Best Smart Watch for Kids

Smart Watch for Kids: Is your child truly prepared to use a phone? In case the response is “not quite,” a smartwatch might be the ideal option since it provides a secure and practical means for your family to experiment with digital devices. The following are the top smartwatches for kids that let you stay in touch with your little one and ensure their safety when you’re apart: While texting features let children to message their parents to request permission for an unplanned play date, GPS features enable caretakers to follow their children’s position to ensure the school bus dropped them off at home.

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Apple Watch SE (2nd generation)

Most costly, best-performing
Of all the smartwatches we tried, this one is the most functional and user-friendly, but it’s also the most expensive and exclusive to iPhone users.

$299 from 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.

Best Fitness Tracker: Fitbit Ace 3

View On Amazon $79

Why We Like It: With badges to win and parent-approved fitness challenges your child may join, the Fitbit Ace makes basic activity monitoring enjoyable for kids.

But be aware that this is only an activity tracker; texting and calling are not available on this wristwatch.

In case your child is not in need of a fully functional wristwatch but still wants to feel tech-savvy, the Fitbit Ace 3 is a very effective activity tracker that can track sleep and inspire children. It pairs with iOS and Android smartphones using Bluetooth.

The Fitbit Ace 3 features an animated clock face and fitness challenges that parents may choose for their child to increase the enjoyment aspect. Adults are able to track their statistics as well.

Our little tester ended up racing around the yard at the end of the night since they enjoyed tracking their steps so much.

The watch only required one charge after four days of use, and the manufacturer claims that if you don’t use the animated clock face, the watch may run for an additional four days, for a total of eight days. Furthermore, it is waterproof up to 50 meters, or 164 feet for those of us who don’t utilize metric units of measurement.

The Details:

Monthly cost: Fitbit standard app: free; Fitbit premium app: $10/month
Connectivity: Bluetooth, compatible with iOS 12.2 or higher & Android OS 7.0 or higher
GPS tracking: No
Battery life: 8 days
Features: Activity tracking, sleep tracking, family challenges, waterproof up to 50 meters, kid-friendly, animated clock face

Best for Young Kids: VTech Kidizoom Smartwatch DX3

View On Amazon $47

Why We Like It: If you want to give your kids something a bit more engaging than emoticons, this is one of the most fun shows on our list.

But Be Aware: There is no call feature or location monitoring, and users may only share preset messages with other associated DX3 devices.

This watch embodies the VTech brand’s signature of fusing technology with kid-friendly features. Playing two-player games like Tic-Tac-Toe and movement games with other DX3 watch wearers is one of the best features.

The wristwatch features built-in gaming and picture and video-taking cameras. After honing their selfie-taking techniques, kids may add stickers and frames—this is what our 6-year-old tester enjoyed doing best with his watch. In terms of use, children may text other watch users via preset messages (they must be connected), but neither a call capability nor the ability to connect with other devices are available.

On the other hand, parents may set the watch to sound an alert when their child has to accomplish anything, like feed the dog or finish their schoolwork. Kid-friendly and capable of lasting up to two full days between charges, the battery has a long lifespan.

The Details:

Monthly cost: None
Connectivity: No network or Wi-Fi availability
GPS tracking: No
Battery life: 2-3 days
Features: Dual cameras for photos and videos, watch light for camera flash or flashlight, games, school mode, custom clockfaces, daily reminders

Fossil gen 6 wellness edition hybrid smartwatch, black silicone

(Image credit: Amazon)

Fossil is well-known for its exceptional watch selection. Although the Gen 6 Wellness Edition hybrid smartwatch isn’t specifically designed for children, our teenagers thought it was a terrific wearable smart gadget. She was excited to use it right away because of its lightweight design and soft silicone strap (which comes in a variety of colorways). She also found it to be comfortable because the strap can be adjusted enough to fit smaller wrists.

The Gen 6 watch has an e-ink screen, which is a familiar technology for Kindle readers, in contrast to all the other watches we examined. We like that no bright screen would disturb youngsters at night, and it works best during the day. The associated Fossil app requires you to be 16 years old, so while our adolescent was using the watch, we downloaded the software. You may select a watch face that you want on the app, but keep in mind that this is a hybrid watch, so it combines digital and analog elements, giving it a very stylish appearance. Our adolescent selected to take a photo with her pals and decided to show her steps, heart rate, and battery level since she enjoyed that she could use an image as her watch face.

Parents will find the sleep data intriguing, especially if it’s exam season since we found it to be quite accurate. It is also capable of automatically identifying workouts, which is fantastic if your adolescent is athletic. There are ten exercise settings; sadly, swimming is not one of them, but it is waterproof. However, the e-ink screen of this watch deserves praise for its long battery life. After wearing it every day for two weeks, the tester’s battery had barely dropped to less than 10%. It will take an hour to reach eighty percent when you finally get around to charging it. Even if it can’t track your child’s whereabouts or make calls, for a wristwatch that tracks your fitness and health, we were impressed.

The Details:

Best: For battery life
Age: 13 and above (16 and above for Fossil app)
Tracking: Steps, heart rate, blood-oxygen levels and sleep
Other functions: Automatically detects workouts, weather, built-in Alexa, timer, stopwatch
Colorways: Three colors, 12 straps (with additional cost)
Battery life: Up to two weeks
Weight: 72.6g
Connectivity: Bluetooth
Waterproofing: Up to 30m
GPS: No built-in GPS, but uses GPS from your phone when connected via Bluetooth
Camera: N/A

Best With Camera: Xplora XGO3

View On Amazon $129

Kids may utilize the 2-megapixel camera on the Xplora XGO3 to capture images, which makes it unique. After that, they may email the pictures to as many contacts as their parents have allowed (up to 50), which is a wonderful way to keep in touch with grandparents or cousins. Utilizing the quick start instructions makes setup a snap. The SIM card for the watch is already installed; all you need to do is select one of Xplora’s plans, which begins at $10 per month. To completely begin using the smartwatch, we had to use the internet and get in touch with customer support because the instructions did not provide enough guidance.

Kids are limited to texting using pre-written texts; they are not allowed to compose their own messages. Moreover, contacts may receive photographs and audio messages using the Xplora app, which is accessible on Apple and Android devices. Although the watch may be used on 2G, 3G, or 4G mobile networks, you might need to unplug it from Wi-Fi in order for the messages to be sent. Phone calls have good audio quality.

Even in the streets of New York City, we discovered that the real-time location tracking was quite precise; it records 72 hours of location data, timestamps, and regular refreshes. School mode is another feature that caregivers will love: children can only tell the time when it is activated, which helps them focus in class. In addition to alarms and a calculator, the smartwatch also features a step tracker that gives youngsters one coin for every 1,000 steps. They can spend this coin to play games or customize the look of the watch face.

Although our kids enjoyed playing on the playground and doing cartwheels, this watch withstood the abuse rather well. However, we wish a screen protector had been included for further durability (you can add one to your order for $17). The band comes in both colorful and neutral hues, so your child may choose one that matches their style.

We adore this watch for its camera, location tracking, and more contact additions than most other selections on this list—even if we would have appreciated more detailed instructions after you figured it out. It’s also among our more reasonably priced choices.

Pros