These are the features to look for when buying a smartwatch for your child.
It’s every parent’s dream come true: fasten a watch around the little wrist and you’ll be able to monitor every move your child makes. Of course, the watch in question has to be smart.
To their credit, smartwatch manufacturers fully understand the need of parents and guardians everywhere to improve the safety of their wards. There is a plethora of different models of kids’ smartwatches on the market. To help you decide which one to purchase, here is an overview of the features you can expect to find in a smartwatch designed for children.
Tracking: Keeping track of kids’ whereabouts is an important part of parenthood. Practically every smartwatch for children has built-in geo-positioning modes which enable you to pinpoint your child’s location.
Zoning: Depending on the manufacturer, this feature can be called digital fencing, GEO fencing, boundary alerts, safety zones, etc. It allows you to pre-set zones of movement for your child. You will receive a notification when he or she enters or leaves a pre-set zone.
Walking route: If you are terrified of losing your child in a crowded mall or beach, look for a smartwatch with this feature. You will be able to literally follow in your child’s footsteps.
Voice calls: On most smartphones designed for their age, children can make and receive calls from a limited number of pre-set contacts.
Messaging: Most often, this feature enables parents to send one-way text messages to the child’s smartwatch.
Emergency: Some smartwatches can be programmed to automatically call one or more numbers with a press of one button, often called SOS button, and send the child’s location.
Pedometer: This feature can come in useful if you are worried about the amount of physical activity your child gets.
Spying: Well, no manufacturer calls it that, but this term describes best the remote listening in feature that some of the children’s smartwatches have. The person being remotely listened to (your child) will not know about it.
Alarm clock: Some kids’ smartwatches make it easy for parents to remotely set reminders.
Time and date: Yes, smartwatches are also watches and can tell time and date.
Games, activities, cameras: All children will love these features, but some parents may find that having games on a smartwatch is too distractive, especially for school-age children.
Specifications: When choosing the right smartwatch for your child, remember to study the specs too. For example, look for eight or more hours of battery life; opt for splash-proof or water-proof (the former will survive a spilled juice, the latter will happily take to the pool for a swimming lesson); decide whether you want touch screen or buttons; check the OS compatibility (most smartwatches work with both iOS and Android smartphones) and so on.
Design: Make sure the smartwatch is not too chunky for your child’s wrist and that your child loves it and wants to wear it.
What are the drawbacks of kids’ smartwatches? Well, for one thing, they don’t come cheap, especially not if you are starting from scratch and have to buy a smartphone too. Also, the time will come when the little one rebels against being under constant supervision… But then, that’s part of growing up and a wise parent will know when to let go.
When you search bidorbuy’s smartwatches section, be sure to search within results for both children and kids; you will probably get a few different listings. Sellers are advised to use both the phrase smartwatches for children and smartwatches for kids in their item description!
