Getting started & safety

The grown-up's guide to Bandit.

Ten minutes of reading, once. It covers what Bandit is, where it lives, how it charges, and the handful of rules that keep it a good neighbor to a crib.

What Bandit is — and isn't

Bandit is a nursery display for grown-ups to run. Like a sound machine or a baby monitor, it's for your baby but it is not for your baby's hands. You control it from your phone or its own buttons; your baby looks at it, and you read from it.

It is not a toy. Bandit is not designed for a child to hold, mouth, or play with, and it is not tested as a toy. Keep it in view and out of reach, and never let a child handle it.

Where it lives

👀
In view, out of reach.

The wall beside the crib, a shelf, the dresser, the top of a bookcase — anywhere your baby can see it and can't touch it. Baby's eye level is ideal when you can manage it.

🚫
Never on or in the crib, bassinet, playpen, stroller, or car seat.

Not attached, not resting inside, not clipped to the rail. This is the one rule we ask you to treat as absolute. Nothing about Bandit is made to be within reach of a sleeping or seated baby.

🙌
In your hands during a read-along is fine.

Hold it like a book while you read the line and point together. When you're done, it goes back up out of reach.

🧲
Bandit has a built-in magnet.

It holds to anything steel and to the adhesive ring in the box. Keep it away from pacemakers and other medical implants. If the ring or the magnet ever comes loose, take the display out of the nursery until it's fixed — small, strong magnets are a swallowing hazard.

Charging: somewhere else

Charge Bandit in another room, and bring it back on battery. No charging cable ever goes near the crib. Cords within a baby's reach are the real hazard in a nursery — it's why we built Bandit to run on its battery and to need a cable only when it's nowhere near your baby.
  1. Take the display to the kitchen counter or your bedroom.
  2. Plug in the USB-C cable that came in the box (or any standard USB-C charger).
  3. Unplug it, coil the cable, and leave the cable behind when the display goes back.

A charge lasts days to weeks depending on how often the page turns and how long Read Along sessions run — the app shows the battery at the top of every screen.

Setting up

  1. Wake it. Tap the page. The starter deck is already on it — Bandit works with no app at all.
  2. Pair. Install the app, then hold the grey side button for five seconds until the pairing page appears. Tap your display in the app.
  3. Send a deck. Pick one from the Cards tab and send it. It takes a minute or two; the display keeps its last deck until the new one has fully arrived.
  4. Family Faces. Pick a photo, frame the face, choose Photo or Bold, name them, send. The photo never leaves your device — it travels from your phone to the display over Bluetooth and nowhere else.
  5. Read Along. Open it with the display awake. Your phone shows the line under each page; on read-aloud decks the page turns when it hears you finish.

Sound and the microphone

Bandit has a tiny buzzer, not a speaker. It makes three sounds: a soft tick when you tap it or press a button, a two-note chirp when a read-aloud page turned because it heard you, and a preview tick when you change the volume. Left alone it never makes a sound. Turn the volume to off in the app or on the display's own settings page (press and hold the page) if you'd rather it stay silent.

The microphone measures how loud the room is — that's all. It cannot tell one word from another, records nothing, and sends nothing, not even to your phone. If you choose This phone as the listener instead, your phone's own on-device speech recognition listens, and nothing leaves the phone.

The case, the labels, and drops

Bandit wears a soft rubber case around its edges — the raccoon — to survive a fall from a shelf. The ears take the drop, the paws are where your thumbs go, and the tail is a short loop for hanging it. The case protects the display; it does not make the display safe for a child to handle, and the tail is not a handle for a child. Please leave the small regulatory label on the open back where it is.

If a display is dropped and the surface cracks, stop using it and keep it away from children — the e-paper panel is built on a thin sheet that can break like a phone screen. Email us and we'll replace it.

Battery and heat

Bandit has a lithium battery. Don't leave it in a hot car, in direct sun, or near a heater; don't puncture, crush, or open it. If it ever feels hot, smells odd, or the case swells, stop using it, put it somewhere non-flammable away from children, and email us.

Cleaning

A dry cloth, or one that's barely damp. No sprays, no soaking, no submerging.

If something's wrong

Email hello@bandit.kids. Founding-family displays are replaced, not repaired at home — never open one.

This guide is part of the terms of use. Bandit is not a medical device, makes no developmental claims, and is designed for use by an adult caregiver only. Follow your own pediatrician's guidance on what goes near a crib.