My eldest is 12 now. She got her first smartwatch when she was 9, after months of us going back and forth on whether she really needed one or whether we were just outsourcing the worry of her being out of sight. Three years and three watches later, I have a much clearer view on what to look for, what to avoid, and which features genuinely matter when you are buying for a child.
This is not one of those listicle posts that just rattles off the top 10 with affiliate links and no actual context. This is what I would tell another mum at the school gates if she asked me what to buy.
First, Decide What You Actually Need
Before you start comparing models, work out what the watch needs to do. Most parents fall into one of three camps and the answer is different for each one.
If you want your child to be able to call you and for you to be able to call them, you need a smartwatch with a SIM card. These tend to be marketed specifically as kids smartwatches with a phone function. You will pay for a separate SIM contract on top of the watch itself, but it means your child can have a phone-equivalent without an actual phone.
If your child has their own phone and you just want them to track activity, see notifications, and have the convenience of a wrist-based device, you are looking at a junior version of an adult smartwatch. The Apple Watch SE 3 with Apple Watch For Your Kids falls into this category, as do various Garmin and Fitbit kids models.
If you mainly want location tracking and basic SOS calling, with strict parental controls and limited communication, the dedicated kids GPS watches are what you want. These are typically cheaper, have longer battery life, and lock down most of the features parents worry about.
I would strongly recommend deciding which of these three categories you fit before you start comparing models. A lot of the disappointment with kids smartwatches comes from buying one that does the wrong thing for your situation.
The Big Categories of Kids Smartwatches
SIM-Enabled Kids Phones (Watches with Calling)
The big names in this space in 2026 are the Xplora X6 Play, the Spacetalk Adventurer, the TickTalk 5, and the Vodafone V-Kids Watch. They all do roughly the same thing. Your child wears the watch, you preload contacts, the watch can call and receive calls from those contacts only, and most include some kind of GPS location feature.
The big difference between these is the SIM contract you put behind them. Some have their own dedicated app and require a contract through the manufacturer. Others use a standard pay-as-you-go SIM that you can pop into any compatible watch. The latter is usually cheaper in the long run and gives you more flexibility if you change watches.
For SIM contracts on these standard kids watches, Asda Mobile is genuinely worth a look. The pay-as-you-go SIM-only deals are some of the cheapest in the UK, contract-free, and they work in most kids smartwatches that take a standard nano SIM. Topping up costs a few pounds a month for the level of usage a child watch will need. Just be aware that Asda Mobile and other standard SIMs do NOT work with Apple Watch Family Setup, which uses a different cellular technology.
Junior Versions of Adult Smartwatches
The Apple Watch SE 3 with Apple Watch For Your Kids (Apple rebranded what used to be called Family Setup in 2026) is the obvious option here if you are an Apple family. It costs more than dedicated kids watches but it integrates seamlessly with your iPhone, lets you set screen time and contact restrictions, and your child gets a watch they will actually want to wear because it does not look babyish.
Apple Watch SE 3 was released on 19 September 2025 and is the current model. Pricing starts at £219 for the 40mm GPS model, £249 for the 44mm GPS, and the GPS+Cellular versions are around £260 to £289 depending on size and configuration. You will need the cellular version (not just GPS) to use Apple Watch For Your Kids properly. The current generation has 24-hour battery life, an Always-On Display, and a five times more crack-resistant screen than the previous SE.
For UK cellular service on an Apple Watch set up for a child, your only options are Three and EE. Other major networks do not support Apple Watch Family Setup. This is one of the costs people forget about when they assume Apple Watch is the obvious choice. You are paying for the watch plus a cellular contract through Three or EE, on top of any iPhone contract you already have.
Fitbit and Garmin both make kids versions of their fitness watches. These are great if your priority is activity tracking, sleep monitoring, and basic notifications, with no calling or SIM. They sync with your phone and you can see your child’s stats. They are also significantly cheaper than the Apple option.
Dedicated GPS Tracking Watches
This is where you will find watches like the JrTrack 2, the AngelSense, and various budget options on Amazon. These are designed primarily for location tracking with limited other features. Battery life tends to be excellent because they are not running social media or fitness apps. Communication is usually limited to voice messages or a very small whitelist of approved contacts.
I would suggest these for younger children, ages 6 to 9, where the main concern is knowing where they are when they are walking home from school or playing in the local park. Once children get to 10 or 11 they tend to want something that looks more grown up.
What I Have Actually Found Matters
After three watches across two children, here are the features that genuinely make a difference and the ones that do not.
Battery life is everything. A watch that needs charging every night is a watch that will be dead at the moment your child needs it. Aim for at least three days of standby time and ideally five. Apple Watch is daily charging, which is genuinely a downside for kids who will forget.
Build quality matters more than camera quality. The first watch we bought had a great camera and broke within four months. The screen scratched, the strap snapped, the buttons stuck. The replacement cost more but lasted two years of being thoroughly mistreated. Do not skimp on build quality.
Strap compatibility is underrated. If the watch uses a standard 20mm or 22mm strap, you can buy replacements for a few pounds when the original wears out. If it uses a proprietary strap, you will pay £15 to £25 every time and may struggle to find replacements once the model is discontinued.
Water resistance is essential. Children get wet. Hand washing, swimming, getting caught in the rain on the way home from school. Look for IP67 minimum, ideally IP68. Anything less and you will end up with a dead watch within six months.
Cameras and games are nice but not necessary. Most kids will use the camera enthusiastically for a week then forget about it. The games are usually basic and frustrating on a small screen. If your child is the type who will want a watch they can show off, fine, but do not pay extra just for these features.
Customisable watch faces are surprisingly important. Children take ownership of things they can personalise. A watch with five built-in faces will get more use than one with two.
What to Watch Out For
Some kids smartwatches have privacy concerns that should make any parent think twice. Watches that operate through dodgy apps based overseas have been known to leak location data, allow strangers to message children, or have weak password protection that lets anyone with a child’s phone number see their location. Stick to well-known brands with UK customer support and look for watches that use end-to-end encryption for location data, with communication limited to a parental approved contact list. If a watch is suspiciously cheap, there is usually a reason.
Also, please do not buy a watch that allows unrestricted internet browsing for a child under 10. The Children’s Commissioner has warned repeatedly about the harm caused by unfiltered internet access, and a smartwatch makes it easy to overlook because it does not look like a typical phone.
What I Would Buy Today
If I were buying for a younger child, age 6 to 9, I would go for a dedicated GPS watch with calling restricted to a contact whitelist, paired with an Asda Mobile pay-as-you-go SIM. The total cost works out around £80 to £100 for the watch and a few pounds a month for the SIM. Simple, contract-free, and you can change either the watch or the SIM independently.
If I were buying for an older child, age 10 to 13, who already has structure around their tech use, the Apple Watch SE 3 with Apple Watch For Your Kids is honestly the best option if you can afford it. You are looking at around £260 minimum for the cellular version, plus a Three or EE plan. It will last for years, looks like a proper watch, and the parental controls actually work properly. Yes, it is expensive. But the alternative kids smartwatches in this age range tend to disappoint older children who can see they are being given something obviously childish.
For teens 14 and up, you are basically into the same conversation you would have about phones. At that point the watch is just an accessory to the phone, and the conversation is about what kind of phone is appropriate, not what kind of watch.
The Honest Truth About Kids Smartwatches
I am going to say something here that is genuinely unpopular in mum spaces. A smartwatch will not solve the underlying anxiety you have about your child being out of your sight. It just changes the form that anxiety takes. You will go from worrying about whether they got home safely to worrying about why their watch is showing them at the corner shop when they should be home, or why they have not replied to your message yet.
That is not a reason not to get one. They are genuinely useful tools and my daughters have benefitted from being able to contact me when they are out, and from me being able to contact them. But buy one because it solves a specific practical problem, not because you think it will make you stop worrying. Worry is part of the deal of being a parent. A watch will not fix that.
If you are thinking about screen time more broadly and how to handle it as your kids get older, our UK screen time guidance for 2026 is worth a read. And if you want practical alternatives to giving children a phone for safety, our Big Kids section has more on the practical side of raising 9 to 13-year-olds in a digital world.
My eldest is on her third watch now. The first one died in nine months. The second one lasted two years before the strap broke for the fourth time and we gave up. The current one has been on her wrist for six months and looks like it could go another two years at least. Sometimes you have to spend the money to get the thing that lasts.
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