The Features That Legitimized Kids Smartwatches in 2020
You may not have heard of kids smartwatches like these before — 4G wireless connection, crystal clear call quality, video chat-enabled and always beaming a GPS location to mom and dad. And they aren’t just a fad among helicopter parents in wealthy New York neighborhoods. In 2020, smartwatches have been adopted by safety-conscious millennial parents across the socio-economic spectrum, signaling the arrival of a new market.
Kids GPS trackers and simple smartwatches have been around for years, recognized mostly for their cheap engineering and disappointing features. But the technology has evolved rapidly since 2018 and last year alone over 39 million devices were sold globally.
In the United States there are 28 million kids between the ages of 5–12 years old, a substantial and unaddressed market. The largest device makers in the US have yet to wade into this space. Instead, companies with an eye on meaningful data privacy for children are leading the way.
These are the features that are winning over US consumers and setting industry standards.
- Features for kids, not just parents
Americans have an independent streak. That includes our kids. Asking a child to do anything can seem like a negotiation. Accordingly, smartwatches that do not engage a child’s interest are likely to be left in a backpack or go uncharged for days.
The kids smartwatches that are making an impact in the US include features that kids want to have. At the top of that list is the ability to communicate with friends. But parents who are trying to put off smartphones don’t want to repackage the same problems from one device into another.
Leading solutions use walkie talkie-style voice memos between devices that can be monitored from the parent’s app. Behind the scenes parents can also limit the times of day that communication functions work. Compared to the array of apps and browsers that are packed into smartphones, this simple form of communication is enough for kids to feel connected and for parents to feel in control.
Importantly, designing features for young kids requires throwing out the rule book and starting from scratch. They communicate differently and for different reasons than adults, or even teenagers. But kids are getting older, faster, so when they do demand a device, the smartwatch is now a viable option.
2. An answer to screen addiction
Screen time is not just a family issue — its impact reaches into schools, daycares, clubs, camps, sports, child healthcare and more. We do not yet know the long term psychological or physiological repercussions that screen time may have. What we do know is it’s probably not great.
That is enough for growing numbers of concerned parents to take it seriously, and it’s one more reason to delay getting smartphones for kids. The smartwatch has several advantages in this area.
For starters, its screen is considerably smaller, and without open internet access or social media, there are fewer attention-sucking outlets on the device. But smartwatch manufacturers understand that there is also the opportunity to create a healthy relationship with a screen, and none more important than the “first device”.
To that end, software is taking on a whole new world of challenges and needs while delicately avoiding software patterns based on reward systems to pull the user in. The key is to design functions that are only meaningful when more than one user is engaged with it at one time. In other words, the device itself is not interesting, only as a conduit to communicate with others.
By designing functionality in this way smartwatches can actually encourage healthy relationships with devices by encouraging kids to view them as tools for connection and not ends in themselves.
3. Balancing class time and bullies
A front line concern that parents and teachers have about kids and their connected devices is bullying. This issue has received a lot of attention in recent years as studies have begun to connect it to a spate of other troubling developmental problems.
Increasingly, bullying is facilitated by social media (59% of kids say they have been harassed online) and connected devices. These connected devices are also disrupting classes and being used to share mature content. Parents, according to numerous studies, are frequently in the dark about what their child sees on their phone and who they are communicating with.
Smartwatches offer a compelling solution: total and de facto parental controls. Using their mobile app, parents activate “Class Mode” during normal school hours, which blocks anything but the SOS function on the device. Perhaps even more importantly, the smartwatches are not built with platforms that allow for downloading mischievous apps to circumvent parental controls.
Without any technical know how, parents can rest easy knowing the smartwatch is not being misused. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the dozens of other screens and devices most American families have today.
4. Wifi, Bluetooth, 4G, Encryption
You can pack a lot of technology into wearable devices. The problem was there was not a market for kids devices to support the development of those technologies into a product suitable for young children.
In the last few years, with growing concerns about the safety of children globally, demand for better products has driven the rapid development of child safety smartwatches. The key here is safety. While parents are interested in fitness and communication, what is driving the growth in kids smartwatches are their safety features.
With 4G connectivity, features like location tracking and geo-fencing have become powerful tools. Two way video calling and software that intelligently recognizes distressing circumstances are turning parents onto smartwatches as a new kind of cyber seatbelt.
Additionally, because this technology is being developed by small companies outside of the data tracking monoliths in Silicon Valley, data privacy is something parents can count on. Encryption, robust data privacy terms and the lack of any form of advertising function within the kids smartwatch ecosystem represents a new day in the user / device relationship.
Taken together, these features represent something new: a meaningful safety device that families are adopting to combat the dangers posed to young kids in this century. This was the year kids smartwatches became worth their price tags.
