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Comment by hkarthik | Hacker News Reader

I have the same toothbrush that my dentist recommended.

I just use it as an electric toothbrush. I briefly looked up some details on the app, realized it made zero sense to install it, and now I just use it as a toothbrush.

I'm sure my dentist made a commission on that toothbrush I puchased through her, and billed my insurance for it, as well as gets some kind of kickback from Phillips to hawk their products. I guess she needs to pay for her dental school tuition loans somehow. Either way, I haven't gone back to her since.

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I'm curious: if the app is useless for brushing your teeth, what is its advertised purpose ?

This is called tooth-coaching. It congratulates you on brushing your teeth, and then reminds you to do it again in the morning. If you ever tire of this endless brushing and begin to wonder what it's all about, it will display an inspirational quote.

That sounds like a job for a Raspberry Pi[0] with a pushbutton wired up to a GPIO pin. Push the button after you brush, have it text you a congratulatory message. It's slightly less functional than a Bluetooth toothbrush, but respects your privacy a hell of a lot more.

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[0]: Okay, technically, a Pi is a bit overkill, but I'm not sure if it's simple to, say, hit a web API with an Arduino.

Yes, but that requires putting an SMTP server into the toothbrush. Now I suspect you secretly want Linux to run on the toothbrush, with DKIM and everything. But likely there are cost and form factor concerns that prevent a general OS from being there.

I could see a custom built API client, but then which endpoint does it hit? If it uses the API of the ToothCoach, Inc, then you will complain about TCI getting your tooth brushing data. So it uses bluetooth to hit your phone, in which case you might as well store all the inspirational messages on your phone instead of in toothbrush EEPROM

Oh, no, I wasn't thinking of putting the Pi into the toothbrush. I was thinking of it as a separate device: literally a pushbutton that toggles a GPIO pin that triggers hitting a web API to text you a congratulatory or encouraging message.

I think this is what I'm going to do. It seems to be an excellent toothbrush, aside from the app business.

Or just look into the older "dumb" versions of them. My Sonicare HX690 is by now over a decade old and still working perfectly fine.

They have some dumb versions available currently too. My understanding is that the same motor assembly from the higher end models is used in the 4100. You lose some unimportant customizable features, but you still get the 30sec pulses and 2min off time.

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