Fitbit - Ace LTE - Kids Smartwatch with In-App Calling, Messaging, GPS - Spicy

We bought this for our second oldest (6yrs old) since she’s been seeing her older sister with their phone. Since we believe that she wasn’t old enough for a phone yet we chose this route instead. The watch is amazing! Our second oldest enjoys it and truly loves it. Tech: the in app options allow easy use and control. You can even partake in your kid’s challenges/games. The call through app and messaging is easy to use and understand even for my young child. GPS tracking is a nice feature to ensure where your child is as well as the watch alarm locater. Look/feel: My child hates wearing bracelets, bands, or anything that feels constricting around her wrist but she isn’t bothered by the band at all. Use/display: My 6 yr old can easily navigate the display screen and easily read it. The activity tracker keeps her engaged and enjoys the challenges (games). Price: for what it is, it wasn’t too bad in cost even with the annual subscription (allows in app calling and messaging). For some this may be a deterrent, but the annual cost for everything included is t bad at all. Overall: As parents we were skeptical initially since we thought our child may have been too young but they took to it easily and have been able to use it and understand. If anyone of you parents are wondering if or should I purchase this, we say YES. It is the perfect tool and tech.

My 11 year old son was been demoing the Fitbit Ace LTE (Spicy Edition) for the last week for me. This is his first wearable, but has had a Fire tablet for years so he is not completely new to technology. This is the second Fitbit I have setup (Versa 3), but I have never been the end user. The Fitbit Ace LTE is absolutely setup to be a gateway into connected devices for kids without jumping fully to a smartphone. As a parent I know that I have a very limited desire to get my kids a phone until they really need one (like at 16 when they can drive). This is down to the cost of the phone and plan, but also wanting to avoid what a smartphone can expose my kids to. However, I do recognize the need to be able to communicate with my kids if I need to be outside of the house or if they are off with friends. With that in mind the Ace allows you, the parent, to curate their contacts list and create emergency contacts. The Ace does NOT get its own phone number, but rather all communication is done through the Fitbit Ace app. This goes for anyone looking to communicate with the Ace since it is a closed messaging system. You start by setting up your Google Family group – something I already had going. Inside the Family app you assign parent roles to yourself and whoever else you deem worthy. The Fitbit Ace app pulls this info in, and it helps create the contact list and assigned roles. Those with parent privileges can call, message, locate, and use other supervisory features. You can add lesser privileged roles as normal contacts, but they only have access to call and message. The design of the Ace is kid friendly. From the optional bumper (it was mandatory for us), to the Gorilla Glass screen, to the easy to put on band it is obvious that the watch was made with a kid in mind. The watch comes with an IP68 rating making it water-resistant and able to be submerged 1.5 meters (~5ft) under water for 30 minutes, and it can survive being submerged down to 50 meters. The bumper helps protect the screen from random bumps and abrasions that otherwise might scratch up the housing or screen. The band is swappable – replacements are $35, and they come with added fun unlocks/customizations for the watch. The watch’s battery lasts all day for my son, and usually has enough power to get through most of the next day on a single charge. The battery life is quoted at 16 hours, which it would appear we are getting more than that right now. The included magnetic charger is easy to use – it has to be aligned a certain way, but the back of the watch and the charger have symbols that match up with each other. The watch charges fast, and it only takes 30 min to add 11 hours of battery life. Connection for the device is handled over Google Fi, which basically runs on T-Mobile’s network. I have T-Mobile for my primary carrier, and my area has solid coverage. I would assume the watch would enjoy similar coverage. The concept of this watch is pretty simple once you look at the goals of it. Here’s how I would summarize them: 1) Encourage activity/movement through games 2) Provide parents/kids with a means to communicate with each other 3) Provide parents the means to check the location of their kids My use cases for this watch aligns fairly well with these goals. Keeping Goal #1 in mind my son absolutely loves to play games. He also faces the challenges of ADHD. Due to ADHD my son requires an outlet to get that energy out, and it’s really helpful to have something to direct that energy towards. The gamification of movement/activity provides something to focus that energy towards. The concept of movement/physical activity being rewarded with in-game progress and unlocks is not a new thing. The Wii showed us years ago that we can encourage movement through playing games, and the Fitbit Ace is no different in that aspect. The Ace shows you your progress in a couple of ways, but the most visible is the “Noodle” that wraps around the screen as progress is made. There is also a little meter that fills up if you dig down a screen, but the Noodle is really easy to understand at a glance. The rewards that are unlocked range from items in the game to things for your eejie. The eejie needs a small explanation on its own, but I would liken it to a built-in Tamagotchi that you keep happy and unlock customizations through meeting your movement goals. The games are really fun as well. The arcade doesn’t require any user interaction to download new games or get updates – it’s just there. My son’s favorite games are Pollo 13, Galaxy Ranger, and OTal’s Secret. He also gets into Kaiju Golf and Smokey lake (fishing). It’s just kind of funny to see him cast a line out while walking through the grocery store. For Goal #2 this watch really opens up an avenue of communication for my son and I. My son loves to message me silly things on Xbox Live, but we aren’t online at the same time very often. He also likes to randomly leave me notes on my desk that I find while I’m working. My son also struggles a bit with some speech/language difficulties, so he often writes down words that are tougher for him to say clearly. With the Ace I am able to message my son just as easily as I would text anyone in my family. The same goes for him sending me messages. He really loves to send me poop emojis – I get several a day. Every time he does it I can hear him giggling in the other room. Its not just for funny messages though, but I can use it to send him a message that dinner is about ready or that I’m almost back from walking the dogs. He will message me to ask if he can play video games or if we are doing anything today. He’s also sent me messages about things he saw that he now wants to add to his Christmas list. A lot of it is random, but I honestly really like and appreciate it. My son also loves to call his grandparents and uncle and tell them about what he’s doing, or if he has a new joke to tell them. I know my mom loves the calls, and my brother gets a kick out of it too. I have never seen my son so willing to talk and communicate with others. There is another aspect to the communication that meets a specific need of mine. I am a single parent with full custody of my kids, but they do spend a weekend with their mom 2 times a month. Prior to the Ace I didn’t have a way to communicate with my kids and vice versa. This last weekend they before they left my son was very upset because he would miss me. I told him he can now message or call me whenever he wants to with the Ace, and that helped calm him down a bit. After I dropped my kids off it was maybe 5 minutes before he called me to say goodbye and that he missed me already. He messaged me several times that weekend to tell me about the things he was doing and to tell me goodnight. I really appreciated getting those messages. For Goal #3 the Ace is able to securely relay your child’s location. You can do it 2 ways from what I have seen – through the app, and through Google Maps (Pixel user – not sure about iOS). The location will also show up on a desktop browser of Maps if you are logged into your Google account. As long as the watch has mobile coverage it can accurately determine and relay its location. I prefer looking at it through Google Maps app since it’s the easiest to pull up quickly, but the location data could be several minutes old. The most accurate and up to date info seems to be pulled through the Fitbit Ace app. I have pulled up the location data while we were out and about, and it always pinpointed our location, which is reassuring. If you pull the location up through the Fitbit app you have the option to get directions to your child’s location, which gets loaded straight into Maps. This seems like a well-implemented solution, and it's something I can rely on if my son is away from home. I do have a few concerns with the watch. My biggest question is what do I do once my son is old enough to sort of “Age out” of these restrictions? Will it be able to “grow” with him? The watch needs an LTE connection for things to function. At some point he will have his own phone, and I won’t want to carry a watch that needs a separate plan. At that point it becomes e-waste unless the watch can be transitioned to a tethered device and work more like a standard Fitbit. Another thing I would like to see is the ability to push alarms or calendar items to the watch through Ace app – right now the watch user can set alarms, but they are contained within the watch. The watch includes a “School Time” mode that disables games and silences calls and notifications during the scheduled time. However, each day can only have one time range assigned, and it must be a contiguous period of time. I would like to see this expanded to be more than just a single range of time – allow for gaps to be added or multiple ranges in the day that might cover homework time. It would also be nice to have a pause feature you could turn on to disable the games and distractions for 30+min increments. These are just a couple of small improvements that would give a little more flexibility for how things are controlled. Overall, this Fitbit Ace LTE has been a great little piece of technology that my son has really embraced. The games are fun and engaging. It has motivated him to be more active to earn gametime and rewards. I really like the calling and messaging features as well. While I haven’t needed the location info for anything in particular it is reassuring that it works so well.

The watch is used by my daughter who’s out more and more but not yet needing a phone. It’s hard to find something she’ll wear and also something easy to setup and control how to use it. So far the Fitbit ace fits the bill as a great option for parents with kids that don’t yet need a phone. The setup itself was very easy, just plug it in and turn it on, then download the app. You’ll need a google account to sign in and then create a kids profile. The connection to the watch is easy too, you’ll just enter a code and get it paired. It was a little odd as after setup it looked like it was ready to go, but it was doing an update so was a little stuck, though after I waited a few min it said it got an update and everything worked great. You can then set up the contact your child is able to call or text with. So far it was just my wife and I, and when making the call, it comes in just like a phone call but through the app. The messages are also in the app. This seems to work OK since we both have it to see where she is, but if you had someone not in the family not sure how it works. It’s nice as we can see her location as she is around and easily communicating with her. It also lets her have a watch and there are a few games she can play. So far, we’re enjoying it.