Fitbit - Ace LTE - Kids Smartwatch with In-App Calling, Messaging, GPS - Mild - (2024)

Expert Review by Victoria Taylor for Fitbit Ace LTE [0:52]

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• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Great child-friendly, secure smartwatch for calls

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  Quick Overview ================================= Smartwatches have come a long way, but what about ones for kids? They've either been relegated to fitness trackers or full-on smartwatches that parents have to lock down. The ones that were focused on kids, more often than not, had some kind of security failure that defeated the purpose of having a kid-focused smartwatch. Google (with their acquisition of Fitbit) has now entered the fray with the Fitbit Ace LTE focused on ages 7 to 11 and requiring a subscription for connectivity. You can message and call with the watch itself, so let's see how it performs. Overall build ================================= This is definitely built for kids, but don't confuse it with the earlier Fitbit Ace models that were fitness trackers. This is a more full-featured smartwatch with a great color screen, GPS, LTE, and games to keep kids entertained and engaged. The watch itself looks similar to Fitbit's adult smartwatch offerings with rounded corners and a large screen. The screen is Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and there's an included bumper (green) that came with it to help further protect the face of the watch. The sides are plastic and sensor-wise there's an array of sensors (accelerometer, altimeter, gyroscope, heart rate sensor, and more) for tracking fitness and for games. The Fitbit Ace LTE is also rated at 5ATM of water resistance, so they can certainly swim and splash around in it without fear. The band is a looped Velcro mechanism that's easy to take on and off for charging purposes, but I wish they had made it a bit harder to fully unloop the strap. More than once, we've had to catch the watch before it dropped onto the ground as they took it off to change wrists or charge it. Fitbit will sell you different colored bands with different associated digital goodies. Initial setup ================================= Yes, this Fitbit Ace LTE will require a subscription, but until the end of 8/2024, the price is half off. I think it's fair at that point since you'd expect to pay for connectivity if you need this device to make calls, communicate location, and do some messaging. The watch also has WiFi so presumably this will be used inside the house. You'll first need to download the Fitbit Ace app on your phone (parent) and start setting up the watch. Soon you'll be asked if this is for you or a child. If you already have a Google family account (I did), then you can just select a child to associate your watch with. If you don't have a Google family account setup yet, you'll be prompted to create one, then you can associate that child with the watch. After that, you can hand the watch to your child and let them set up their Eejie (a play on emoji?) which is like a Tamagotchi. Performance ================================= Each day, there are Daily Quests to keep moving and keep the Eejie happy. For kids that like virtual pets or virtual friends (ours love Tamagotchis), this should keep them entertained! There are also miscellaneous games in the Fitbit Arcade and each has a good explanation and movement involved. To unlock, your kid will have to walk around for a required amount of steps first, so if they're anything like mine, they zoomed around the house immediately to unlock them. The games are nice and movement-based. For example, Kaiju Golf and Smokey Lake (fishing) requires swinging a virtual club or casting a virtual fishing rod which helps keep your kids moving. Google says there will be new games every few months so let's see if that holds true! There is a School Time mode which you can enable to lock games. Bit Valley lets your kids design and decorate a house and earn more items to put into it. The more your child moves, the more points they'll earn, and the more things they can buy at the store. With the current variety of games, I think there's something for every child. Surprisingly, there were some text-heavy, Q&A style games that may not have been the best idea on a small screen. Battery-wise, don't expect this to last more than a day. I suppose that's why there's no sleep tracking in it. Depending on activity, gaming, and other usage, our watch is usually on its last legs by 8pm or so. Charging is fairly simple, but I think it could have been made foolproof. Yes, there is a bit of a diagram attached to the cord, but why not make it impossible to connect incorrectly? Calling and messaging work fine but with a caveat: You'll both need the Fitbit Ace app installed on your devices (my phone and my child's phone that I set the watch to pair to). Why? Because that's where approved contacts are listed. No adding from contacts on the phone or Google contacts. You'll need to add contacts and confirm them so you can connect safely. We've tested this while out and about and I'm honestly a bit impressed that the phone functionality is as good as it is on a child's device. Messaging works as you'd expect (through the Fitbit Ace app) via speech to text or swiping on the tiny keyboard. You can also send a pre-recorded voice message directly from the watch itself. Location works well also after a brief delay. Your parent's app will show their location data on a map view but there are no geofencing alerts to notify you if/when they enter/leave certain areas. Google Wallet payment is supposedly coming soon (so there's NFC) and I suppose there's a chance that sleep tracking could be added in the future. I don't mind that they don't have it currently since they sleep well enough and it's one less temptation for them at bedtime. Conclusion ================================= Overall, this may be the best kids' smartwatch offering out there now. Instead of using an adult's smartwatch, having a purpose-built device with an app to match may be superior. I certainly think it is. I wish I did have a bit more fitness stats and tracking of activity (like in my current Fitbit), but I suppose as our children, we already know a lot about what they're doing. This is more for communications in an emergency or other scenario and for that, this performs really well. Price-wise, this is up there with an older "proper" smartwatch, but Google is committing to a 3+ year support program on software and new games every 3 months. Let's hope that's true! With a cellular-connected smartwatch, you'll need to typically pay for coverage anyway, so I think at this price, it's a fair deal for a kid-focused smartwatch. If your child falls into the 7-11 age range that this is focused on, I think they'll really enjoy it and you'll feel secure knowing you have connectivity options that can't be easily bypassed. Perhaps it's still new, but the kids really do love the watch, playing the games, and exploring new things so perhaps that's a bit more screentime than I'd prefer, but overall it's a great, child-friendly smartwatch.

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  This review is from Fitbit - Ace LTE - Kids Smartwatch with In-App Calling, Messaging, GPS - Spicy - (2024)

  Posted 11 months ago by Kaizoku

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  A Good Smartwatch for Young Kids

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 10 Contributor

  *** Summary *** The Fitbit Ace LTE is a stylish, lightweight, neat, and comfortable smartwatch for young kids. It excels at encouraging kids to be active while also providing peace of mind to parents who want to track their child's location and stay in close communication via phone calls and text messaging. Setting up the watch initially was more involved than I anticipated, but it's easy to use overall once activated. My child loves the watch and enjoys trying to fulfill all the activity goals as well as playing games on it. The Fitbit Ace LTE has several great features, making it worth the investment. _____ *Pros: -Intuitive and easy-to-navigate user interface. -Lightweight and comfortable. -Stylish and good-looking design. -Crisp and bright screen. -Loud and clear speaker for phone calls. -Can connect a headset or earpiece through Bluetooth. -Multiple watch bands available. -Tracks activity levels that unlocks in-game items and digital rewards. -The games are simple but fun and engaging. _____ *Neutral: -Occasional swiping lag and stutter. -Off-the-charger, standby battery life is not very good. _____ *Cons: -The battery life is really so-so and needs to be charged one to two times a day on some days. -Very sparse activity details and info on the watch and on the app. I got the Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch for my 9-year-old daughter, and she absolutely loves it. She chose the “Spicy” model because it's more colorful and vibrant thanks to its bright green button and colorful watch band. The squircle-shaped display with a 333 ppi OLED screen is plenty bright even outdoors, and the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 provides ruggedness and durability. Initially, my daughter opted for the screen protector bumper, but she decided to forgo it after a few days to achieve a sleeker, more adult look. Both the built-in microphone and speaker are very satisfactory, delivering clear voice quality and loud enough volume. I appreciate that a Bluetooth earpiece can be connected to the watch for phone call privacy. Another nice perk is the water resistance up to 50 meters. I tell my daughter not to wear it at the swimming pool and the beach because it's not recommended, but it's nice not having to worry about water in case of rain or occasional splashes. The band that came with the watch is the Moovin’ Band, which is very gentle on the skin, light, comfortable, and easy to put on and take off thanks to the secure Velcro mechanism. The next band she wants is the blue Courtside Band, and I think it’s cool that the watch band can unlock new items and features on the watch. I just wish the bands were a bit cheaper. Setting up the watch for use was a bit involved as I had to first create a supervised child Google account for my daughter, sign in with her account on the watch, and install the Fitbit Ace app on my phone, then sign in with both my Google account and my daughter’s. Once that's done, though, it’s simple and easy to use and navigate on the watch and inside the Fitbit Ace app as the interface is intuitive and well laid out. For my 9-year-old daughter, tapping and swiping to access calling and texting functions, workout data, and games proved to be straightforward. To save battery life, she chose not to toggle the Always-on screen feature, but she did activate the Tilt-to-wake and Touch-to-wake options for convenience. From the home screen, a swipe down reveals a quick panel menu where she can view the battery life, adjust display brightness, summon the call & message screen, turn the ringer on or off, set Do Not Disturb, and access the built-in arcade games. A swipe up from the home screen shows notifications, a left swipe shows a summary of her daily activity goals and achieved levels, and a right swipe shows the Eejie app, where she can create and customize her virtual avatar, as well as the avatar’s home and different rooms. Most of the Eejie items are “locked,” and to unlock them, she is required to up her activity level and earn points. Long-pressing the top home button reveals additional options, such as restart and Settings, where the watch’s behavior can be customized, such as the Always-On mode, screen timeout, and gesture feedback. Overall, I think the Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch is a great motivator with practical health benefits, as she has been riding her bike more often and even joining me in my jogging runs to increase her points. Plus, she gets to play some games on the go, and she feels “cool” now that she can make phone calls and send text messages like the adults around her. I only wish for two improvements from the Fitbit Ace: better battery life and more detailed health/activity screens, such as miles run or biked and her heart rate level. Curiously, such details are missing, and I can only view her total number of steps, the number of floors she’s climbed, and the number of minutes she was engaged in “Light” and “Active” activity. My daughter may be only nine years old, but she was disappointed at the lack of detail. Maybe it’s because I have a smartwatch and phone that show much more detailed stats for different activities. With that said, I’m quite happy and content with the Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch, and so is my daughter. I love that it encourages her to be more active, and I love even more that I can call and text her wherever she is and even locate her when needed. Hopefully, Google will churn out more firmware updates that improve the battery life, activate Google Pay, and make the watch more snappy and performant. I give it 4.5 stars and would heartily recommend it to other parents. It’s a Win!

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  This review is from Fitbit - Ace LTE - Kids Smartwatch with In-App Calling, Messaging, GPS - Spicy - (2024)

  Posted 11 months ago by optimummind

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  The perfect smart watch for kids

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  As my child has gotten older I have struggled with what to do for their connectivity. I don’t want to get a smartphone as I would prefer to wait a few more years for more responsibility like that. Then, I noted that there were options like a smart watch but they all require a phone plan that supports LTE smart watches which the carrier I use does not. So I figured I eventually would have to jump over to a different carrier to add a smartwatch for the kid which would also cost me a great deal more money on a monthly basis than I have been paying. It was all a bit of a conundrum. Then the FitBit Ace came along and changed everything for my family’s situation. This is a smartwatch that is specifically designed for kids, primarily 7-12 years of age. My child is right in that range. It is unique in that it does not need to be tethered to a phone or even a family phone plan to work which is absolutely perfect for me. Fitbit is now owned by google, so this watch leans in the Google way of doing things, however it will work with Apple phones such as my iPhone 14 Pro Max just as well. You set it up with the app and create a Google family so you can manage your child there without even having to create an account for them specifically although you do have to have a Google account of your own. You can add other adults as parents or supervisory individuals, and be able to have access to the tracking and contact information for the watch. From the app you also setup your totally independent LTE plan for the watch and invite people who are allowed to contact your child to download the app and connect that way. The independent nature of this watch from either major ecosystem means that it works the same way with either one, but also means that it is its own thing and everything from calling, texting, and location tracking is all done with the Ace app rather than your typical means of contacting people. This is really the only flaw for it but it is a minor inconvenience compared to everything else it does. My child loves this watch and the freedom it offers. There are games that can be played on it that are timed based on daily activity levels, the ability to call and text approved people, and send sound recordings as well. The watch is charged with a USB-C cable that is magnetic on the watch side similar to other Google watches on the market. It does not include a power adapter which is annoying but normal for devices like this now. It’s a very nice design and looks perfect for its intended audience. We’re using the included bumper for added protection and it seems like it will hold up well. The Fitbit Ace provided me the perfect solution to a big problem I had coming up, and has saved me tons of money while giving my child a connection to me and other trusted people. It’s fantastic and I’m very happy with it in spite of the few small limitations it has.

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  This review is from Fitbit - Ace LTE - Kids Smartwatch with In-App Calling, Messaging, GPS - Spicy - (2024)

  Posted 11 months ago by Josh