Kids Smart Watch: You have choices if you want your child to be able to communicate as they become more autonomous but you don’t want to give them an adult smartphone.
The first watch a youngster receives is an important milestone, but like other children’s items, technology has advanced. Whether you love it or hate it, if you wear a wristwatch yourself, you’ve undoubtedly observed that kids are instantly drawn to it. They could be fascinated by the lights or want to know how many steps you’ve taken.
Parents might feel reassured by the more expensive smartwatches with GPS monitoring and communication features. Parents should be aware that, similar to a condensed mobile phone, to use a gadget with such characteristics, you’ll probably need to have a SIM card, which might result in additional monthly expenses. These are attractive if you want to remain in touch with your youngster securely but aren’t quite ready to get them a mobile phone. They’re sometimes referred to as “phone watches.”
Over 90% of children aged five to sixteen regularly participate in sports, indicating that many of our kids currently play some activity. They can meet their step objectives by wearing a watch, and more sophisticated models can measure heart rate.
The Best Kids Smart Watch
Verizon Gizmo Watch 3
A dependable, affordable smartwatch for kids
(Image credit: Amazon)
You can follow your child’s whereabouts with this kids watch and make restricted text and voice calls.
With a wristwatch, you can monitor your child’s whereabouts, control who they connect with, and have conversations and texts with them. They can be less distracting than a typical smartphone because they have fewer games and smaller screens. The Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 is among the most reasonably priced and easily navigable kids’ smartwatches (as well as one that adults can handle) out of the 13 models we’ve evaluated. But older children might find its visuals too “kiddie.” Despite the negative to mediocre ratings, we discovered that it outperformed the other kids’ smartwatches we tried in terms of dependability and general feel.
Garmin Vivofit jr. 3
Testing out Garmin’s most recent junior edition, the Vivofit jr. 3, raised expectations because the company is one of the leading competitors in the smartwatch market.
When we first looked at it, we were amazed at how lightweight it was compared to all the other watches we examined; our four- and six-year-olds both put it on for size, and it fits their wrists well. They both praised the silicone strap’s comfort and expressed how much they liked the peach colorway and embossed leopard print.
Installing the free Garmin Jnr app and creating a profile (or profiles, if you have several devices) was all that was required for setup to be simple. You may personalize the watch face, pick an avatar, set a step symbol, and enter your waking and bedtimes (to offer precise sleep data) via the app. With the movement sensor, you can also monitor how active your child has been and adjust daily step objectives. You can even create goals like feeding the dog. We also appreciate that you may customize the tasks. Kids earn virtual coins by doing tasks; parents determine how much to give them, and they may select how to use them—several pre-programmed alternatives exist, including “go swimming.” or “eat out”.
Children who engage in 60 minutes of daily physical exercise will also receive rewards. Upon completion of the journey, which is an entertaining and instructive trip tale, kids can play the addicting tap challenge game and take quizzes. Although our six-year-old found this function a little complex for a youngster in reception, he began to understand the incentive system.
In contrast to other watches, this one uses a CR2025 battery that lasts for a whole year rather than a rechargeable one. Kids won’t need to charge it any more thanks to this, and we were happy to see that the fitness tracker is swim-friendly, so there’s really no reason to take it off. As one might anticipate from Garmin, the Vivofit Jr.3 is a well-made device that performs well on all fronts.
Angel Watch: Best for SOS calls and health tracking
The Angel Watch combines a kids’ phone service, health tracker, and GPS tracker into one device. The Angel Watch’s SOS function, which starts after three seconds of pressing and repeatedly phones three pre-designated contacts until someone answers, really impresses us.
The Angel Watch has no kid entertainment and fewer contact slots than the TickTalk4, but it does include video calling and a listen-in option. (This, depending on what you’re searching for, may undoubtedly be a positive thing.) It is compatible with T-Mobile and AT&T networks.
Health monitoring features
Using a vital sign sensor that is pressed up against the skin, the Angel Watch assists parents in keeping an eye on their child’s health as well. Four vital signals are detectable by the watch:
Body warmth
blood pressure
blood oxygen
heart rate
Even while this seems really cool, the Angel Watch Company cautions that these readings might not be reliable all the time. It is also entirely the parent’s responsibility to keep an eye on their child’s vital signs and behave accordingly. If there is a concerning departure from the usual, this gadget will not sound an alarm.
In addition to counting your child’s steps, the Angel Watch calculates their overall distance traveled and calories expended. Your child’s watch will track the quality of their sleep if they wear it to bed.
Best for Older Kids: Apple Watch SE
Why We Like It: With all the features and convenience of Apple products, the AppleWatch SE is the same wristwatch that grownups can enjoy.
But be aware that it’s not as easy or obvious for smaller children to use because it was designed with adults in mind. Furthermore, the version designed to sync with phones is far less expensive than the one with cellular access.
Older children will love the Apple Watch’s streamlined, iconic design, the plethora of capabilities, and—big bonus—its complete waterproofness for swimming. The Apple Watch offers all the features of the other smartwatches on our list plus a few more. For example, it can automatically determine whether your child was in a collision or fell and is not responding.
and if it’s the version with cellular access or linked with a phone, it will immediately dial 911.
Note that the less costly SE models (which start at $249) can only be paired with a nearby phone or connected over Wi-Fi. If you want to acquire this for a youngster who doesn’t have a phone, you’ll need to get the ones with their own cellular service, which costs around $70 extra.
Use Apply Family Sharing to link a SE with cellular service for a kid who does not own a phone. This allows you to exchange contacts with them and set parental controls over the applications they download (you can even add an infinite number of authorized contacts outside of Apple).
It enables you to configure Apple Pay for certain members. They will sync all of their data and applications with iCloud. Using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or cellular connections, Apple Watch wearers may converse with other Apple Watch wearers via the Walkie-Talkie app.
Our parent tester encountered some difficulties configuring the watch with his network provider, and there is a slight learning curve with the app. His daughter was quite eager to close her “activity rings,” which represent the amount of time she spent moving, exercising, and standing after everything was set up and running. Her father enjoyed utilizing it to find out where she was at all times. She wished an Apple watch had a camera, something it does not.
Because this watch’s battery life is very user-dependent, it may run out of juice more quickly if your child uses it frequently for activities like games, music, or the camera. On average, however, our tester’s use lasted for a whole day.
The Information:
Cost per month: varies depending on the provider (devices with GPS alone are free).
Availability of connectivity: Xfinity Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Spectrum Mobile
GPS monitoring: Indeed
18 hours of battery life
Features include: texting, calling, app compatibility, heart rate monitor, workout, crash and fall detection, emergency SOS, daily activity, swim-proof design, sleep tracker, medicine app, Wi-Fi, GPS, Siri, and Bluetooth.
(Image credit: Amazon)
If your kid is mature enough to handle a costly gadget, you might want to think about getting them an Apple Watch SE. It’s among the best-performing smartwatches for adults as well, and compared to our other choices, it provides greater adaptability, autonomy, and seamless communication (while maintaining certain parental control options). It also has the most potential for distraction among our selections because kids may download games and applications and participate in group conversations with their peers. Additionally, only iPhone users may access it.
Moochies 4G Connect
The first Moochies phone watch debuted in Australia in 2016 and made its way to the UK the following year. It’s intriguing that the product is marketed as a “phone watch” rather than a smartwatch considering that it’s really just a simple wearable phone for kids that provides a secure means of contact with our kids, and we support them in doing so.
To connect your phone to your child’s watch, you’ll need to download the app and follow the setup instructions, although we have to admit that it was really easy to do—a video will walk you through it. However, Moochies Connect comes with a built-in SIM card, so you won’t need to worry about obtaining one separately as its immediate competitors do. Nevertheless, you will need to select one of the two sim subscriptions (£10 or £15 per month) and activate the sim.
Using the Moochies app, GPS tracking ensures that you always know where your child is. In the meantime, audio and video calling allow you to communicate with your child or vice versa. Additionally, you can “chat” by sending an emoji or voice memo, which was helpful when we needed to check in with our adolescent tester.
In addition, there are an alarm, step counter, and camera features. We like that Moochies has included only the most essential features in this watch, without going overboard. Additionally, parents may set the watch to classroom mode, which limits its usefulness during school hours. We appreciate that this watch’s touchscreen is simple to operate and consistently feels responsive. The hefty shape didn’t appeal to our adolescent, but she did enjoy the straightforward white color scheme.
TickTalk 4: Tester favorite
The TickTalk 4‘s location monitoring and SOS button help ease parental worries. Additionally, it provides content for children by using iHeart Radio Family to stream stories or music. Its $200 price tag is its primary drawback.
Full of features for kids and parents alike
We adore that the TickTalk 4 has features that youngsters will appreciate in addition to being a wristwatch for parents. It is up to your kid to decide how they want to communicate—they may use phone calls, text messages, GIFs, video calls, audio memos, voice-to-text, emoticons, and images. Although there won’t be a whole keyboard available to them, there is just enough variation to let them experiment with some creative expression.
Youngsters may record films, take selfies, and take photographs with the TickTalk 4’s camera. A step counter, a reminder list, and a do-not-disturb/school mode are among the other features.
What our testers liked about the TickTalk4
Before declaring the TickTalk4 the greatest kids’ wristwatch, we wanted to evaluate how well it functioned in the real world. We thus requested a mother and her children to test it out.
The children adored using the watch’s other kid-focused capabilities, such as sending each other greeting cards, making video chats, and playing music—as we could have predicted. Mom, however, valued the security features, such as the listen-in feature and restricted communication network.
Our testers found that having to scan the watch’s QR code for clearance made it challenging to establish TickTalk4 video calling permissions with grandparents who resided across the nation. The only thing the 7-year-old had to complain about was how big the watch was—even on an adult’s wrist.
