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Apple's Cutesy New Website Pushes Apple Watch for Kids

MacRumors said:


Apple is encouraging parents to purchase a cellular Apple Watch for their children with a new "Apple Watch For Your Kids" campaign, which appears to be a more informative rebranding of the Apple Watch Family Setup feature that's been around since 2020.

apple-watch-for-kids.jpg

The Apple Watch For Your Kids website walks through how the feature works and the perks. An Apple Watch with cellular can be added to and managed by an adult's iPhone, providing kids with a wrist-worn device for phone calls, text messaging, and location tracking.

Apple touts Schooltime, an option that restrictions notifications and apps during school hours through Do Not Disturb. The Schooltime schedule is set by parents and adds a visible yellow circle to an Apple Watch so teachers are aware the device is not usable during classtime.

Apple also promotes Apple Watch durability and water resistance, as well as the built-in activity tracking options that include workouts for children and activity awards.

The newly rebranded Apple Watch For Your Kids feature is being promoted on the Apple Watch pages, but Apple has not yet updated the support document that walks parents through setup.

Requirements for providing a child with an Apple Watch include a Series 4 or later with GPS + Cellular and a cellular service plan, an iPhone 6s or later (for the parent), a Family Sharing group setup, and Apple IDs for both the parent and child.

Article Link: Apple's Cutesy New Website Pushes Apple Watch for Kids
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Nice try P Diddy
 
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Has anyone at Apple actually tried running a Apple Watch off cellular all day. Good luck getting the battery to last the day.
 
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skgmaz said:
The lack of international roaming support for these kids watches drives me absolutely *******. That's an Apple-imposed restriction, too! International travel is one of the most useful times for these watches, and they intentionally disallow that. Goddamn it's so ****ing annoying.
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Isn't this a restriction set by the (US) network operators?

HJM.NL said:
If this holds true… we will see lots of children coming to hospitals with ripped off wrists… :oops:
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My thoughts exactly. I don't think any child under the age of 10 should own such an expensive device anyway.

Our kids each have an iPad for use at home. But they are not allowed take it anywhere without our consent. The oldest got an iPhone too, but at the age of 10 when we were convinced that she would not be sloppy with it, take good care of it and school grades are kept high.
 
beanbaguk said:
Apple are completely detached from the realities of life and how children treat their items.

This is utterly absurd, but some poor fool will fall for this.
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No, it is just a company that knows a lot of their "customers" would do everything for their logo, even locking their sons in their "ecosystem" since they are kids.
 
Powerbooky said:
The oldest got an iPhone too, but at the age of 10 when we were convinced that she would not be sloppy with it, take good care of it and school grades are kept high.
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Omg, an iphone at 10? My kid is 9, but he (like almost everybody in his class) are informed they won't receive any phone before ~15. They can play and have fun without a phone...
 
ELman said:
Has anyone at Apple actually tried running a Apple Watch off cellular all day. Good luck getting the battery to last the day.
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Yup. My daughter's is just about dead by the time she gets home from school.
 
wait a second, apple thinks weekly chores for kids are worth $20?!? damn. Silicon Valley parents are nuts.
 
My kid does have an Apple Watch but this year both smartphones and smart watches got banned at her school. She can wear the watch to school but will have to put it in her locker, only to retrieve it at the end of the day. She hated the rule at first but now she's happy with it: the kids are talking with each other again, they're having fun, do silly things. They socialize. No chance Apple (or Samsung for that matter) will get in between.
 
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Fidgetyrat said:
This will need to be fully re-designed in order to stand up to the abuse of children. As an OCD adult, I have to keep mine with screen protectors and rubber bumpers just to keep it from looking like trash.

I also can't picture my standard sized Series 7 on my child's arm..

Apple is REALLY reaching hard on this one.
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Nah, it's been great for my 8 year old. The smaller SE2 fits him fine and he has a cheap amazon case on it. Apple Care is only 2.50 a month and we can call, text or track his location at any time. He's been more active too since he's got rings to close. All in all a great purchase.
 
I didn't have a watch on as a kid, my mum would just call me inside for dinner if I was outside near the house or I'd have to listen to if the church bells rang 5 times ;)

I don't see why kids would need this hyperactive gizmo on their arms at all times.
sychox51 said:
wait a second, apple thinks weekly chores for kids are worth $20?!? damn. Silicon Valley parents are nuts.
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A company for the rich acts like one. We shouldn't forget that lol.
 
rembert said:
My kid does have an Apple Watch but this year both smartphones and smart watches got banned at her school. She can wear the watch to school but will have to put it in her locker, only to retrieve it at the end of the day. She hated the rule at first but now she's happy with it: the kids are talking with each other again, they're having fun, do silly things. They socialize. No chance Apple (or Samsung for that matter) will get in between.
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So happy to hear this!
 
my daughter's school banned smart watches alongside phones.

So if this is an attempt to circumvent the growing number of schools banning phones; it'll be short lived.
 
longofest said:
I don't know about elementary school ages, but middle school aged kids start needing to communicate because of after school activities and needing pickups, etc.
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When I was a kid, we would call random numbers and say, "Dad, you can come pick me up now." And when the person had no idea what we were talking about, we'd say we were calling from a payphone and didn't have any more change, and ask them to call our parents at another number, which either also was random or for a business.
 
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carrrrrlos said:
Kinda getting over my Apple Watch.
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I've had a Samsung Active2 for four years. My first and last smart watch. The problem isn't the watch itself, but rather the use case. I always have my phone with me anyway, so the watch turned out to be just superfluous. Constantly having my watch buzz with alerts got really annoying really fast. When there was a message or something else worth reading, I would get out my phone rather than squint and scroll on the watch.

Tracking my workouts also didn't provide any value.
 
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This is an horrible product that should have never went to market. The fact that people are still buying it shows the brand power that Apple has. Seriosuly, if you are thinking about buying this just don’t. It’s an horrible niche product, you will have to charge it every day and still won’t do anything that your phone can’t do. Also, it’s really uncomfortable. If you are seriously thinking of buying one then at least buy the ultra so you don’t have to charge it every day.
 
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Roadster Lewis said:
I have been considering one of these for my 8 year old, partly as a delay to getting him a phone, but also to track his bike rides/runs - he is pretty sporty. So it is good to hear from other parents that this works. Ideally I would use it as an excuse to upgrade my Watch, but I have the larger, non cellular version.

It seems like the dedicated kids watches from Garmin etc can’t log activities etc.
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You don’t have to buy your 8 year old a phone. You just don’t
 
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We did this for my 14 year old to hold off the phone until he is an adult. Beware that there are some limitations when doing family watch sync as compared to me syncing my own Apple Watch. Like not being able to store music directly on the watch (the option just isn't there like on the iPhone like it is with mine). And battery is something that needs to be managed or it drains before the day is done. Also the cell reception isn't that great so find my is often laggy and calls don't always go through. He also has a hard time hearing when around noisy friends so needs earbuds or texts. I still would do it again but wish Apple didn't limit the setup with software and that the hardware was a bit better for battery and reception. He has the SE (smaller size).
 
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