You've probably seen AR used for furniture shopping — point your phone at a corner and see how a new bookshelf would look. But that same technology is starting to do something more useful: helping parents find dangers in their homes that they can't see on their own.
And it's not as futuristic as it sounds.
How ar Home Safety Works
The basic idea is simple. You scan a room with your phone camera. Software identifies objects, measures distances, and flags potential hazards based on your child's age and abilities.
That uncovered outlet behind the couch? Flagged. The gap between the crib and the wall? Measured and flagged. The blind cord hanging within reach? Highlighted on your screen with a warning.
Some systems go further. They can estimate the height your child can reach based on their age, then flag anything in that zone that poses a risk. A shelf of cleaning products that's fine for a 6-month-old might be flagged as dangerous for a 14-month-old who can stand and grab.
The Technology Behind it
Modern phones have surprisingly good spatial awareness. LiDAR sensors on newer iPhones can map a room in 3D with centimeter-level accuracy. Android phones with depth sensors can do similar things.
Computer vision algorithms trained on home environments can identify common hazards: exposed outlets, unsecured furniture, dangling cords, sharp corners, and objects at specific heights. They're not perfect yet — they might mistake a decorative outlet cover for an exposed socket — but they're getting better fast.
Machine learning helps here too. The more rooms these systems scan, the better they get at identifying real risks vs. false alarms. A system trained on thousands of nursery scans can spot a bumper pad in a crib or a gap in a railing that a first-time parent might miss.
What's Available now
We're building BabyProof with this exact technology. You'll scan a room, get a safety score, and see specific hazards highlighted with suggestions for fixing them. It's like having a childproofing expert walk through your house — except the expert is in your pocket and available at 2 AM when you suddenly notice something that worries you.
Other companies are working on similar tools, though most are still in early stages. The technology is ready. The challenge is building databases of hazards that are accurate enough to be trustworthy without being so sensitive that they flag everything.
What ar Can't do
It can't replace common sense. No app can assess every possible danger in every possible situation. A phone camera doesn't know that your particular cat likes to knock things off shelves, or that your toddler has figured out how to drag the dining chair to the counter.
AR also can't check things it can't see. The chemicals under the locked cabinet, the hot water temperature at the faucet, the wobbliness of a gate installation — these need manual checking.
Think of AR safety tools as a second pair of eyes, not a substitute for your own judgment. They catch things you might miss, and they're great for doing systematic room-by-room audits. In the meantime, our manual checklist works great. But they work best when combined with your own knowledge of your child's specific behaviors and capabilities.
Where This is Headed
In the next few years, expect AR safety scanning to become a standard feature in parenting apps. Smart home integration could make it even more powerful — your smoke detectors, locks, and temperature sensors feeding data into the same safety assessment.
It won't replace good parenting instincts. But it'll make it a lot harder for hazards to hide in plain sight.