We’re on a mission to inspire the world to contribute to making our air clean and safe through technology-led behavioural change. 

But what does that mean, exactly? And what does it look like in action?

It looks like bubl – our new technology-driven air filtration system for your baby. In a nutshell, bubl reduces your baby’s exposure to harmful particles by up to 90%, ensuring that only the purified air enters their airways.

We’ve designed bubl so that it fits into your baby’s pram, stroller or cot, allowing you to reduce your little one’s exposure to pollution wherever they go.

A clean air bubl for your baby

Inside bubl is where the real science happens.

bubl draws in allergens and pollutants from the air, before trapping them in a replaceable HEPA filter that fits snugly inside the product. Clean air is then released into your baby’s environment for them to breathe – and the cycle continues. 

bubl emits up to 150 litres of clean air into your baby’s environment per minute. The purified air is dispensed at a low speed, so your baby won’t notice a thing. (In fact, it even creates a soft sound, keeping baby calm.)

Why is it different from other purifiers?

Air purifiers featuring HEPA filters are widely available, but they’re usually built to purify rooms through recirculation, and only work effectively after being left on for a long time. What’s more, they’re stationary, and can’t be taken with you on the move. 

The moment you leave that room, the risk of pollutants increases, particularly in cities or other urban areas. Where bubl comes in is two-fold:

1. It protects your baby’s developing lungs directly – over 90% of pollutants are filtered out of the air your baby breathes. While other purifiers can only purify the air around your baby, babybubl pushes unfiltered air away to provide the clean air your baby needs.
2. You can use the bubl app to track air quality – so if you find that you and your baby are regularly walking through areas of high air pollution, you can change your behaviour to protect your baby’s lungs and yours.

How it works:

After you’ve placed bubl in your pram or pushchair and switched it on, the reverse of our device draws in air from the immediate environment around it, into the HEPA filter, extracting harmful pollutants. Finally, bubl measures the particulate matter (PM2.5) around your baby’s head – so you can see how polluted the air is.

Once it’s been filtered, bubl sends the air through the wings on each side and through the centre, distributing 150l of cleansed air gently across your baby’s airways every minute, creating a literal bubble of clean air around their head.

The clean air bubble stays as long as the device is switched on, ensuring that whatever environment you’re in, your baby’s lungs are being protected. 

Safety features include the straps at the front of the “wings” that secure the babybubl to the hinges of the canopy of your stroller or a pram. The clips at the back attach to the baleens, or arches, of the canopy, preventing  babybubl from “wiggling” around or falling. (Baby will still wiggle! 😅)

We were founded by physician Conny Karlsson and his brother, Erik. As a physician, Conny has an interest in physiology, pathophysiology and development of the lungs. 

He saw the detrimental impact air pollution was having on infants’ respiratory health, and felt compelled to combine his expertise with his brother’s to enact change. 

bubl is the result of five years of research and development, during which the team learned more about how micro-particles in the air can inflame the airways, impact cognitive function, lead to reduced lung function, and increase the risk of allergies and asthma. 

How clean is the air we breathe?

In 2019, 99% of the world population was living in places that exceeded WHO’s air quality guidelines. The guidelines provide guidance on thresholds for the following air pollutants:

• Particulate matter (PM) – there is a correlation between high PM exposure and increased mortality. PM is the most widely used proxy indicator of air pollution. These fine and ultrafine particles get deposited in the lungs and other organs, triggering inflammatory responses which can inhibit development, making airways more susceptible to both disease and infections
• Ozone (O3) – excessive O3 can cause breathing problems, trigger asthma, reduce lung function and cause lung diseases.
• Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – studies show that symptoms of bronchitis in asthmatic children increase in association with long-term exposure to NO2.
• Sulphur dioxide (SO2) – SO2 can affect the respiratory system and the functions of the lungs, and can also cause irritation of the eyes.

Your baby is more vulnerable than you are to these risks. 

That’s because their airways are still growing, and babies breathe much faster than older children and adults (a newborn’s normal breathing rate is around 40 to 60 times per minute).

With bubl’s help, exposing your baby to cleaner air from birth can help them become more resilient to respiratory infections and the harmful effects of ground-level air pollution. 

The time has come for everyone to tackle air pollution. Not just for our children’s health but for the health of the planet and all its inhabitants.

You can be part of this positive action by joining the bubl community.

Everyone can contribute to cleaner air

While our product provides your baby with access to cleaner air, our community is helping to curb climate change by collecting vital ground level pollution data for research purposes. 

When you purchase a bubl device, you’ll also gain access to our app. 

You can use the app to track the status of bubl’s filter. You’ll receive a notification when the current filter has reached the end of its life and needs to be replaced.

But crucially, you’ll have the option to take your own air quality samples when you’re out and about with your baby, and share this data with bubl.

Although they’re a valuable source of information, today’s measuring stations provided by some of the world’s largest NGOs like the UN and the WHO don’t give accurate impressions of the pollution people are experiencing at ground level.

We’re helping to solve this by providing individuals like you, as well as researchers and scientists, with ways to visualise the damaging air we could be breathing.

Join our clean air community today

We’re an organisation who want to change your world today, and the rest of the world tomorrow. We’re starting by helping you make more informed decisions about your immediate environment – decisions that will have a positive impact on your baby’s health.

With you, we can provide the information that will help shift government and scientific approaches to urban air pollution. With you, we can create a world where clean air isn’t a myth, or a dream, but something in arms reach if we act on the evidence.

Make a change today: for your baby and the planet.

Get bubl