clock all come from a dedicated power module that the device checks about twice a minute.
How software updates arrive and how to clean the device are not built yet — the Tips and Troubleshooting below describe the proposed design for both.
Design direction — not built yet.
Cleaning. A soft, dry cloth handles almost everything, the canvas included. For sticky days — jam happens — a barely damp cloth, water only, on the shell, then dry it off. Keep liquids, wipes, and sprays away from the speaker openings and the charging port, and never poke anything into either.
Storage. Going in a drawer for a few weeks? Charge to about half, switch it off, and pick somewhere cool and dry. Batteries age fastest when stored completely full or completely empty — half-charged and cool is how they nap best. Day to day the rules are shorter still: no radiators, no summer cars, no sunny windowsills.
Updates. Updates look after themselves. The device fetches new software quietly in the background, checks that it genuinely came from us before touching anything, and installs it next to the software it is already running rather than over it. At the next restart it switches to the new version — and if anything about it is not right, it switches straight back to the version that worked, all by itself. An update can never leave the device stuck or half-changed, there is nothing to approve or click, and a kid never meets an update screen mid-song.
The routine. Charging is a fine first responsibility: plugging in each evening is the kid’s job, like brushing teeth. The device does its part by warning early and switching off safely instead of punishing a forgotten evening (see Steps above).
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”Design direction — not built yet.
The battery drains faster than usual. The hungriest days are call days and low-coverage days — with weak bars, the device works harder to stay reachable. Cold days sap batteries too, temporarily. The screen already sleeps on its own, so the usual fix is simply a steadier spot in the evening charging routine.
It won’t charge. Suspect the cable and the wall adapter before the device — cables fail far more often. Then look into the charging port for pocket fluff and clear it gently with something soft and dry, never anything metal.
It feels warm while charging. Slightly warm is normal. Hot to hold is not: unplug it, let it cool in the open — never charge it under a pillow or blanket — and if the heat comes back, contact us.
It went through the wash. It is built for a kid’s life — rain, splashes, sand at arm’s length — not for a spin cycle. If it happens: switch it off if it is still on, do not plug it in, and let it dry thoroughly for a day or two before trying to charge. If it will not wake up after that, get in touch.
Something seems different after an overnight restart. That was probably an update installing itself. If a new version ever truly misbehaves, the device returns to the previous one on its own — and if it looks like that has not happened, contact us.
Still being decided
Section titled “Still being decided”- Adopt fully automatic background updates with automatic roll-back as the only mode, or add an optional “install tonight?” approval in the yoyopod app?
- Publish concrete battery-life numbers per usage pattern, or keep the public promise qualitative until production hardware settles?
- Adopt a certified water- and dust-resistance rating for V1 “Daylight”, or ship the honest plain-language line — rain yes, washing machine no — without certifying one?
- Decide the charging connector and whether a wall adapter ships in the box before the box copy is written.