Best Smartwatches for Kids | Tested by Parents and Kids in 2025

Options can feel slim for parents who need to stay connected to their kids. Smartphones can be distracting for younger kids, and GPS trackers can feel invasive for older kids. Smartwatches strike a balance between the two with kid- and parent-friendly features. 

The best smartwatches for kids track your child's location, send secure messages, and protect your child from unknown callers. They do all this while also offering fun features that help kids get excited about wearing the device. 

Based on our hands-on testing experiences, parent surveys, and years of research, we've chosen the Gabb Watch 3e as the best kids smartwatch overall. Other strong contenders include the anti-bullying Bark Watch and the budget-friendly COSMO JrTrack 4. Our full guide explores the pros and cons of more than a dozen kids smartwatches and includes tips for choosing the best one for your family.

After 10-plus years of testing and wearing family safety devices, we know what makes a kids smartwatch stand out (or not). Here's a peek into our evaluation process and a look at popular features to consider when choosing the best kids smartwatch for your family.

• Price and monthly costs: Most kids smartwatches cost about $150–$200 upfront plus a monthly service fee, but more affordable options are available.
• Communication options: Full-text keyboards are pretty common in kids smartwatches these days. You can also look for video calls, voice calls, voice messaging, and voice-to-text to suit your child's needs.
• Contact options: Some kids smartwatches only receive calls and texts sent through the brand's phone app, which can limit communication between friends. Regardless, parents should be able to control who can call or text their child's watch.
• Location tracking: Most kids smartwatches offer this important safety feature, but some go a step further and provide safe zone notifications and live updates upon request.
• Emergency features: Most kids smartwatches have SOS buttons that call a parent or guardian, and some will call secondary numbers if the first emergency contact doesn't pick up. Other helpful emergency features to look for include automatic call pick-up, audio drop-ins (so you can discreetly hear the child's surroundings), removal notifications, and the ability to dial 911.
• Entertainment: There's got to be something in it for the kid, right? They may be more likely to wear it every day and keep it charged if it includes fun features like arcade games, music streaming, or audiobooks. 
• Games that encourage movement: Many parents are understandably worried that technology could promote a sedentary lifestyle. Some kids smartwatches tackle this issue with creative games that reward movement. For example, the child may need to log 500 steps to progress in the game.
• Bluetooth support for headphones: This is especially useful for listening to music, streaming an audiobook, listening to game sound effects, or having a call.
• Useful apps: An alarm clock, flashlight, to-do list, and weather app make these watches far more useful. Some also come with a calculator.
• Parental controls: Some kids smartwatches allow parents to set screen time limits, remotely shut down the watch, and set up School Mode or Focus Mode. 
• Ease of use: The watch should be intuitive to navigate and include a responsive touch screen. The parent app should also be easy to use.

In addition, it's important for parents and caregivers to have an open, ongoing dialogue with the children in their lives about their goals for getting a smartwatch and how to use and take care of it responsibly. 

The Gabb Watch 3e is Gabb's newest affordable watch. It features a unique digital pet that helps motivate kids to stay active and complete chores. Younger kids can easily send custom texts with the speech-to-text feature, while older kids will appreciate the full keyboard. Plus, this watch can be submerged in shallow water for up to 30 minutes without glitching, and it has an ultra-strong Gorilla Glass 3 screen to withstand whatever kids put it through.

• Go ahead and buy the Gabb Watch 3e if you're looking for a durable and easy-to-use watch that encourages kids to stay active and finish their chores.
• Keep shopping if you value emergency features like audio-only drop-ins, automatic call answering, live location tracking and location history, and the ability to dial 911. 

Check out the details—including more of our test group's opinions and images—in our full Gabb Watch review. Or get all your questions answered on our Gabb Watch FAQ page.

According to our 2024 survey, inappropriate content is parents' number-one child safety concern. Cyberbullying is fourth.¹ If these issues are top of mind for you too, you may appreciate the Bark Watch. It's the only kids smartwatch that notifies parents about problematic messages and photos, so it's a great choice for nipping cyberbullying and abuse in the bud.

• Go ahead and buy the Bark Watch if your kid is very social and loves to connect with their friends, or if you value an excellent SOS system.
• Keep shopping if you're looking for a watch with games or activity tracking. 

The Bark Watch also stands out for its unlimited contact slots. Contacts must be parent-approved (as usual), but they don't have to log in to an app to call or message the Bark Watch. This makes it much easier for kids to connect with each other through their smartwatches or phones, which may not support third-party apps. 

The potential for so much peer-to-peer interaction makes the Bark Watch's cyberbullying protection even more important, and we're glad to see it. 

The Bark Watch is currently with our testers, and we'll share their insights soon. We have high expectations based on our positive experiences with the Bark Phone and Bark parental control app. Both earned Best Overall in their category at our inaugural Kids Safety Awards.

The COSMO JrTrack 4 is our budget pick because it costs about $50–$100 less than other kids smartwatches but doesn't skimp on features. Designed by a father with the needs of both parents and kids in mind, this watch includes a camera, music, a full-text keyboard, and a full roster of safety features. 

We're especially impressed by the COSMO JrTrack 4's SOS mode. When the home button is pressed three times, the watch immediately shifts into live-tracking mode and will automatically answer calls with the caller muted for safety. This lets parents listen in to learn more about the situation. Kids can unmute the caller if it's safe to talk. We haven't seen any other kids smartwatch with such a thoughtfully-designed process. 

• Go ahead and buy the Cosmo Jr Track 4 if robust emergency and communication features are important to you.
• Keep shopping if you want to encourage movement through games.

Learn more about the COSMO JrTrack 4.

The Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 doesn't have as many kid-oriented features as some of the other options on our list, but there are plenty of reasons to love this watch from a parent's perspective. It has live location tracking, location history reports, safe zones, video calling, an SOS button, and auto-answer. Parents can also turn off the watch at any time.

Your child can play a few simple games and track their steps, but they won't find immersive fitness games, music, or a full-text keyboard. The Gizmo Watch 3 sticks to the basic goals of a kids smartwatch—safe communication and GPS tracking—and accomplishes them well. 

• Go ahead and buy the Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 if you want a basic but reliable kids smartwatch with good location-tracking features.
• Keep shopping if you're prioritizing a more interactive experience for your child and want higher-quality fitness games. 

The Verizon Gizmo Watch has been a long-time favorite of ours, but newer kids smartwatches have left it in the dust with interactive fitness games, full-text keyboards, and even music streaming. Still, the Gizmo Watch 3 has good bones and some thoughtful features for parents.

For example, parents can switch the GizmoWatch to quiet mode or vibration mode via the app. This allows incoming calls to show up on the screen but silences the ringtone and any of the watch’s sound effects. You can also set up specific quiet times to ensure your child’s ringtone doesn’t disrupt their class.

Another neat feature is “auto answer.” After parents toggle this setting on the GizmoHub app, the watch will automatically pick up your call after ringing for ten seconds. This lets you listen in to check on your child or talk through the watch in an emergency.

Learn more in our full GizmoWatch review or compare the current selection of GizmoWatches to the ever-popular Gabb Watch in our head-to-head review: GizmoWatch vs. Gabb Watch.

The big, bright, colorful TickTalk 5 is our choice for best video calling because it offers a clear picture on a large screen. Video calling is relatively rare in kids smartwatches and it can eat into the battery life, but the kids who tested the TickTalk 5 on our behalf loved communicating with long-distance relatives this way.

The TickTalk 5 has advanced screen time options, location tracking, SOS calling, and a direct-to-911 option that can help give parents peace of mind. For kids, the TickTalk 5 offers music streaming and basic apps like an alarm and pedometer, but it doesn't include games.

• Go ahead and buy the TickTalk 5 if you're looking for a well-rounded blend of communication, entertainment, and emergency features.
• Keep shopping if geofencing and games that encourage movement are important to you.

We had to see if the TickTalk performed well in the real world before crowning it a best kids smartwatch. So, we asked a mom and her kids to put it through the wringer. 

As we expected, the kids loved playing music, making video calls, sending each other greeting cards, and engaging with all of the other kid-centric features of the watch. Mom, on the other hand, appreciated the safety side of things, like the closed communication network and listen-in function.

The 7-year-old's only complaint was the size of the watch—it's pretty bulky, even on an adult-sized wrist. 

We've actually tested a couple versions of this watch, and we noticed a huge improvement between the TickTalk 4 and 5 when setting up video-calling permissions. With the TickTalk 4, our testers noted that it was difficult to set up this feature with grandparents who lived across the country—the approval process required them to scan the watch's QR code. With the TickTalk 5, parents can set permissions in the app within seconds. 

The TickTalk 5 also has improved GPS and mapping features, allowing parents to get a more accurate picture of their child's location. 

Get all the details in our full TickTalk Kids Smartwatch review.

For athletic kids who are serious about fitness tracking, the Garmin Bounce is our top pick. Like adult Garmin watches, it can track multiple activities like running, biking, walking, swimming and more. No other kids smartwatch differentiates so many activities—most simply track steps. The Garmin Bounce is also swim-friendly and durable enough to withstand the roughest horseplay. 

Despite its emphasis on activity tracking, the Garmin Bounce still offers the most important features parents expect in a kids smartwatch: live GPS tracking, a parent-controlled contact list, and geofencing. It also comes with some games and a rewards system for chores. One of the most appealing features is that you don’t have to switch cell phone providers—Garmin uses its own network for the Bounce, and plans start at $10 per month or $100 for the full year.

• Go ahead and buy the Garmin Bounce if your child is athletic and excited about tracking their activity.
• Keep shopping if you want more communication options than just voice messaging.

We're less impressed with this watch's bare-bones communication. Kids can exchange voice messages, preset texts, and emojis with up to 20 approved contacts, but that's it. The Garmin Bounce doesn't send or receive traditional phone calls, nor does it allow for custom text messages through voice-to-text or a full keyboard. 

Read our full Garmin Bounce review to learn more! 

Made by Google, the FitBit Ace LTE is the only kids smartwatch with Tap to Pay capabilities. Your child must have an Acorns or Greenlight account to use this feature, which could help them use public transportation or buy an afternoon snack, extra supplies for a school project, or a gift for a friend. This could be really useful for kids who are (or are learning to be) more independent. We also like this watch for its emphasis on active fun, but it's missing some common apps like reminders and popular safety features like safe zones (geofencing).

• Go ahead and buy the FitBit Ace LTE if you want to prioritize family connections through sibling chats, group chats, and fitness challenges. 
• Keep shopping if you want a watch with all the safety features and apps (like reminders). 

As the FitBit name suggests, this watch is designed for an active lifestyle. The screen is protected by ultra-tough Gorilla Glass 3, and it's waterproof up to a whopping 50 meters. The FitBit Ace LTE also uses tons of high-quality games to inspire kids to stay active. 

There's also a customizable character called an eejie that kids can interact with, and the more goals they complete, the happier the eejie. New games are released regularly, and connecting new wristbands unlocks more quests.  

Unlike other kids smartwatches, the FitBit Ace LTE has strict rules about contacts younger than 13, which may severely limit your child's ability to communicate with their friends. This could be a good thing or a bad thing.

It also lacks safe zones, a direct-to-911 option, a flashlight, and a slew of popular apps, including to-do lists, reminders, a calculator, and a weather forecast. Spend some time prioritizing the features you care about before choosing this watch.

Our favorite kids smartwatches meet in the middle between "fun gadget" and "safety device." Kids love having a direct line to their loved ones, and the games and fun features certainly don't hurt. Parents love giving kids more freedom while drawing fair boundaries. 

From our tests with parents and kids alike, we found the Gabb Watch 3e came out on top for its user-friendliness, price, and ability to graduate into a similar ecosystem when your child's ready for a phone. 

We also loved the Cosmo JrTrack 4 for its pricing and the Bark Watch for its unprecedented cyberbullying and content protection.

We also surveyed 1,000 parents in May 2024 in order to understand their top kids safety concerns, which included:

• Access to inappropriate content
• Abduction
• Accidental injury
• Cyberbullying

The survey results helped us hone in on features that keep kids off the internet, track their location, prevent harmful messages, and give both kids and parents access to emergency tools. We ultimately came up with a list of 45 criteria for comparing kids smartwatches and narrowing down the top candidates.

Once we determined which kids smartwatches had the best features, we tested them hands-on with parents and kids. Brands we've tested include TickTalk, Gabb, Bark, COSMO, AngelSense, Angel Watch, Apple Watch, T-Mobile SyncUp, and Xplora. Tests are ongoing, and we'll have insights to share about more brands, like Garmin, very soon. 

Our tests focus on ease of use, comfort, and durability. Testers use the watch daily for at least one to two weeks, then report back on their likes and dislikes. We also keep tabs on families that adopt any of these watches to see how they perform over time.

We also read hundreds of user reviews to look for trends in performance and customer service. On top of that, we speak regularly to many of these companies to learn about how the technology is developed, why they choose the features they do, and what's coming next.

Learn more about how we rank and review.

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1. SafeWise, "SafeWise Kids Safety Survey: 2024 Results," May 2024. Accessed February 12, 2025.
2. Wall Street Journal, "Smartwatches: The New Classroom Nuisance," September 2021. Accessed February 12, 2025.