As phone bans take hold across U.S. schools and parents sign pledges to delay giving their children smartphones, the smartwatch has stepped in as a handy replacement for communication between parent and child. Most smartwatches designed for kids let you text, call and use GPS tracking to find your child. Those designed just for kids typically don’t allow internet access. To find the best smartwatches for kids, we tested about a dozen with kids in elementary and middle school, including my own three. The Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 remains my top pick, because it offers just what parents and kids need: texting and calling to approved contacts only, a camera for video calling and selfies, simple tools like a step counter—importantly—and zero internet.
However, if you have an older kid or tween and you’re trying to stave off the smartphone discussion a bit longer, I’d recommend the Apple Watch SE with cellular, especially for iOS families.
Here are the three best smartwatches for kids, after extensive testing and research:
Our Top Recommendations
- Best Kids Smartwatch Overall: Verizon Gizmo Watch 3
- Best Apple Watch For Kids: Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) GPS + Cellular
- Most Fun Kids Smartwatch: TickTalk 5
Below, you’ll find a review of each of these three winners, plus details on how we tested kids smartwatches and a guide to choosing the right watch for your child.
Best Kids Smartwatch Overall
Just Right For Kids With Texting, Calling, A Camera—And No Internet
Battery life: Up to 3.7 days standby; up to 4.45 hours of call time | Screen size: 1.4 inches | Water resistance: IP68, aka “splash resistant” | 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 calls
- GPS tracking and knowing where your child is
- Built-in parental controls and limits
Skip if:
- You have an older tween or teen ready for something more
- You don’t want to fuss with a parent app
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 (when notifications and certain apps are disabled), school mode and even the volume of the watch’s ringer, as well as logging in to check my child’s location and messages.
Besides its ease of operation, the Gizmo Watch 3 has all the features that both kids and parents want most in a kids smartwatch. There’s no access to the internet or 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 enticed my kids to keep the watch on their wrists by making it feel like something special. I also 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.) The Gizmo comes with a few light games, as well as a step counter and a weather app.
Text from this smartwatch with a touchscreen keyboard or preset messages. My son, who was 9 at the time of testing, struggled a bit with the tiny screen. He often fell back on custom presets or voice-recorded messages, but he liked the option to craft a text of his own words. 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 located my son at a Brooklyn Nets game that he traveled to from our New Jersey home, for example, but struggled to find his precise location in a crowded children’s museum we visited together. Caregivers can set up virtual boundary zones, so the watch alerts you when your child leaves school (or whatever zone you’ve set) to walk home or to a friend’s house.
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 can easily use the smartwatch to connect with tech-savvy grown-ups in their lives, rather than friends who might be on a different kid smartwatch or who don’t yet have access to a smartphone. Verizon did something smart here, though. Gizmo Watch wearers can 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,” that I could approve right in the app.
The online reviews of the Gizmo Watch are mixed at best, but this was not my experience, nor that of another tester. My experience with the Gizmo Watch 2, however, were plagued by tech issues. 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.
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Best Apple Watch For Kids
Full-Featured Smartwatch For Teens With Apple Pay And Easy Pairing
Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) GPS + Cellular
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: Available for download
Best for:
- Families already in the Apple ecosystem with iPads, iPhones and AirPods
- Older tweens and teens
- An easier setup and more seamless communication
- Its strong parental controls
Skip if:
- You don’t want your child to have access to the internet
- Your child isn’t ready 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 in the Apple iOS ecosystem—iPhone families, basically. Kids are able to easily pair their AirPods with their watch and parents can add Apple Pay for after-school spending if they want, as well as track them via the device and easily set parental controls.
The Apple Watch SE is the brand’s most inexpensive base model, but it’s plenty powerful enough for kids. It has all the features they need, including texting, calling, Apple Pay, fitness tracking, Siri and music. There’s no camera here, of course, but plenty of other fun features to explore. (Apple did just release the Apple Watch SE 3, which we plan to test soon. For now, though, you can still purchase the second generation Apple Watch SE for under $200.)
Purchase the GPS + Cellular version of the Apple Watch for your tween or teen, 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 they like. This was a nice step up for my son when he transitioned from the Gizmo Watch 3 to the Apple Watch. There’s no parental companion app to download in order to communicate with this watch, so now you’ll receive your child’s text messages directly.
There are plenty of parental controls available in the Apple Watch 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. You can set it so every contact must be approved by you with a parental pin number (this prevents strangers and spam from contacting your child), as well as a Schooltime mode (this is accessed via the Apple Watch app), downtimes, time limits on apps and websites and more. 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.
It is a pricey gadget for a young kid who isn’t mature enough yet to not lose it or break it. I recommend protecting the watch face with an inexpensive screen protector (my kids scratched each and 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.
Most Fun Kids Smartwatch
Music Streaming, Emojis And More In A Kid-Friendly Package
TickTalk 5
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: Yes
Best for:
- Texting, calling
- GPS tracking your child
- Kid-friendly music streaming
Skip if:
- You have an older tween or teen
- You 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.)
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 not only told me the name of the building he was in, but also showed his general location within the Barclays Center. You can see these results in the app screenshots below. This was also a more detailed description than the iOS Find My feature delivers for the Apple Watch.
While TickTalk doesn’t let kids connect to the internet or download social media, it has plenty of unique and fun things for kids to do, 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 clear directions, making it generally easy to use.
One drawback to so many options is that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But the ability for guardians to toggle many features on and off allows for the ultimate watch customization. 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 and so does my current 7-year-old. The Apple Watch SE and the Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 both feel smoother and sit flatter on the wrist. 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. Its battery life was decent, typically lasting the day unless many photos were snapped or much music streamed. Kids seem to enjoy clicking it into the monster-themed charger base, too.
Over the past two years, 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 are currently testing the new kids experience on a Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 for our Android families and the kids Pinwheel Watch.
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 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.
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.
There are a few things to be aware of when selecting the a smartwatch watch for your family. One of the first things to consider is whether or not your child is mature enough to wear a smartwatch. Catherine Pearlman, author of the book First Phone and a licensed social worker who works with families to decide on screen time limits, says every kid is different, but there are some readiness signs.
While Pearlman generally says kids ages 9 and up might be ready for a smartwatch, this can depend on the family’s needs—and the individual child’s maturity. “Sometimes there’s pressure like, ‘Well, we should just get a watch now.’ I still think it’s important to think about each kid and each family situation and to make sure that this is the right time to introduce it,” she says. “Because once you start with the watch, then comes the phone.” She says it’s good to see if the child has the right level of responsibility and is able to put screens down before you give them a phone or a watch. Even in the same family, the right age for a watch may be different among siblings.
Pearlman says that kids who can follow directions and aren’t too distractible make good candidates for a smartwatch. They need to be able to follow safety rules and guidelines, like not accepting calls or messages from strangers and not sharing personal information. “A 6-year-old is not going to be able to do that, right?” Pearlman says. “But maybe a 9-year-old can.”
The smartwatches designed specifically for kids are work better for younger kids, because they have fewer features, easier navigation and avoid giving young children access to things we don’t want them to have like the internet and social media.
The way you want to use the smartwatch helps determine the right features to look for in one. Many families just want a way to track their kids who are suddenly old enough to walk home from school, or maybe their kid is in a carpool to soccer practice, and parents want to be able to check in about pickup times. Maybe parents are divorced and need a way to check in with children on off-weekends/weeks, but they aren’t old enough for a phone. These scenarios all make for good reasons to turn to a kids smartwatch—or just a GPS tracker if you don’t need to call or message them.
“There are some kids who walk home from school and their parents would feel more comfortable knowing where they are en route, but they don’t want to get them a whole phone,” says Pearlman. “There are some kids in divorced families where the non-custodial parent at the time would like to be able to reach the child. And in those scenarios I think it works really, really well.”
Personally, I found smartwatches great for knowing my kids’ locations but also allowing my older kids a bit more freedom without the issues that come with a smartphone. For example, I felt comfortable letting my fourth and fifth graders walk to town from school (it’s a 5-minute walk) with friends while wearing a watch, and they could call or text me when they were ready to be picked up.
“It gives parents the comfort to back off a little bit and give their kids a little bit more independence,” notes Pearlman. “What we’re seeing generationally is that the kids are growing up without the ability to do some basic independent living skills…We need to start backing off and letting them walk to the store, letting them go to their friends’ houses, letting them walk to their piano lesson, do some basic things. And I think the watch actually helps parents say, ‘OK, you can do it, but at least I’ll know where you are and if there’s an emergency, you can contact me at any time.’”
Consider whether you are shopping for a mature tween or teen who needs a more full-featured smartwatch or if you’re shopping for a younger “big kid” who isn’t quite mature enough to handle an Apple Watch. Identify which features you want included in the watch and which you’d prefer it didn’t have. These might be things like a texting and calling, a camera, access to the internet, contactless payment, GPS monitoring, certain parental controls, fitness tracking, Bluetooth pairing and games.
Pearlman’s final tip is a good one: Before purchasing a kids smartwatch, consider whether or not you as the caregiver are ready to supervise your child’s use of the watch and whether or not you’re capable of putting good practices in place, including parental controls. “Smartwatches for kids have a lot of safety features. But to be quite honest, not every parent is amazing at implementing those safety features,” she says. So it’s important to ask: “Are the parents ready to do the education? Are the parents ready to do the supervision?” she says. If the answer is yes, select the watch that is easiest for you to manage.
“Parents have to first pick the right watch for their kid,” Pearlman advises. “Don’t be afraid to get the most simple watch or a more advanced watch if you’re ready to teach the features and you’re ready to supervise.”
All the smartwatches I included in this guide offer robust parental controls that I found manageable to implement as a working mom with three kids.
Forbes Vetted has reviewed dozens of wearable consumer tech products over the years, from the best smartwatches for women to AI wearables to the best wearable breast pumps, as well as tech designed for kids. We care deeply about testing consumer tech in real-life settings to ensure our picks improve or support our readers’ busy lives and don’t create more challenges.