A couple of years ago, Snap (the company behind Snapchat) decided that the selfie production pipeline needed to be improved upon. Bathroom mirrors and selfie sticks were not cutting it. No, no, Snap decided that the next evolution in the art of taking pictures of yourself would involve a flying robot.
So it launched the Pixy, a tiny yellow drone designed to follow you around and take cute candids of you while you did stuff. The product, which retailed between $US185 and $US250, did not do well, and Snap halted development on the product a mere four months after it launched.
During its short reign, the drone’s tagline was: “Your friendly flying camera.”
Except, as it turns out, those devices aren’t quite so friendly after all. In fact, Snap is urging the small number of people who did buy the Pixy to “immediately stop using” it and “remove the battery and stop charging it.”
If you’re wondering what all the concern is about, it sounds like the device’s lithium battery could overheat, potentially catch on fire, and injure you.
On a webpage about the recall, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission notes: “Snap has received four reports of the battery overheating and bulging, resulting in one minor battery fire and one minor injury.” The page also shows that Snap only sold some 70,000 devices, meaning that this is a problem that, relatively speaking, very few people have to worry about.
Thankfully, if you bought one of these little menaces, you’re qualified for a full refund. To get one, you’ll need to return the entire drone to Snap, which is something both the government and Snap are encouraging Pixy owners to do. How do you cash in on your tiny combustible friend?
The Verge reports that the drone should be returned without the batteries, which you’ll need to dispose of safely. You can kick off the return process by sharing your drone’s serial number with the company via an online form. After that, they’ll send you a prepaid return label that you can use to send the flying robot back to its maker.
Gizmodo reached out to Snap for more information.
Image: Getty Images.