The Best Kids Smartwatches, After Exhaustive Parent-Kid Testing
If you’re not quite ready to hand your child a phone, but they’ve suddenly hit an age where you’d like to text them or check on their whereabouts, a smartwatch can help to bridge that communication gap between kids and their grown-ups. Most smartwatches designed for kids offer texting, calling and GPS tracking—all without the need for a phone. After testing more than a dozen smartwatches with kids of varying ages in elementary and middle school, including my own, I believe the best smartwatch for kids is the Verizon Gizmo Watch 3. However, if you are already an iPhone family, you have an older kid (say 10 or 11) and you’re also trying to stave off the smartphone discussion a bit longer, I’d recommend the Apple Watch SE with cellular as the best Apple smartwatch for kids. I also think it’s the best choice for tweens and teens. The best smartwatch for kids depends a lot on the child's age and maturity level, as well as what ... [+] their grown-up prefers.Illustration: Forbes / Photo: Rose Gordon SalaHere are all the best smartwatches for kids, after extensive testing and research of the competition: Best Kids Smartwatch Overall: Verizon Gizmo Watch 3Most Fun Kids Smartwatch: TickTalk 5 VerizonVerizon Gizmo Watch 3Forbes VettedForbes Vetted ratings are based on thorough evaluations by our editorial team to help you choose the best products with confidence.Battery life: Up to 3.7 days standby; up to 4.45 hours of call time | Screen size: 1.4 inches | Water resistance: IP68 | Maximum contacts: 20 | School mode/quiet time: Yes | Colors: 3 | Texting: Yes | Video calling: Yes | Music: No | Camera: Yes | GPS tracking: Yes | Step counter: Yes | Games: Yes Best for:Connecting with kids via text, phone and video callsGPS tracking and knowing where your child isParental controls and setting limitsSkip if:You have an older tween or teen ready for something more All The Best Features, Plus A Seamless Operation The Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 was the easiest of all the kids smartwatches I tested to set up right out of the box, and its companion parent app made setting parental controls straightforward. I had no problem finding the settings to add and remove downtimes, school mode and even the volume of the watch’s ringer, as well as logging in to check my kids’ location and messages. Besides its ease of operation, the Gizmo Watch 3 has all the features that both kids and parents seem to want in a kids smartwatch. There’s no access to the internet or troublesome social media, but there is a camera for video calling and silly selfies. Not all kid smartwatches possess a camera, and some parents might prefer to leave it off, but this perk really enticed my kids to keep the watch on their wrists and made it feel like something special and more on par with a phone. I also really liked being able to see them in a video call—and so did their grandparents. (Consider the Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 Adventure model if you want a similar kids smartwatch without a camera.) It comes with a few light games, as well as a step counter and the weather. Big-Kid Appeal And Features Kids can also text and place calls from this smartwatch. Verizon recently updated the software in the Gizmo Watch 3 with a touchscreen keyboard, so kids can type out their own text messages versus relying on the available presets. It is a tiny screen, so my then 9-year-old struggled with this a bit and often fell back on custom presets or voice messages, but he liked the option to craft a message of his own words. Many other kid smartwatches do not provide a keyboard and rely strictly on presets or voice recordings. Kids are also allowed to create group chats with the Gizmo, although only among the up to 20 approved contacts. I found the GPS tracking on the Gizmo fairly reliable. I had to hit refresh sometimes to get an accurate position on my children, but it placed them within the right buildings nearly 100% of the time, especially when they weren’t on the move. It also located him at a Brooklyn Nets game that he traveled to from our New Jersey home. Caregivers can also set up virtual boundary zones, so the watch alerts you when your child leaves school (or whatever zone you’ve set up) to walk home or to a friend’s house. Where it didn’t perform as well was pinpointing an exact location in a crowded indoor space. (I may have lost in him the National Air and Space Museum for 30 minutes during a hectic spring break visit.)The Gizmo Watch 3 typically held its charge all day as long as we fully charged it the night before.Rose Gordon Sala For ForbesBut It’s Definitely Just For Kids Caregivers more accustomed to adult smartwatches might chafe at some of the restrictions that come standard in kid smartwatches, but these are by design. With the Verizon Gizmo Watch 3—and most kid-focused smartwatches—your child can only text and call contacts who have downloaded the companion app, which is the case with the GizmoHub. That means kids mainly end up using the smartwatch to connect to tech-savvy grown-ups in their lives, rather than friends who don’t yet have access to a smartphone. This is likely unacceptable to most teens, as well as some tweens. For those kids, consider our next pick, the Apple Watch SE with cellular. Verizon did something smart here, though. They let Gizmo Watch wearers connect via Bluetooth when two watches are near and then request to be a “Gizmo buddy.” Because my son had a lot of third grade friends who also wore a Gizmo, he frequently sent me “buddy requests,” and I would simply approve that contact in the app. This saved me the pain of manually entering additional numbers, and it allowed my kid to socialize with pals and start learning some basic phone and texting etiquette. The online reviews of the Gizmo are mixed at best, but this was not my experience with the watch, nor that of another tester. My first two Gizmo experiences were plagued by tech issues, but this was an earlier generation watch: the Gizmo Watch 2. I’d encourage anyone experiencing issues with the current Gizmo to reach out to Verizon to request a new watch or to better understand how to navigate the issue.MOST POPULARAmazonApple Watch SE (GPS + Cellular)Forbes VettedForbes Vetted ratings are based on thorough evaluations by our editorial team to help you choose the best products with confidence.Battery life: Up to 18 hours | Screen size: 1.57 inches (40mm) 1.78 inches (44mm) | Maximum contacts: Unlimited | School mode/quiet time: Yes | Colors: Multiple band types and colorways | Water resistance: 50 meters | Texting: Yes | Video calling: No | Music: Yes | Camera: No | GPS tracking: Yes | Step counter: Yes | Games: Yes, but only if you download themBest for:Families who already use iOS with iPhones, MacBooks and so onOlder tweens and teensEasier setup and more seamless communicationSkip if:You don’t want your child to have access to the internetThey’re too young to take care of an expensive item The Apple Watch SE with cellular is a smart choice for older children, especially tweens and teens, and those families who are already engaged in the iOS ecosystem with iPhones and MacBooks and so on. (If you’re an Android family, consider an Android smartwatch instead. Our tech team reviewed the best smartwatches for adults and selected the Google Pixel Watch and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 as among the best.) More Seamless Communication For Apple Families For iOS families, an Apple Watch makes communication with your kid a lot smoother. It certainly did with my 10-year-old who transitioned from the Gizmo Watch 3 to the Apple Watch SE. The Apple Watch SE is the brand’s most inexpensive model and it’s plenty powerful enough for kids. It has all the features they’ll need, including texting, calling, Apple Pay, fitness tracking, Siri and music streaming.I found the parental controls on the Apple Watch SE (and iPhone) fairly seamless to navigate, ... [+] including adding in Schooltime hours to restrict my kid's ability to use the watch during class.Rose Gordon Sala For ForbesAnd Plenty Of Parental Controls You’ll want to purchase the GPS + Cellular version, so they can operate it without the need for their own phone. Guardians set up a child’s Apple Watch right from their iPhone and the Apple Watch app. With the Apple Watch SE cellular, kids receive their own phone number and can connect with anyone, not just other Apple Watch owners, meaning they can now join all those group chats and place calls to anyone the like. There’s no parental companion app to download in order to communicate with this watch (just the Apple Watch app), so now you’ll receive your child’s text messages directly via iMessages and your iPhone—or on whatever device you own. There are plenty of parental controls available in the app and in your iPhone Settings under “Family” and “Screen Time” after you add your child and their Apple ID in as a family member. These include limits on adding contacts (this prevents strangers and spam from contacting your child), as well as a Schooltime mode, downtimes, time limits on apps and websites and daily screentime limits on all apps. (Tip: If you don’t want them to have YouTube, set the time limit on the app to the least amount possible: 0 minutes.) The “Find My” iOS tracking feature helped us locate my son’s watch when he accidentally left it behind at a store, and it’s what I use whenever I want to find his location. Another perk of selecting the Apple Watch for your big kid is that the kids think they’re cool, so they’re more likely to keep them on, meaning that you can reach them and track their whereabouts as needed. It is a pricey gadget for a kid who isn’t mature enough yet to not lose it. I recommend protecting the watch face with an inexpensive screen protector (my kids scratched up every watch they tested within days, including the Apple Watch). You’ll also need to charge this smartwatch every night. I like that kids can grow into this watch and potentially wear it for many years versus growing out of the more limited kid smartwatches—but I still wouldn’t give this to any child under 10 unless they’re exceedingly mature. Age 11 or 12 and up might be a better bet, depending on the child.Forbes VettedForbes Vetted ratings are based on thorough evaluations by our editorial team to help you choose the best products with confidence.Battery life: Up to 100 hours standby; up to 48 hours of ‘regular use’ | Screen size: 1.5 inches | Maximum contacts: 50 | School mode/quiet time: Yes | Colors: 4 | Water resistance: IP67 | Texting: Yes | Video calling: Yes | Music: Yes | Camera: Yes | GPS tracking: Yes | Step counter: Yes | Games: YesBest for:Texting, calling GPS tracking your childMusic streamingSkip if:You have an older tween or teenYou don’t want your child to have access to a camera The TickTalk 5 kids smartwatch is most similar to the Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 among the watches we tested. It offers kids the ability to text, call, leave voice messages and make video calls to approved contacts via the watch and a companion app. You’ll have to sign up for a cellular plan as you do with our other picks. The TickTalk plans start at $10 a month through either AT&T or T-Mobile. (The Gizmo runs only on Verizon, while an Apple Watch cellular plan can typically be added to the parent’s existing cellular carrier’s plan.) Superior GPS Tracking Parents get all the best features of a kids smartwatch with the TickTalk 5, too. They can track their kids’ via GPS, as well as set up parental controls like quiet times for school or sleep. In fact, I found the TickTalk’s tracking the most accurate of all the watches I tested. My son wore both the Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 and the TickTalk 5 smartwatch when he attended a Brooklyn Nets game at the Barclays Center in Park Slope, Brooklyn. When I opened each of the parent-companion apps, the GizmoHub showed me his location at the correct intersection for the stadium, but didn’t name the building. The TickTalk app’s description left me pretty speechless. It not only told me the name of the building he was in but also showed his general location within the Barclays Center, which I knew to be the nose bleeds. You can see these results in the app screenshots below. This was a more detailed description than even the iOS Find My feature delivers.Traditional kids smartwatches come with a parental companion app where caregivers can see a child's ... [+] location and also set up various parental controls like a quiet time for school hours.Rose Gordon Sala For ForbesLoads Of Kid-Friendly Features But why did I label this the “Most Fun” kids smartwatch? Certainly not for the GPS. While TickTalk doesn’t let kids connect to the internet or download social media, it has plenty of unique features for kids, including free music streaming from iHeartRadio with family-friendly tunes, as well as podcasts. The TickTalk 5 lets kids take photos with the 5MP camera, send unique GIFs, join group chats with pre-approved contacts and send animated e-greeting cards. Plus, the watch’s entire design is cheerful and kid-friendly. The user interface is filled with cute characters and cues that offer plenty of clear directions, making it generally easy to use. The one drawback here is that with so many options, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But the ability for guardians to toggle so many features and controls on and off, allows for the ultimate customization of watch features. There aren’t any actual games on the TickTalk, but there is a calculator and fitness tracking. It’s also a thicker, tougher looking watch compared to the other smartwatches, but my son liked its look at age 9. The Apple Watch SE and the Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 both felt smoother and sat flatter on his wrist, however. You can’t swim with this watch, but it is rated to survive a quick dunk in water. The whole design and interface of the TickTalk does skew a bit younger, so I’d recommend this smartwatch for the under-10 crowd in general. Its battery life was decent, typically lasting the day unless many photos were snapped or music streamed. Kids seem to enjoy clicking it into the monster-themed charger base, too.Our kids wore the watches, sent us text messages (and complaints), racked up their steps and took ... [+] plenty of selfies.Rose Gordon Sala For ForbesThe Other Kids Smartwatches We Tested Over the last year, we’ve tested a dozen smartwatches to find the best for kids. Here are some of those we tested that didn’t make our shortlist of top recommendations, but that you might want to peruse for your family just the same. We plan to test the Bark Watch, but it was not available in time for this round of testing. Google Fitbit Ace LTE (Score: 3.5/5; Price: $130): Our 11-year-old tester found this fitness-oriented kids smartwatch the most comfortable to wear and its movement games more engaging than most. It has all of the usual kid smartwatch features minus the camera, including texting and calling up to 20 contacts via the Fitbit Ace app, GPS tracking for parents and a school mode to turn it off during school hours. It could be a solid choice for families who want their kids to move more as the included games earn kids points as they move. For other parents, including myself, I didn’t love the emphasis on movement, because as my already active kids grow into their tween and teen years, I worry more about them developing body image issues, rather than not moving enough. Our parent tester said the battery life was average, needing a daily charge, and the interface required a bit of a learning curve. Cosmo JrTrack3 (Score: 2/5; Price: $130): This extra thick watch had a frustrating user experience for one of our testers. It came with the features typical of kids smartwatches—texting, calling, GPS tracking, a camera and parental control of contacts—it did lack video calling and we couldn’t get over the difficult app navigation for parents. The brand just released a new version, the JrTrack4, which we haven’t tested yet. It offers a Spotify music integration. Garmin Bounce Kids Smartwatch (Score: 2.8/5; Price: $150): This is another fitness-oriented kids smartwatch that also does texting, GPS tracking and voice messaging. But it isn’t designed to be a full-fledged communication device and so our tester gave it a pretty middling score and complained about its overall interface. Battery life was great and it is swim ready. Gabb Watch 3E (Score: 3.3/5; Price: $75): I tested the Gabb 3 with my oldest daughter at age 10 for several months. I found it challenging to set up, and had the worst battery performance among the watches I tested. It often died before the end of the school day, even when the watch was essentially turned off during school hours. The step counter was always wildly inaccurate. It doesn’t have any games, a camera or the internet, so it’s a pretty paired-back smartwatch that might work for some families. T-Mobile SyncUp Kids Watch 2 (Score: 3.5/5; Price: $174): I tested the first version of the T-Mobile SyncUp watch with my kindergartener and with my then-third grader after the 5-year-old grew bored of it and refused to wear any watch. It was a fine watch, offering a dinosaur game that all my kids liked and giving my youngster a way to video call her grandparents at whim. GPS tracking was decent and so was the battery life. Another tester enjoyed the SyncUp Kids Watch 2, but found the new app experience frustrating as do many online reviewers. Because of the number of complaints about the new parent app management, we’ve lowered our rating on the SyncUp 2 and plan to revisit testing. We tracked battery life and took note of which kids smartwatches charged faster and held their ... [+] charge throughout the school day.Rose Gordon Sala For ForbesHow We Tested Kids Smartwatches We panel-tested about a dozen smartwatches, primarily kids smartwatches with the exception of Apple Watches, by putting them to work in real-life situations and on the wrists of our own children and tweens. This means that as parents, we unboxed and set up each watch. We downloaded the parent companion apps and fussed with parental controls. We set up virtual boundaries, so we knew when our kids left school or a friend’s house, we customized the preset text messages to suit our needs, and added in appropriate quiet or school mode downtimes for each. Our kids told us how the watches felt on their wrists and if the style worked for them or not. They also shared their complaints on the smartwatches’ limitations, from battery life to lame games to issues with communicating the way that they wanted to. Throughout testing and wearing, we kept notes on battery life, how easy each watch interface and app was to use, both for the kids and parents, and we verified how well the advertised features worked, such as GPS tracking. I personally did this with seven watch models with my three children who ranged in age from 5 to 11 during testing. I also relied on other parent and kid testers who shared feedback on additional smartwatches that they tested.My Expertise I’m a journalist with a decade of experience covering parenting, kids and family topics, and as a deputy editor at Forbes Vetted, I oversee our consumer tech and kids and baby gear sections. This means that every day, I’m editing, writing about or testing baby and kids products or consumer tech items, which made reporting this story a perfect blend of my expertise. Smartphones, smartwatches and screentime limits remain hot topics in parenting and education spheres. Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation book, district-wide phone bans and the “Wait Until 8th” pledge have all ignited debates on the right time and age to give a child a phone—and to a lesser degree a smartwatch. As a parent to two tweens (and a first grader), I’ve also had to grapple with this monumental decision of the modern parenting era—so I get it. You want to keep in touch with your child; sometimes you want to know if they’re still at their friend’s house or what time they left school. But you also want to empower them to flex a bit more independence as they grow, as well as help them to nurture their friendships, which often means joining the group text thread. I spoke with Catherine Pearlman, author of First Phone and a licensed social worker who works with families to set screentime limits and the introduction of a smartphone or smartwatch, to glean her top tips for introducing a smartwatch, when and how to know if your child is ready. I also polled and interviewed other parents before selecting which smartwatches to consider and test, and I considered the top picks at competitor publications as well. I weighed my previous use of kids smartwatches and trackers at home, as well as my experience with my now very old Apple Watch 6 (still works, folks!). Finally, I tested our top watch picks with my three children, communicating with them, setting up the parental controls and so on. I also relied on panel testers to provide firsthand feedback on additional kid smartwatches.Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)Should A 9-Year-Old Have A Smartwatch?This is a good age to introduce a smartwatch—in general—but it really depends on the child’s readiness and maturity and the parent’s readiness to manage new tech in the house, says Catherine Pearlman, author of First Phone and a licensed social worker who works with families on a host of issues, including setting screentime limits and finding the right time to introduce a smartphone or smartwatch.“It’s good to take the time to assess if this is the right time for your particular kid,” she says. “And every kid is different, even in the same family.”Pearlman does suggest that, in general, kids between the ages of 9 and 11 might be most likely to be ready and mature enough to wear a smartwatch.What Is The Best Age For Kids Smartwatch?Pearlman says the best age for a kids smartwatch is going to be between the ages of 9 and 11, depending on the child. Of course, it’s a big parenting moment when you hand your child their first smartwatch or phone, especially these days given the ongoing debate over children’s screentime limits and the use of these devices in schools. My kids’ school district has banned both phones and Apple Watches in the classroom. I will say that introducing a kids smartwatch can make for a nice stepping stone before the full-fledged smartphone. Pearlman tends to agree, pointing out that kids often already have an online presence even before parents are aware, so introducing a smartwatch or phone when your child is still young enough that they’ll actually absorb your rules and training might benefit you both. “What I’ve learned from speaking to hundreds of elementary school kids is they’re way more exposed than their parents realize. They’re very involved online: They’re connecting with people who are strangers. They’re being cyber bullied; they’re paying for things and they're downloading things. This is in fourth grade,” says Pearlman. “So I think if we wait until eighth [grade] or age 14 to get a phone, we're also skipping all of that training and we’re basically just leaving our kids uneducated.”“I prefer to kind of slowly roll out the education and the access starting at 11 with the phone or 12, because kids are very open to their parents’ supervision at that age and the education. By 14, they are done with their parents’ education…and I think they’re less open to that kind of feedback and open communication. So at 11 and at 12, you can really have those conversations [and] have them often. You can slowly educate, and I think that's a better way to go. So 9, 10 or 11 is a good age for a watch.”Can A Kid Have A Smartwatch Without A Phone?Yes, the kids smartwatches reviewed here allow kids to place calls, receive and send text messages and otherwise communicate with others all without the use of a phone. These smartwatches come with their own SIM card and phone number and typically require that a parent add a line to an existing family phone service or open a new one for their child and pay an additional monthly fee. We specifically recommend the Apple Watch SE with Cellular in this guide, so that kids gain a full-featured smartwatch without the addition of a phone. Their grown-up can manage their smartwatch via their own iPhone and Apple Watch app settings.Is Gizmo Good Or Bad?The Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 is our top pick for the best kids smartwatch overall, so we think it’s pretty good. It offers calling, texting, GPS tracking, school mode for downtime, a camera, video calling, a step counter and more features—all without giving kids access to the internet or a full-featured smartphone. Its operation isn’t going to feel as smooth as an adult smartwatch, but it has so many easy-to-access parental controls and features right in the app, plus everything a kid needs to flex a bit more independence.