CloudPets – A Message You Can Hug

CloudPet a great idea for anyone with family or friends who live far away. Children with parent(s) on deployment, friends who have moved away, or other loved ones that aren’t near enough to give hugs in real time.

The toy is a stuffed animal with the ability to receive recorded messages sent via the Cloud Pet app. Messages can be up to 10 seconds in length and are transmitted to the animal via Bluetooth signal from the free CloudPets app.

When a message is received the red heart on the bear lights up and allows the holder to listen to the message with a press of a paw. In return, pressing another paw allows the child to send a message back to the original sender.

I like my CloudPet (whom I’ve named Cinnamon because of the color of his fur) because he helps me when I’m feeling anxious or depressed. With a call out to my friends on Facebook, I can request messages be sent to my CloudPet for me to hear words of encouragement or silly jokes my friends know will make me laugh.

My son is fortunate enough to have most of his family and friends within 20 minutes of him, but he enjoys listening to the sounds and stories that are built into the CloudPet app.

Since we both use Cinnamon for our own purposes, I restrict the messages to only go through to Cinnamon once I approve them. This keeps my son’s ears from being exposed to my friends who are not always so kid friendly in their humor (Did you hear the story of why Peter Pan flies? If someone hit your peter with a pan, you’d fly too. ::ba dum chhh::).

App features:

• Child dashboard with games, message notifications, as well as a story and sounds mode.
• Adult dashboard allows you to add / delete friends, restrict messages sent to the CloudPet, send recorded messages up to 10 seconds in length.

My only complaint so far has been the lack of volume control on the app for the stories and sounds. I don’t see how my son goes to sleep with Cinnamon blaring “Ba-Ba Black Sheep” blaring, but somehow he does. My son has voiced his disappointment in the lack of choices for the stories and sounds. Hopefully more will be added in future updates.

I’m very happy Cinnamon has joined our family; as a cuddle friend for my son and as an anxiety / depression reducer for me.

CloudPets come in a variety of animal choices and will run you around $29.99 on their website or in stores.