Smartwatches may be an overlooked answer to the kid phone conundrum. Watches have the communication and location tracking that parents demand without the distraction of phones.
My watch changed my relationship with my phone very positively, so I offered to get my kids watches as a phone alternative. Not that they couldn't have phones at all, but they'd leave them at home when going on, and not carry them in their pockets around the house.
They declined because they think watches are lame and nerdy. Only the most unfortunate kids get watches. They still can't carry them around the house, but I didn't gain much ground overall. I've gradually increased controls on and over the phones in my home, but the watch offer has never been taken up.
I think you're right that it could be an overlooked solution, but I suspect you need to sneak in before the kids are accustomed to a phone.
I got an Apple watch for my 11-year-old for precisely this reason - he can text, call, and play some games on it.
Subscription to cellular is $10/month.
And it let me set parental controls on it.
No way was I getting him a phone, it's already way too distracting with the other devices he has access to at home.
I'll add that while that may be true. I find that it doesn't matter what kind of screen it is - my kids are like moths to flame. Its the backlit lighting + some kind of interactivity that makes it attractive to play with.
Overlooked answer? Aren't you are literally describing a mobile phone. You know, before they were smart phones with distractions. The nice thing about this solution is its less likely to be forgotten because its on the wrist.
I have seen a couple of videos on youtube about people only using an Apple Watch with LTE, but I have found nothing long term or about android smart watches. I would really like to explore this possibility for myself
Considering how often my three-year-old niece wants to play around with my Apple Watch, including at bedtime, it seems like it can be just as big of a distraction.
My kids main demand is the following features, and this watch doesn't deliver on any of them:
1. Whitelist contacts for calling and text call - installing an app is a pain for older ppl / friends.
2. Music: Why not Google? This already has headphone support and the Pixel watch hardware which support musics.
3. Maps: in case they need to go A to B. WearOS has google maps, so this should be an easy add. School bus is on google maps for e.g, so being able to check time to leave would be great.
4. Battery: 16hrs at launch is not going to age well...
Overall, despite being in the market for this, would not buy.
Features kids didn't ask for and I don't want:
Gaming: There is a market for gamification, but it seems to me the product team went overboard and spent way too much time here at the cost of making a better kids watch. I have no doubt it can and will make some kids more active, but...
Kids have never needed a watch to be active, run around and imagine creative games. Although, sure, we did spend hours during breaks all surrounding the one kid with a gameboy.
It's not like this is a uniquely Google-y model, it's just a fitbit. Based on their past history of dropping support for legacy devices, I'd expect it to remain supported for a minimum of 5 years, but maybe a decade or more. And if this page is up-to-date, then it seems like they've only EOL'd 7 out of ~40ish models in the company's ~15 year history.
I feel somewhat in a twilight zone. I'm not a fan of this device, but I also don't understand the over the top paranoia around it. Why do we invent such absurdly terrifying discourse around kids?
If you don't want this for your kids, just don't get it. If you are worried about folks knowing where your kids are and what they are up to, I have bad news for you about neighborhood gossip.
> If you are worried about folks knowing where your kids are and what they are up to, I have bad news for you about neighborhood gossip.
Obvious strawman comparing Google knowing vital stats and location about your child at any time with neigbors knowing and talking to each other about a kid.
$59.98 a year for unlimited connectivity is a pretty good deal. My kids are getting to the age where we leave them for things like soccer practice or summer camps. Not really interested in giving them a phone yet... but want them to be able to keep in touch. This seems like a decent compromise.
Smart watches for kids are great compared to alternatives. My kids have Apple Watches and aren't asking me for phones/tablets (and the related evils like IG, TT, etc). Love to see this from Google (and Apple).
I was at one point head of security and infratructure at Pebble and the only person standing in the way of personally identifiable biometric data being directly accessible on employee workstations. I know such practices end with data leaked or sold.
I believed Pebble users could enjoy rich data-driven features without fear as long as someone like me had their back. That sense of mission was part of why I stayed on to the end.
Once Pebble and I were integrated into Fitbit I got to see up close that they are not a wearables company, but a surveillance capitalism firm that will profit from all available data, even not-technically-hipaa protected medical data in any way legally possible. No one there had any mission but share-price-go-up.
I quit 3 months before my golden handcuffs came off, because I realized I no longer wanted to be part of an organization so deeply negligent with security and unethical with data usage.
I then got to watch from a distance as Pebble user trust and user data was then gobbled up again, this time by Google.
Now firms like Google have fully saturated the adult market and seek to parasitically cause behavior changes in children while extracting highly profitable biometric data from them too.
A ratified-and-strengthened American Privacy Rights Act cannot come soon enough.
We have to convince our legislators to stop these predators.
> Fitbit Ace LTE is designed to protect your child’s privacy and wellbeing. Parents can see their child’s recent activity and goal progress, but older data will be automatically deleted from our systems. Location data is only shown to parents and is automatically deleted after a short time.
> There are no third-party apps or ads shown to kids, and health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads.
I remember running a lemonaide stand as a kid back in the late 90s with my friend, we were 11-12ish small town in the PNW. We were at the end of his driveway along the main road that went out of town. Noone got abducted or molested; we were just fine and didn't have cellphones. The obsession with not letting kids play or be in the real world is going to come back to bite society hard in 10-20yrs when generation alpha will need to navigate the real world.
Having kids inside gaming and not going outside is going to do more physical damage (childhood diabetes/obesity/metabolic syndrome) when compared to the very unlikely event of a child obduction.
A smartwatch for kids could be so good if it was designed in a way to be educational, but most importantly, which respects a child’s privacy utmost, even from their parents in terms of tracking.
For example, a maps app, to always get the kid home if they’re lost. Medication reminders. Fitness tracking. Emergency SOS. A calendar to remind them about family birthdays and upcoming holidays. School timetables. Medical ID. Payment cards or passes for travel (in Western Europe a lot of schoolchildren commute by themselves, especially on public transport) and spending their allowance. Let the kid choose to notify their family of their location as and when they want to. Empower them to use tech to their advantage but put their privacy first.
Children are going to end up as adults in this world regardless of whether we teach them, so we should be teaching them the benefits and warning them of the many bad actors. We should be teaching our children the skills they need to navigate the modern world. This includes technology and abusive/controlling relationships.
I believe a good responsible smartwatch for kids can exist. Alas, this is Google and helicopter parents exist, so this product is not it.
$230 is a bit high up-front cost for a kids watch. Compare this to something like TickTalk and it seems that TickTalk has more features. https://www.myticktalk.com/. The design of the Google kids watch does look nicer though. TickTalk is pretty bulky and the UI is not great.
Spending $300 already on a watch is already expensive (in addition to a $500-$100 phone), and it is a relatively small market, especially for watch OS watches. $230 on a kid's watch -- potentially more than one if you have more than one kid -- is definitely for parents who have money to spare.
I was hopeful this would be minimalist, secured contacts version of general purpose OS used in more powerful smartwatches. Regular phone and message apps, parent-limited contacts, communications logged where the parent can review/block it.
We are currently sharing a Verizon Gizmo 3 among multiple children. The GizmoHub app is not bad but its mandatory use is frustrating. Friends need substantial parental help to start communicating with the Gizmo user (account creation with Verizon). Forcing all communications through a dedicated and clunky app is a non-starter.
Battery life is the other challenge. Kids don't heed advice to conserve the less than all day battery life. Later when communications for pick-up are most needed, the watch is often low on power.
When I was a kid I wanted a slick James Bond style smartwatch that had lasers, tools, and other badass capabilities, not this baby-ified fitness tracker.
As soon as you invent the In Live and Let Die watch that deflects bullets with magnets or something, I'll buy one for my kids as long as you leave out the buzzsaw.
The James Bond watch was a tool for James Bond to use. This watch is a tool for parents and Google to use. They are not so easily comparible beyond both having the appearance of a watch and being called "spy tools"
If it had an IR emitter and camera in the right place, one could play laser-[watch-]tag, although the classic cheat of obstructing the sensor would still exist.
We've been happily using the Verizon Gizmo watch for a while now. It's a deliberately crippled smart watch. No games, no apps (it has a step counter and a stopwatch, but that's about it) -- some calling functionality, some messaging functionality, tons of oversight (limited contacts, all contacts must be approved by a guardian), and location tracking.
It's kind of bad at all of these, but our primary thought is to have it be a limited capability device -- similar to a flip phone but a wearable.
This looks like it's trying to enter the same market, but with a bunch of really really really really stupid shit.
"Meet the eejie. The eejie is the center of the Fitbit Ace LTE. The more your kids move, the more goals they hit and the happier they make the eejie."
You'd have to be an "eejie"-it to buy into this cutesy bullshit.
Where I live, "smart watches" have been a thing for about 5 years now. The reality is that they have a one year life span before the social aspect catches up to them. We wanted to get our son a smart watch, so that he could call us if he needed something, or we could call him to come home; no tracking.
The problem is cohort. Friends have phones. Friends COORDINATE over WhatsApp (not communicate). This means, that in order for him to know that he can hang out with others, he needs a way to be part of that.
How will this work out with grade school kids' socialization, when some kids in a class have the neat smartwatches, but some don't?
I remember very much noticing as a young kid that I didn't have some things some other kids had. But most of the time that was at home, rather than visible every day. And I was also a bit aware that some other kids had less than I did. (Parochial school uniforms helped.)
I don't think it will change much, kids have been sorting themselves into pretend hierarchies based on the cool thing since the dawn of time.
We could send them all to school wearing a potato sack and some of the kids with the whole foods sack would make fun of the kids in the food lion sack.
[+] [-] wmf|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] steve_adams_86|1 year ago|reply
They declined because they think watches are lame and nerdy. Only the most unfortunate kids get watches. They still can't carry them around the house, but I didn't gain much ground overall. I've gradually increased controls on and over the phones in my home, but the watch offer has never been taken up.
I think you're right that it could be an overlooked solution, but I suspect you need to sneak in before the kids are accustomed to a phone.
[+] [-] sharadov|1 year ago|reply
Subscription to cellular is $10/month.
And it let me set parental controls on it. No way was I getting him a phone, it's already way too distracting with the other devices he has access to at home.
[+] [-] wlesieutre|1 year ago|reply
https://support.apple.com/en-us/109036
[+] [-] philomath_mn|1 year ago|reply
(a flip phone would also be acceptable but a watch is physically attached which is ideal for 7 year old).
[+] [-] boringg|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] geraldwhen|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] asp_hornet|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] Almondsetat|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] nsagent|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] nextos|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] giantg2|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] odiroot|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] raggi|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] 77ko|1 year ago|reply
1. Whitelist contacts for calling and text call - installing an app is a pain for older ppl / friends.
2. Music: Why not Google? This already has headphone support and the Pixel watch hardware which support musics.
3. Maps: in case they need to go A to B. WearOS has google maps, so this should be an easy add. School bus is on google maps for e.g, so being able to check time to leave would be great.
4. Battery: 16hrs at launch is not going to age well...
Overall, despite being in the market for this, would not buy.
Features kids didn't ask for and I don't want:
Gaming: There is a market for gamification, but it seems to me the product team went overboard and spent way too much time here at the cost of making a better kids watch. I have no doubt it can and will make some kids more active, but...
[+] [-] lopis|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] barbazoo|1 year ago|reply
Sounds like a nightmare having to also manage your kids' watches and keep them charged just for them to barely make it through the day.
[+] [-] binkHN|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] rmrfchik|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] delecti|1 year ago|reply
https://www.fitbit.com/global/us/legal/legacy-device-policy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fitbit_products#Fitbit...
[+] [-] wilsonnb3|1 year ago|reply
So I wouldn't worry them killing these ala the spotify car thing.
[+] [-] rvnx|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] philomath_mn|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] xyst|1 year ago|reply
My bet is Google EOL.
[+] [-] taeric|1 year ago|reply
If you don't want this for your kids, just don't get it. If you are worried about folks knowing where your kids are and what they are up to, I have bad news for you about neighborhood gossip.
[+] [-] barbazoo|1 year ago|reply
Obvious strawman comparing Google knowing vital stats and location about your child at any time with neigbors knowing and talking to each other about a kid.
[+] [-] jordanmorgan10|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] crims0n|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] 727374|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] franczesko|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] lrvick|1 year ago|reply
I believed Pebble users could enjoy rich data-driven features without fear as long as someone like me had their back. That sense of mission was part of why I stayed on to the end.
Once Pebble and I were integrated into Fitbit I got to see up close that they are not a wearables company, but a surveillance capitalism firm that will profit from all available data, even not-technically-hipaa protected medical data in any way legally possible. No one there had any mission but share-price-go-up.
I quit 3 months before my golden handcuffs came off, because I realized I no longer wanted to be part of an organization so deeply negligent with security and unethical with data usage.
I then got to watch from a distance as Pebble user trust and user data was then gobbled up again, this time by Google.
Now firms like Google have fully saturated the adult market and seek to parasitically cause behavior changes in children while extracting highly profitable biometric data from them too.
A ratified-and-strengthened American Privacy Rights Act cannot come soon enough.
We have to convince our legislators to stop these predators.
[+] [-] 2OEH8eoCRo0|1 year ago|reply
> There are no third-party apps or ads shown to kids, and health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads.
Sounds better than the regular smart watches.
[+] [-] enceladus06|1 year ago|reply
Having kids inside gaming and not going outside is going to do more physical damage (childhood diabetes/obesity/metabolic syndrome) when compared to the very unlikely event of a child obduction.
[+] [-] sigwinch28|1 year ago|reply
For example, a maps app, to always get the kid home if they’re lost. Medication reminders. Fitness tracking. Emergency SOS. A calendar to remind them about family birthdays and upcoming holidays. School timetables. Medical ID. Payment cards or passes for travel (in Western Europe a lot of schoolchildren commute by themselves, especially on public transport) and spending their allowance. Let the kid choose to notify their family of their location as and when they want to. Empower them to use tech to their advantage but put their privacy first.
Children are going to end up as adults in this world regardless of whether we teach them, so we should be teaching them the benefits and warning them of the many bad actors. We should be teaching our children the skills they need to navigate the modern world. This includes technology and abusive/controlling relationships.
I believe a good responsible smartwatch for kids can exist. Alas, this is Google and helicopter parents exist, so this product is not it.
[+] [-] mrinterweb|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] pquki4|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] FeistySkink|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] jfkw|1 year ago|reply
We are currently sharing a Verizon Gizmo 3 among multiple children. The GizmoHub app is not bad but its mandatory use is frustrating. Friends need substantial parental help to start communicating with the Gizmo user (account creation with Verizon). Forcing all communications through a dedicated and clunky app is a non-starter.
Battery life is the other challenge. Kids don't heed advice to conserve the less than all day battery life. Later when communications for pick-up are most needed, the watch is often low on power.
[+] [-] Invictus0|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] CobrastanJorji|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] Minor49er|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] Terr_|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] Havoc|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] andrewla|1 year ago|reply
It's kind of bad at all of these, but our primary thought is to have it be a limited capability device -- similar to a flip phone but a wearable.
This looks like it's trying to enter the same market, but with a bunch of really really really really stupid shit.
"Meet the eejie. The eejie is the center of the Fitbit Ace LTE. The more your kids move, the more goals they hit and the happier they make the eejie."
You'd have to be an "eejie"-it to buy into this cutesy bullshit.
[+] [-] cik|1 year ago|reply
The problem is cohort. Friends have phones. Friends COORDINATE over WhatsApp (not communicate). This means, that in order for him to know that he can hang out with others, he needs a way to be part of that.
[+] [-] sussexby|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] neilv|1 year ago|reply
I remember very much noticing as a young kid that I didn't have some things some other kids had. But most of the time that was at home, rather than visible every day. And I was also a bit aware that some other kids had less than I did. (Parochial school uniforms helped.)
[+] [-] wilsonnb3|1 year ago|reply
We could send them all to school wearing a potato sack and some of the kids with the whole foods sack would make fun of the kids in the food lion sack.