Smart Watch Questions - I know!

[ssmjlm]

Ok, I do not want to broach a phone in the near future, so I'm really looking at watch options.

E is in 5th. Normally I don't think anything would have been on the radar, I may be doing a 3 month out of state work assignment, so it may be easier to have a watch for me/DH/grandparents to contact her.

I believe Gizmo gets crap reviews and the one time I saw it in person, it was big.

Gabb seems the same size, but is also a separate plan? 

Apple watch with cellular - I have a non-cellular watch tied to my iphone. DH is android and has a samsung watch tied to his phone. Can we tie a 2nd watch to my phone? 


Something I'm not thinking of?


ETA: A 2nd samsung watch is not on the table. DH hates his watch and constantly misses notifications between it and his phone. 

[karinothing]

WE have a gizmo it has been fine. No complaints. It has limited texting capabilities (although the new ones have a keyboard, my kids version doesn't). So he largely sends me audio messages which has been fine. It also always works as a phone no issue 

If you get an apple watch you don't need to tie it to your phone. It will just be your kids watch with cellular on their own number.

[mrsGreeko]

You can add a second watch to your phone basically and manage it from your phone with family settings. I haven’t done it, but have looked into it for if/when we decide my youngest needs something.

I am also considering a dumb phone instead, like the light phone 2: www.thelightphone.com/shop/products/light-phone-ii-black

I actually think it’s an even better option with some things available like a smartphone: music/podcasts, texting, navigation, but without any games like you can add to a smart watch and without the constant tactile feedback on your wrist.

[gerberdaisy]

I have two apple watches tied to my phone, isn't a problem at all. We got an apple watch with cellular for DD and its worked well, no complaints at all.

[sometimesrunner]

You can add a second watch to your phone. That's what we have to DS who's in 6th. We're really happy with it.

[Jalapeñomel]

I HATED HATED HATED the Gizmo watch DO NOT BUY.

We’ve had no issues with the Apple Watch, and now DH, D, and I have one. I can control DH’s watch from my phone.

[lilac05]

We have been mostly happy with an Apple Watch.

For those who use it for kids, tied to a different iPhone, how do you manage the watch? Are you able to check texts and stuff from your phone? DS’s is tied to H’s phone, and he seems to be constantly frustrated by doing anything to manage it. I think it’s operator error, but don’t know how to do it, either.

[redheadk]

Dd had an Apple Watch with cellular that I managed from my iPhone, along with my own watch (no cellular). It worked perfectly. I found that the novelty of the watch wore off quickly so that was nice.

She previously had a gizmo; when we started not being able to get it to charge reliably, we looked for a different solution. Apple Watch was our best option. I like that it is something that has some longevity to it. Even now that she has a phone, she continues to wear it. We cancelled the cellular service for it and she manages her watch herself (theoretically. In practice, she just wears it and doesn’t spend much time messing with it).

Be aware that we did have to get her a new phone number when we decided to make the jump to a phone. I’m not really sure why but since only 5 people had her watch number it wasn’t a big deal so I didn’t question it too much. We have Verizon.

ETA: DD’s watch (and now her phone) are mirrored to an iPad so I can glance through that to keep an eye on things.

[Jalapeñomel]

Jan 9, 2024 17:42:36 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

We have been mostly happy with an Apple Watch.

For those who use it for kids, tied to a different iPhone, how do you manage the watch? Are you able to check texts and stuff from your phone? DS’s is tied to H’s phone, and he seems to be constantly frustrated by doing anything to manage it. I think it’s operator error, but don’t know how to do it, either.

I just watched a bunch of videos on how to do it.

I also monitor texts on an iPad.

[sparty04]

I have 3 Apple Watches tied to my phone.

I don't know if you can see texts from your phone but I've never tried. I usually just look at his watch or iPad from time to time. My other DS rarely wears his watch so he doesn't text anyone (I don't think any of his friends have/use iMessage)

[CloudBee]

DS has had a Gabb watch for about a year. Maybe more? He's turning 11 in March. We really appreciated that the contacts you add do NOT need to have an app to communicate with him. Apparently trusted contacts on Gizmo products need to have an app to receive messages? That would be frustrating because how do you know when people get new phones and forget to sync or download the app again?

The Gabb is locked down by nature. DS can only text his contacts 10 (or 20?) pre-written texts. We programmed things like "yes", "no", "I arrived at XYZ's house", and "please call me and tell me it's time to come home, I'm uncomfortable". I can text him whatever I want, minus photographs. He can only call about 10 contacts which I've programmed in.

I also like that the Gabb watch offers their own plan. The watch works out of the box, and we didn't need to add DS to our plan. I feel like every time we've made even a tiny adjustment to our phone plans, we've lost some grandfathered feature. (Such as extra data, unlimited this or that. I can't remember. I just know that sometimes it can be a pain adding a phone or changing your plan.)

Gabb and Gizmo seem to be the most popular for kids on DS's soccer team, and in our neighborhood. I'm so thankful DS has it for when he walks around the corner to visit friends, etc.

It's been durable, easy to use, and still holds a charge 1+ yrs later.

[hermione]

Both my watch and C's watch (both Apple with cellular) are tied to my phone. The only weird thing is that my husband and mom now show us as Dad and Grandma on texts regardless of which one of us they are texting. I don't get her texts but when they text me, that is how they show up. I am positive this can be fixed, I just don't care enough to do it.

[ssmjlm]

Hmmm, we don't have any ipads in the house. She has an unlocked kindle fire. So the only way to monitor texts would be via her watch.

[konapoppy]

Jan 10, 2024 8:42:23 GMT -5 hermione said:

Both my watch and C's watch (both Apple with cellular) are tied to my phone. The only weird thing is that my husband and mom now show us as Dad and Grandma on texts regardless of which one of us they are texting. I don't get her texts but when they text me, that is how they show up. I am positive this can be fixed, I just don't care enough to do it.

Lol!!
I would laugh every time a text from my husband showed up as Dad.

[minniemouse]

Both my kids had gizmo watches. They were fine for us- our kids were younger. Dd1 got one at 8, dd2 was 6. They served the purpose of being able to make calls/receive calls to only people we approved (with a limit of 10), which means no spam or wrong numbers. They could only text dh snd me, and we did have to use an app for that. The texting was a limited set of responses but that’s ok. I also liked that we could track their location.
By age 10, I’d probably choose an Apple Watch so they could also text/call their friends, and not be limited to 10 people. Oh, and if they do cross country or track it’s helpful to track their mileage.

[minniemouse]

Jan 10, 2024 8:42:23 GMT -5 hermione said:

Both my watch and C's watch (both Apple with cellular) are tied to my phone. The only weird thing is that my husband and mom now show us as Dad and Grandma on texts regardless of which one of us they are texting. I don't get her texts but when they text me, that is how they show up. I am positive this can be fixed, I just don't care enough to do it.

This happens with my kids watch, but in reverse. Haha. I handed down my old watch and paired it to her phone. She gets notifications addressed to “mom”. Like if she meets an activity goal it’s “good job mom” or whatever.

[pinkpeony08]

We have liked Gabb. It’s independent of our cell service. It has pre programmed texts but you can also send voice memo texts with it, which is often how my child sends messages then uses the pre programmed responses to answer my questions.

[osulori]

Ditto karinothing -we have a Gizmo watch for Kid #1 and it's been fine. He has my number, my husband, both sets of grandparents, and my sisters programmed for him to be able to call/receive calls from plus my husband and I have the Gizmo app downloaded so we can text him and he can text or voice message us.  If he goes somewhere with a friend's family and we're not there, I've been able to add the friend's parent's number to his approved list in case he gets separated from them and that hasn't caused issues either.

[karinothing]

CloudBee, in our case no one texts DS except for us and other friends with gizmo watches. Anyone else just calls him, so other people having the app hasn't been an issue.

[countthestars]

We have Gizmo watches and have been happy with them!

[lessel]

We have the Apple watch with cell service. We got it last year for our 2nd grader when he was taking a long bus ride to school. Setting up the Apple Family stuff was a bit more of a PITA than I thought it would be, but once we got through that it's been a breeze. It's connected to my H's phone with has his watch on it too.

[redheadk]

Jan 9, 2024 19:47:05 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

DS has had a Gabb watch for about a year. Maybe more? He's turning 11 in March. We really appreciated that the contacts you add do NOT need to have an app to communicate with him. Apparently trusted contacts on Gizmo products need to have an app to receive messages? That would be frustrating because how do you know when people get new phones and forget to sync or download the app again?

No, this isn't true. They may need the app to receive voice memos but only DH and I had the app. DD had her aunts, grandparents, and a close friend of mine that is her emergency contact in her watch, none had the app, no issues communicating with them. 

I set her Apple Watch (and now phone) up so that she could only send/receive from her contacts and I have her control of her contact list, she can't add anyone herself. It functioned very similarly to her Gizmo, though she could write her own texts. That was rare because she thought it was a pain, she mostly used the pre-sets or sent a voice memo.

[aspentosh]

We were also no phone with DD in 5th and no plan to get one on the horizon, but with her going into MS we wanted something that could be seamless. We opted for the Apple Watch and it's been great. She's stopped hounding us for a phone like before.

I don't have an Apple Watch so it's just tied to my phone, but I don't know about monitoring things. I can set screen time and downtime for it but that's all I care about. We also have contact editing for her turned off so fairly locked down.

[sookiestjames]

Jan 9, 2024 16:15:18 GMT -5 gerberdaisy said:

I have two apple watches tied to my phone, isn't a problem at all. We got an apple watch with cellular for DD and its worked well, no complaints at all.

This is what we did too.  Both his and mine are tied to my phone. 

[CloudBee]

Gabb Watch update -

This afternoon we received a notification that our credit card had been declined for monthly billing. I had to get a new CC recently because of fraud. So I just logged into his account for the first time in ages. Apparently he's had the watch since 2021.

The new Gabb 3 Watch has a full keyboard that pops up on screen for texting. No more prefab messages! This was our ONE complaint with the Gabb. He's eligible for a free upgrade because when processing his billing I elected a new 2 year plan. I think the ability to type out his own text messages now in detail, will get us through the finish line until he's ready for a "real" cell phone a few years down the road. So happy that CC was declined, as I wouldn't have logged in otherwise.

[VillainV]

Jan 10, 2024 16:33:17 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

Gabb Watch update -

This afternoon we received a notification that our credit card had been declined for monthly billing. I had to get a new CC recently because of fraud. So I just logged into his account for the first time in ages. Apparently he's had the watch since 2021.

The new Gabb 3 Watch has a full keyboard that pops up on screen for texting. No more prefab messages! This was our ONE complaint with the Gabb. He's eligible for a free upgrade because when processing his billing I elected a new 2 year plan. I think the ability to type out his own text messages now in detail, will get us through the finish line until he's ready for a "real" cell phone a few years down the road. So happy that CC was declined, as I wouldn't have logged in otherwise.

We just sent back the Gabb 3 because it sucked. The keyboard is almost unusable, and the network coverage was awful. Many features of the watch never worked as advertised. We had it replaced once, but when the second one didn’t work we got our money back and terminated our contract.

We looked at TickTalk watches, but the Apple Watch SE with cellular was only a little more expensive, so we got that instead.

[ssmjlm]

So if you have an apple watch with cellular, you cannot transfer that # to a phone when she gets one? That seems like a pain.

[VillainV]

Jan 11, 2024 8:11:03 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

So if you have an apple watch with cellular, you cannot transfer that # to a phone when she gets one? That seems like a pain.

Couldn’t they keep the watch and the phone, like a lot of adults do?

[ssmjlm]

Jan 12, 2024 7:54:22 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Jan 11, 2024 8:11:03 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

So if you have an apple watch with cellular, you cannot transfer that # to a phone when she gets one? That seems like a pain.

Couldn’t they keep the watch and the phone, like a lot of adults do?

I guess? Mine isn’t cellular and DH’s Samsung is, but horrible. So I’m not sold on the cellular aspect except to keep from her having a phone.

[sparty04]

Jan 12, 2024 7:54:22 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Jan 11, 2024 8:11:03 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

So if you have an apple watch with cellular, you cannot transfer that # to a phone when she gets one? That seems like a pain.

Couldn’t they keep the watch and the phone, like a lot of adults do?

I didn't realize it, but apparently my watch has its own phone number (it's printed on the bill). I don't think it actually works if you call it but this might be why.