4.6] "Pokemon Smile," an app that helps people develop the habit of brushing their teeth

Participating parents with children aged 0-6 years old, as well as pre-parents and pre-moms who are expecting a baby and want to actively use technology such as gadgets, apps, and home appliances in their child-rearing.BabyTech Communityholds a monthly "Review with Everyone - Making Baby Tech More Fun".

This project aims to help community members share their experiences with various baby tech services with the goal of finding enjoyment in using baby tech in their child-rearing lives. Each time, members who have actually used one baby tech service will post a review of the service on a special website. Afterwards, they will share their impressions and usage of the service in an online roundtable discussion, which will be published as a review article on BabyTech.jp.

In this sixth issue, we introduce "Pokemon Smile," an app that helps children develop the habit of brushing their teeth. Pokemon Smile is an app that makes brushing teeth a fun and stressful time for parents and children. Children can brush their teeth every day with Pokemon as if it were a game. The fact that more than 100 different Pokémon can be collected through this application will motivate children to continue brushing their teeth. This service won the Excellence Award in the health management category of the "BabyTech® Award Japan 2020 powered by DNP Dai Nippon Printing".

In this article, community members who have actually used Pokémon Smile reviewed its design, operability, and the degree of improvement in tooth brushing (numerical ratings were given on a 5-point scale from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 5). In addition, Tetsuya Nagata, CEO of PapaSmile, and community members participated in an online roundtable discussion (hereinafter referred to as "cross review talk") to discuss the review results and the appeal of Pokémon Smile!

Cross-Review Talk Participants

Sachi.

Papa Smile Co.,Ltd
Representative Director Tetsuya Nagata

Design] Pokemon designed in original patterns are very popular among children!

Nagata:Thank you very much for your time today. I would like to begin our cross review talk right away. First of all, regarding the "design," we asked for comments focusing on the design and the ease of viewing the screen, and all reviewers gave it a perfect score of 5. The comment "......, which is different from the picture of Pokemon as it is," probably means that the illustration of Pokemon in this application is different from the picture of the game and the animation. In fact, they are quite soft. Also, the image of a Pokemon cap on the head of a child brushing his teeth is displayed on the smartphone screen, which is also highly appreciated.

Sachi:Children will enjoy choosing Pokémon caps of various characters.

Operability] While the fact that it can be operated by children is highly rated, there are cases where it is difficult to recognize images. ......?

Nagata:The ease of use, so easy that only children can enjoy it, is quite high. On the other hand, there were some cases where the app did not correctly rate the brush even though it was being brushed properly. As a matter of fact, my child also uses this app, and in the beginning, he said several times, "I'm polishing properly but it was rated as no good ....... He seemed to get the hang of it after that, though, and the same thing stopped happening.

Sachi:My younger son is 5 years old, and he can't seem to get the hang of it. He would get squeamish when the app would tell him to "put his face more in the center of the screen" or something like that (laughs). (Laughs.) In the end, there were a few times when I had to hold the phone for him and brush his teeth.

Nagata:In our case, I think the app's recognition accuracy improved when we changed the color of the toothbrush from yellow to blue. Perhaps the color of the toothbrush may have an effect.

Thanks to Pokemon Smile, children actively brush their teeth!

Nagata:The evaluation item is to see if the product motivates children to brush their teeth. It seems to have been quite effective in every reviewer's household, so thank you Pokemon!

Sachi:It is really helpful when I want to prepare myself while my child brushes his teeth.

Nagata:We have heard from other BabyTech community members that the Pokemon Smile is a great help when you are a one-person operation ....... For example, they can wash dishes while their children brush their teeth. In my house, the time it takes for the kids to start brushing their teeth is very short.

Sachi:That goes for us, too!　I used to say, "Brush your teeth?" I used to say, "Do you brush your teeth?

Continuity] Continuity is very high, with many of the households using the application having used it for over a year!

Nagata:The question was whether they could continue to use this application ....... It is amazing that they have been using it continuously for about a year!　They also enjoy collecting Pokémon.

Sachi:My younger child often says, "I collected fat ones!" and he often says so. I think she has been doing this intermittently for about half a year to a year now.

Nagata:It might be a good idea to use it as a parent's trump card from time to time, as it might get boring if it is every day.

Sachi:However, my older son is now in 2nd grade and conversely, he doesn't like the cute designs. Lately, I have not been able to catch on to this app. ......

Nagata:There are other toothpaste support apps of the same kind besides Pokemon Smile. It may be time to move on to that one.

The guide and advice on how to brush one's teeth was highly rated as easy for children to understand!

Nagata:As you commented, it seems to be easy for children to understand the guidance for tooth brushing such as "Open your mouth more! and other guidance for brushing teeth seems to be easy for children to understand. Also, the app allows the smartphone or tablet screen to be used as a mirror. This may be a good idea since the mirror in the bathroom is positioned high and it is difficult for children to see.

Sachi:The cavity character in the app moves around in the mouth, so the child can brush the entire tooth by following it. I thought it was a great idea.

Using a tablet device, it can also be used as a vanity mirror!

Q: What have you noticed about Pokemon Smile?

Nagata:A comment was made that a tablet with a larger screen would be better suited for this app. This may be true in terms of being able to use it as a mirror as mentioned earlier. In my case at home, I also feel that the iPad was less likely to misidentify the app than a smartphone. Then Sachi's comment was that you were curious about the Pokémon that can be collected: .......

Sachi:I have collected many characters and wondered if it is possible to get the characters they evolved from.

Nagata:In the original Pokémon, for example, characters evolve from "Hitokage" to "Lizard" to "Lizardon," but I do not see any Lizardon in this application. However, there are evolved characters such as "Caillou" and "Gengar," so it may be that popular Pokémon appear, skipping characters in the process of evolution.

Expect to expand the reward element for improved tooth brushing and more advanced tooth brushing guides!

Q: What are your expectations for Pokémon Smile in the future?

Nagata:A comment was made that it would be interesting if you could get more rare Pokémon when you brush your teeth well. In this application, if you brush your teeth well, the Pokéball used to catch Pokémon changes into a Master Ball, an item that can catch 100% of the Pokémon, so the app is evaluating the content of your brushing. If you change the color and gender of the Pokémon that can be caught by using this evaluation, it would certainly increase children's desire to collect Pokémon. Also, Sachi's comment is "I would like to have guidance like brushing the back side of teeth.

Sachi:Yes, it is.

Nagata:While it may be difficult to check whether you are brushing the backs of your teeth with image recognition, it may be enough to announce, "Brush the backs of your teeth!" might be enough to announce "Brush the backs of your teeth!

Sachi:The children are very aware of the announcements and displays on the application, and that alone is quite effective.

Nagata:Indeed, in my house, I was also concerned that my child seemed to only brush the part of his teeth that appeared on the screen. If they brush their back teeth, the app doesn't seem to recognize the image. ......

Sachi:After brushing your teeth as far as they will go on the screen, you can say, "Let's brush the back of my teeth! Brush the backs of your teeth! After brushing the teeth as far as the screen shows, it would be good to have announcements such as "Brush your back teeth!

Nagata:Thank you for your varied reviews. I think Pokemon Smile is a very useful app in that it allows adults to free up their hands, albeit momentarily, while raising their children. How do you feel about that?

Sachi:I think it is "god" to be able to brush my teeth with my child in the bathroom, especially on busy mornings (laughs).

Nagata:The application is basically free and ad-free, so we encourage those who are interested in using it to give it a try!

Related links for this article

Pokemon Smile (https://www.pokemon-smile.jp/)

BabyTech Community (https://babytech.jp/community/)

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