How Edgewater works
A sensor that feels the water move, a siren that doesn't wait for anything, and a camera that decides who needs to know.
What's in the box
One weatherproof unit mounts at the pool's edge. These are the parts in our prototype; details may change as we test.
- Sensor arm
- Hangs below the waterline and feels the push of water when something heavy goes in. It's the same kind of underwater sensing the most trusted pool alarms use, because surface ripples from wind and rain barely move it.
- Siren and strobe
- 110 decibels and a flashing light, right at the pool. Driven directly by the box, never by your phone or the internet.
- Night-vision camera
- Angled across the pool's surface, with infrared light so it can see at night. It only wakes up to check what went in.
- Processing on the box
- The siren logic and the camera's analysis run on the unit itself. Nothing has to reach the cloud for Edgewater to make noise.
- Battery and solar
- Our goal is a full swim season without charging, topped up by a small solar cell. We're measuring real power use on our test rig now.
- Wi-Fi
- Connects the box to the app for phone alerts, clips and the daily check. A cellular backup for dead routers is planned for a later version.
The first three seconds
The water moves
The sensor arm detects a push of water that's bigger and longer than a gust of wind.
The siren goes off
Siren and strobe start immediately. This step never waits on the camera, the app or the internet.
The camera checks
The camera wakes up and looks at what went in. The analysis happens on the box, without sending video anywhere.
A child, a pet, or it can't tell
The siren keeps going until someone acknowledges it. Every phone in the house gets an alert, then a backup contact like a neighbor or grandparent, then a one-tap call to 911.
Clearly a toy, leaves or the pool cleaner
The siren stops and the event is logged with a short clip, so you can see what it was.
When in doubt, it alarms. A child and a pet get the same full alarm. If the camera isn't sure, or doesn't answer in time, Edgewater treats it as an emergency.
Living with it
Swim mode
When adults are swimming, turn on swim mode in the app. Edgewater won't alarm for adults in the water, but it still alarms for a child or a pet.
You can't forget to turn it back off: it re-arms itself after 30 minutes of calm water.
The morning check
Every morning the app confirms Edgewater is armed, charged and passed its self-test, including the sensor and the camera. If something's wrong, you hear about it that day, not the day it matters.
After a power cut
Edgewater starts up armed. Nobody has to remember to turn it back on.
The app
For iPhone and Android. Everyone in the house gets it, and every phone gets the alert.
- Your whole household. Add as many family members as you like.
- A backup chain. If nobody at home responds, it moves to a backup contact, then offers a one-tap 911 call. You choose the timing.
- Alerts that get through. Push notifications, with text message and phone call as fallbacks.
- An event log. Every trigger, with a 10-second clip of what set it off.
- The morning summary. Armed, battery level, sensors healthy.
How it compares
Reviewers often tell families to buy separate products for separate jobs. Edgewater puts water-entry sensing, a camera and phone alerts in one box.
- Underwater pressure alarms
- Reliable, with few false alarms, but no app or camera. Edgewater uses the same kind of sensing and adds the camera, phone alerts and a daily health check.
- Floating alarms
- Cheap and often app-connected, but prone to false alarms from wind, toys and cleaners. That's the noise our camera is there to filter out.
- AI pool cameras
- They watch the deck but don't sense anything going into the water. Edgewater does both, and is designed to recognize pets as well as kids.
- Underwater AI systems
- They watch swimmers, but cost close to $2,000. Edgewater is planned at $399 plus $8 a month.
- Fences and door alarms
- They slow a child down, and every pool should have a fence. But gates get propped open. Edgewater is the layer for when that happens.
Want to test it in your backyard?
We're installing 10 units free in San Diego in early 2027.