Bestselling list of children's water bottles on an e-commerce platform Photo: Screenshot from Jimu News

As the new school season begins recently, "fingerprint-locked kids' water bottles" that require children's fingerprints to open have continuously topped the best-selling list for kids' products on an e-commerce platform, Jimu News reported.

According to product descriptions on the platform, these special water bottles can effectively prevent campus pranks such as adding unwanted substances to others' water bottles or mistakenly drinking from the wrong bottle, ensuring safer hydration for children. Parents can also check their children's cup-unlocking and drinking records via Bluetooth-connected mini-programs, the report said.

Reporters found on e-commerce platforms that fingerprint-locked water bottles, priced between 200-400 yuan ($26-$56), cost nearly twice as much of ordinary bottles, typically under 200 yuan ($26).

Whether it is necessary to such "smart" water bottles has sparked debate among some parents, with related posts trending, per the report.

Supportive netizens believe that water cups with fingerprint unlocking function can ensure children's drinking safety. The others argue that such cups not practical, just a waste of money. If the fingerprint recognition device is not sensitive or runs out of power, it will become troublesome for children to drink water.

A merchant selling such water bottles told reporters that this product is very sensitive, as long as charged in time and avoided being dropped and comes with after-sale service.

"The bottle's insulation performs well, but my child's peeling fingerprints sometimes make unlocking difficult," a consumer was cited by Jimu News. 
Another parent of a first-grader told Jimu News that she had not noticed any classmates of her child using this product, suggesting it may be unnecessary for lower grades.

Jimu News