Can you share the logistics of this? How are they able to use the watch to contact you? Emergencies? How well does it actually work for the purpose of them having a way to contact someone in an emergency?
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Anyone who has a cellular watch set up for your child…
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Apple Watch For Your Kids
Use your iPhone to manage watches for the whole family — even if the kids don’t have an iPhone yet. It’s independence for them, peace of mind for you.
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Set up Apple Watch For Your Kids
You can set up any Apple Watch with cellular for your child or family member, even if they don’t have their own iPhone.
I’ve recently started doing this (having swapped from a dedicated “kids” watch from KidsOclock which stopped working).
It is in some ways better and others worse than the dedicated kids watch we previously had.
Better: the ability to message (iMessage) and call, and the range of apps etc. The OS is obviously more robust and the device will likely last longer.
Worse: where I live (Australia) at least, you can’t use one of the major Telcos you have set up for you iPhone and add a kids watch as a watch - you need to sign up for a dedicated separate service (from Better Roaming) and add that to the watch. It seems ok, but people complain about the network it roams on to (I think Vodafone). It is also annoying that the watch really wants to be an accessory to a particular iPhone, meaning if the kid does not have a phone, various apps won’t work (eg Spotify says that you can’t install the watch app without having it on an associated iPhone).
Overall I think it is good, but not great, so far
It is in some ways better and others worse than the dedicated kids watch we previously had.
Better: the ability to message (iMessage) and call, and the range of apps etc. The OS is obviously more robust and the device will likely last longer.
Worse: where I live (Australia) at least, you can’t use one of the major Telcos you have set up for you iPhone and add a kids watch as a watch - you need to sign up for a dedicated separate service (from Better Roaming) and add that to the watch. It seems ok, but people complain about the network it roams on to (I think Vodafone). It is also annoying that the watch really wants to be an accessory to a particular iPhone, meaning if the kid does not have a phone, various apps won’t work (eg Spotify says that you can’t install the watch app without having it on an associated iPhone).
Overall I think it is good, but not great, so far
Piggy backing onto this thread rather than starting a new one… we do this with our kids when they get into middle school because there’s a lot of after school things they can do and we want them to be able to get ahold of us but we don’t want them to have a phone yet.. one has one, number 2 will be this September…
That being said wife and I need new phones this year and we’re on a legacy T-Mobile plan so we get no (or very little) discounts to upgrade.. their new plans are crazy, in fact all post paid plans seem to be crazy and it’s impossible to compare now that there’s all kinds of ‘perks’ involved.. does anybody know of a prepaid company that has standalone Apple Watch plans? So far it’s not an easy question to answer because the language of ‘standalone’ plan isn’t clear.
That being said wife and I need new phones this year and we’re on a legacy T-Mobile plan so we get no (or very little) discounts to upgrade.. their new plans are crazy, in fact all post paid plans seem to be crazy and it’s impossible to compare now that there’s all kinds of ‘perks’ involved.. does anybody know of a prepaid company that has standalone Apple Watch plans? So far it’s not an easy question to answer because the language of ‘standalone’ plan isn’t clear.
Our son has only an Apple Watch as we don't want him to have a phone yet.
This is the plan we've set him up with: https://www.betterroaming.com/watches/apple-watch-family-united-kingdom/ and it seems to work fine. It's not perfect - but I'm not sure what to expect when it's such a small device.
Thankfully there have been no emergencies, but based on our experience so far, I can't see why it wouldn't work.
Overall it's been great. We can see where he is, contact him through walkie-talkie, use the School Time feature when we don't want him on it, and it helps delaying getting him a phone.
This is the plan we've set him up with: https://www.betterroaming.com/watches/apple-watch-family-united-kingdom/ and it seems to work fine. It's not perfect - but I'm not sure what to expect when it's such a small device.
Thankfully there have been no emergencies, but based on our experience so far, I can't see why it wouldn't work.
Overall it's been great. We can see where he is, contact him through walkie-talkie, use the School Time feature when we don't want him on it, and it helps delaying getting him a phone.
Agreed on the reasons to use it for a kid - and great recommendation for the service I didn’t know they operated in the US. I also found that US Mobile has standalone plans for 6.50/mo. Now racking out the costs of buying our devices outright vs getting the promos from postpaid.. 🤷♂️
It has its own phone number. Texting, in a pinch calling, and I can see where she’s at with ‘Find My,’ quite handy. And can be worn at school when her iPhone is forbidden to be out.
My older son has one. Added on T-Mobile so the watch was essentially free. Just have to pay the $10 a month data fee. He has his own phone number and can use it to make and receive calls, text, and we can locate him via Find My. Only downside is that there isn’t any data roaming available in other countries outside the U.S. we go to Japan often and the watch is pretty much useless out there.
I’m pretty sure this is what my daughter is thinking. Her older 2 kids had phones at 10/11 mainly because of being involved in activities where she wanted them to be able to contact her in emergency situations. They were severely restricted except for the few things she wanted to allow.
Of course now this little guy is 10, and he keeps reminding her that it’s his turn. ;-p That said, he is autistic and not involved in outside activities that really keep him from home, so she’s hoping this will appease him while also allowing that emergency contact option if ever needed.
Yes.
US Mobile is a what is known as a Super Carrier. Users have access to ATT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile service. You can talk directly with customer support (which is very good and available 24/7) through their app or on their website.
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See how we're making phone plans, smarter, more delightful and more affordable with better design and technology.
Scroll down and click on Contact US. Once you do, a chat window opens.
My youngest daughter got an Apple Watch SE LTE last Christmas - we have an old iPhone, but don't want her to have a phone yet. Our local LTE service does not support the Apple kids mode, so just got a cheap service for the phone, added the watch and the LTE service and she uses that every day.
She has been over the moon for it, can call and text us and family etc. and loves to track sports on it and the School Mode is pretty good - Big recommendations from me.
She has been over the moon for it, can call and text us and family etc. and loves to track sports on it and the School Mode is pretty good - Big recommendations from me.
My thoughts exactly. Except very shortly after buying one for my daughter, her school banned smart watches too. We thought about fighting it, but if the school allowed them, it would be a distraction to learning. My daughter is perfect (obviously) and would never use it if she isn't supposed to, but other kids definitely would. Just one of those things.
We still love having it anytime we go out (parks, museums, theme parks, etc). I recommend having your kid(s) practice making calls and texting on it just to make sure they know how. Kids are typically good with technology though.
What is your experience regarding battery life for watch without phone for whole time? I am thinking of buying S10 for my daughter and set it up with "dummy" old IPhone we are not using since Kids/Family is not supported in Croatia. Would it work if the phone is OFF afterwards all the time. She would use watch for calls/texts and occasional Spotify
Our old "Host-iPhone" is almost always off, but works fine. I think maybe if you have a lot of Android friends it would make some issues with text messages as far as I know.
I have hooked her watch up to home wifi and wifi with grand parents etc. to save some LTE battery, but a long day of use will always kill her small SE watch for battery but most days are fine