Trova launches a stylish hiding spot for your unmentionables

1 year ago 94

We all have one; a place in our house where we hide things that need to be kept out of reach of children. At CES in Las Vegas, one company believes it has a more stylish way of tackling that particular problem. Trova is releasing its third product, Trova Home, which is essentially a biometrically locked, stylish shoe box for the things you don’t want tiny humans to get their mitts on.

The device has a stylish design, comes in a couple of colors, and can be unlocked using NFC or Bluetooth, and the app itself can be protected using the biometric locks built into current-generation smartphones. Calling the device a ‘safe’ is probably a bit generous — the thin metal and relatively flimsy metal latches can probably be circumvented by throwing the box against a wall or hitting it with a hammer. If you need that level of protection, however, you’re well covered by an existing wall, floor, or shelf-mounted safe solutions. This device is for a different user group.

“About 60% of our customers are parents and it seems like parents really understand the use case for the product. They know that there’s nothing off-limits, and yet that privacy is really at a premium when you’ve got kids running around your house. Ultimately what we do is provide people privacy and peace of mind for items that they don’t want either accidentally – or intentionally – discovered,” said Scott Loeppert, Co-Owner of TROVA, in an interview with TechCrunch. “Our use cases typically are sort of divided evenly between the traditional use case of jewelry and valuables and the more illicit use cases for things that you don’t want kids to accidentally discover. Adult bedroom toys, recreational marijuana (where it’s legal), your prescription medications that might be dangerous to kids.”

Trova Home, pictured in sandstone and charcoal finishes. Image Credit: Haje Kamps / TechCrunch

Despite the founder’s insistence that the Trova is for legal substances only, it would presumably be possible to hide your illegal drugs in the Trova, should you have a couple of pills, tabs, or powders lying around from your college days.

The other use case is for a tech time-out: Lock the whole family’s phones away, and set a timer for when they are unlocked again. The cool thing in this use case is that there are a couple of USB-C sockets in the device, so you can charge your phones while you’re enjoying dinner or settling in for games night.

“Parents kept telling us they want to use it for tech timeout. They want to lock their kid’s phones – and maybe their or their own phones – in there during dinner time,” said Loeppert. “And we are introducing that as a feature in the new app. You can set it for a timer so it’ll open after an hour or two or three or whatever you want.”

The Trova Home can alert users if temperature or humidity moves outside a specified range, and if someone is trying to tamper with the device. Alerts can also be sent every time it is opened, or if the device loses Wi-Fi, either by moving out of range, or through other Wi-Fi outages.

The new device is currently available in Sandstone and Charcoal finishes, it can be opened by up to five authorized users per device, and is 14.5×6.2×3 inches (37x19x10cm) in size. It costs $549 USD, and is shipping soon.