Could This Smartwatch Be The Apple Watch For Kids?
If your child ordered an Apple Watch but doesn't want to pay that much for a kid's watch, they might like the new Nike watch. Now on sale from Argos in the UK (and soon from Currys), the Nickelodeon smartwatch is designed just for kids, and in addition to the entertainment features, you can also use it for calls, messages and tracking your child's location. .
NickWatch costs £159 and includes a year's subscription to NickWatch Caretaker, a security app whose tracking features work worldwide: global network roaming is included, so you can wear the watch even on holiday.
The app lets you make calls and send messages from the watch, and there's a suite of parental controls that let you do things like mute the device during school hours, decide who can and can't interact with your child, and what features are allowed. ...you can use your Iago for children. There is no access to social media apps, and the selection of games will be expanded every few months with new stickers, sound filters and other interesting things.
The cheapest Apple Watch at the moment is the Apple Watch SE, which costs significantly more at £259 and doesn't have global roaming. That's a lot of money for a watch, especially for kids, and in my case I wouldn't want to buy one for my little one despite months of demand. What I did was buy a special Vodafone Neo smart watch for kids. Which was released in 2021 but seems to have been discontinued - all product videos on the official product page now say the account is discontinued.
I think the Neo has a lot in common with the NickWatch: it's also branded, in Vodafone's case with Disney characters, and has location tracking, built-in games and a fenced app park. And my son lost interest after about two weeks, leaving me with a year membership to keep paying; I hate the app and often miss notifications for messages and calls because the app doesn't send them to me.
This makes me wary of any smartwatch for kids, although I've had much better success with the Fitbit Ace, the device that currently tops our guide to the best smartwatches for kids. Part of that is the battery life, which lasts a week on each charge; Smartwatches like the Neo and NikeWatch need to be charged every few days, which you need to keep an eye on because your kids don't.
