Happiest Baby
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | |
| Legal Structure | Private |
| Industry | Baby products |
| Also known as | |
| Official website | https://happiestbaby.com/ |
In July 2024, Happiest Baby, Inc. put several previously free features of its $1,695 SNOO Smart Sleeper bassinet behind a $19.99-per-month subscription.[1][2] Families who buy the bassinet secondhand must now pay that recurring fee for functions, including the weaning mode & sleep tracking, that the original owner received for free.[1] In September 2024, Consumer Reports & U.S. PIRG named the SNOO in a letter asking the Federal Trade Commission to curb what they called software tethering, the use of software to limit a device after it is sold.[3]
In June 2026, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent the company a warning letter over sleep-sack sizes it had never authorized, marketing of the home device to hospitals, & shipments of moldy & soiled units.[4][5]
Consumer Impact Summary
- User Freedom: Limited, features associated with products are locked behind a premium subscription that is dependent on an always online connection.[1][2]
- User Privacy: Unknown
- Business Model: IOT products for babies,[1] product subscriptions[1][2]
- Market Competition: [TBA]
Background
Happiest Baby, Inc. is based in Los Angeles, California, & was founded by the pediatrician Dr. Harvey Karp, author of The Happiest Baby on the Block, & his wife & business partner Nina Montée-Karp.[6] Its flagship product, the SNOO Smart Sleeper, is a Wi-Fi-connected robotic bassinet designed with the industrial designer Yves Béhar & introduced in October 2016.[7] The bassinet rocks & plays white noise, & when it detects an infant crying it responds with more motion & sound; many of its settings are controlled through the Happiest Baby smartphone app.[1] A new SNOO sells for $1,695 direct from the company, a certified preowned unit for $1,195, & the device rents for $159 per month.[1]
In 2023, the FDA authorized marketing of the SNOO as an over-the-counter infant sleep system.[8] The clearance was a De Novo authorization numbered DEN210039, covering the SNOO bassinet together with the SNOO Sleep Sack for home use by caregivers of infants from birth to six months who cannot yet roll over consistently.[4] The agency stated that the device is not intended to prevent or reduce the risk of SIDS/SUID & that no infant sleep system is authorized by the FDA to prevent it.[8]
Incidents
2024 subscription paywall
Announced in June 2024 & effective July 15, 2024, Happiest Baby began charging a $19.99-per-month SNOO Premium subscription for app features that had previously been free to every user.[1][2] The paywalled settings include the weaning mode, which eases a baby off the bassinet's motion toward a crib; Level Lock, which holds the SNOO at one motion level; the daily sleep log & reports; the responsiveness & motion-start settings; Car Ride Mode; & control of more than one SNOO from a single account.[2] The basic app stays free, covering starting & stopping the bassinet, adjusting the volume, a motion limiter that caps the rocking, alerts, real-time status, & manual tracking.[2]
Access to the premium features depends on how & when a family obtained the bassinet:[1]
| How the SNOO was obtained | Premium access |
|---|---|
| Bought new from Happiest Baby or an authorized partner before July 15, 2024 | Free[1] |
| Bought from Happiest Baby or an authorized partner after July 15, 2024 | Free for nine months[1][9] |
| Rented from Happiest Baby | Free for the rental plus one month[1][2] |
| Bought secondhand or borrowed | $19.99 per month[1][2] |
Because the resale market is a common way to buy a SNOO for less, the policy leaves later owners of a $1,695 device paying a subscription for functions the first buyer used for free.[1]
Happiest Baby attributed the change to the cost of supporting resold units. Its announcement said that over eight years many SNOOs had been resold & had changed hands up to 10 times, & that tens of thousands of secondhand users had contacted the company for help.[9] CEO Harvey Karp told The Verge that the subscription let the company provide the same level of care to people who bought a SNOO through the resale market, & that it needed to be able to adjust our business structure.[1] The site main page does not disclose that there is a $19.99/month fee.[10][11]
The change infuriated many SNOO owners.[1] One told The Verge she was surprised that features advertised as coming with the Snoo were being paywalled, comparing the move to a mechanic intentionally breaking your car just so they can sell you the repair.[1] Another buyer, who found a SNOO on Facebook Marketplace, said he might not have bought it had he known about the fee.[1]
On September 5, 2024, Consumer Reports & U.S. PIRG, joined by 15 other groups, sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking for clear rules against software that limits how a device works after a consumer has bought it, & cited the SNOO as an example.[3] The letter said Happiest Baby had limited consumers' ability to resell their product by putting advertised features behind the subscription for anyone who bought the bassinet secondhand.[3]
2026 FDA warning letter
On June 15, 2026, the FDA issued Happiest Baby a warning letter after inspecting its Los Angeles facility from July 21 to 25, 2025.[4] The agency wrote that the SNOO Smart Sleeper & a SNOO Hospital Bundle were adulterated & misbranded because the company had made significant changes to the authorized device without submitting them for FDA review.[4]
Two of the changes were sleep-sack sizes outside the three the FDA had cleared with the bassinet. The company had begun selling an extra-small sack for infants as light as four pounds; the FDA wrote that its smaller dimensions could be too tight & could compress vital organs, limit diaphragmatic movement, and result in respiratory compromise, & that selling it for such low birth weights reached more preterm infants, who face a higher risk of SIDS.[4][5] An extra-large sack for infants of 23 to 25 pounds could, the agency wrote, ride up and cover the infant's mouth or neck & cause respiratory compromise, suffocation, or death.[4] The FDA also faulted the company for marketing the home-use bassinet to hospitals on a wheeled cart that introduced tipping & rolling risks the original authorization never evaluated.[4]
The letter also documented quality-system failures. It described complaints of mold on SNOO mattresses & covers that the company had closed as user error even after customers said they had followed the cleaning instructions, & four complaints about dirty, stained, & soiled bassinets that all traced to the company's refurbisher; an inspection found that every sampled refurbished unit failed the company's own quality standards.[4] Investigators noted a safety complaint in which a parent reported that a SNOO sleep sack was riding up and seem[s] like it is choking baby, which the company had grouped with others & judged not reportable.[4] The FDA said the company had also failed to file a required report when it replaced the unsanitary units, & warned that continued violations could bring seizure, injunction, or civil money penalties.[4]
Consumer Reports, which reported the letter on June 16, 2026, noted that the FDA did not say that any babies had been injured by the SNOO.[5] Happiest Baby told the magazine that parents using its small, medium, & large sacks could continue to use them safely and with confidence, that it was committed to addressing the FDA's questions about the extra sizes, & that it had ended its relationship with one refurbisher two years earlier.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 Peters, Jay (2024-07-20). "This $1,695 smart bassinet's best features are now behind a premium subscription". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2026-01-15. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Consumer Reports, U.S. PIRG, and 15 other groups call on FTC to create clear guidance for 'software tethering'". Consumer Reports Advocacy. 2024-09-05. Archived from the original on 2026-09-07. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 "Warning Letter: Happiest Baby, Inc. MARCS-CMS 718306". U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 2026-06-15. Archived from the original on 2026-09-07. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Kirchner, Lauren (2026-06-16). "FDA Sends Warning Letter to Snoo Company, Publicizing Safety Concerns". Consumer Reports. Archived from the original on 2026-09-07. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
- ↑ "Our Mission". Happiest Baby. Archived from the original on 2025-01-30. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
- ↑ Coldewey, Devin (2016-10-18). "Finally, a robot crib from Yves Behar". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2025-03-17. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "FDA Roundup: March 31, 2023". U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 2023-03-31. Archived from the original on 2026-09-07. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Our Expanded Happiest Baby App Is Here: New Features & New Subscription". Happiest Baby. Archived from the original on 2024-07-18. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
- ↑ https://archive.is/Xb9nq.
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