(Credit: Google)
Add the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 to the list of kid-friendly smartwatches. Leading up to the company’s Unpacked event on Wednesday, Samsung announced a partnership with Google to launch the new Galaxy Watch for Kids experience on the Watch 7.
The mode will work with the $349.99 LTE version of the Galaxy Watch 7, with service available initially through AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Parents will be able to set up the watch with their own phone without the child needing one of their own. Then the parents can use the Google Family Link app to monitor their child’s location, as well as manage available contacts and apps on the watch, while setting some restrictions on functionality during school hours.
Out of the bargain, kids will get a new selection of games and watch faces featuring characters like Barbie, Captain America, and Odd Squad from PBS Kids, with each offering designed to promote creativity, learning, and physical activity.
Parents Keeping Watch
The Galaxy Watch 7 is Samsung’s current flagship smartwatch, loaded with wellness and lifestyle features such as heart rate, sleep, and workout tracking. Those same sensors will be used on the kids’ version to monitor daily activity and encourage healthy habits.
Even though the Watch 7 works with any Android phone, setting up the Watch 7 in kids’ mode requires a Samsung Galaxy smartphone running One UI 5.1 or above. The phone will use Google’s Family Link account-sharing tool to complete the setup, similar to how parents can use the Apple Watch for Kids mode with an iPhone and an Apple Watch.
Once set up, parents can enable location sharing to check on their child's whereabouts through the watch. They can also call or text the child through the watch and manage the watch's contacts to set who else the kid can call or text. Children can send an SOS message by pressing the side button five times, which notifies the established emergency contact.
(Credit: Andrew Gebhart)Parents can also control app doanloads and limit which activities are available on the watch in a customizable school-time mode.
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Apps and Games for Kids
While parents can use this mode for extra peace of mind, the on-device experience has also been customized to make the watch fun for kids. The watch will still use Google’s Wear OS operating system, with access to Google’s many watch apps through the Play Store with parent approval. As part of the launch, Google is adding 20 new apps and watch faces to a kids section of the Play Store, each of which has been “teacher approved” according to the company.
New options include a Rubik’s Cube watch face that lets kids attempt to solve the classic puzzle with 3D animations. MathTango uses dancing monsters to encourage kids to practice multiplication. The store will also have a Barbie-themed coloring game, a dancing game with Marvel characters like Groot and Hulk, and a problem-solving game with the PBS Odd Squad.
Samsung will also offer unique, colorful bands to go along with the watch.
Pricey Peace of Mind
With the new kids mode, Samsung is taking on dedicated kid-friendly wearables such as the Editors' Choice-winning Fitbit Ace LTE ($229.95) and the Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 ($149.99). Needless to say, the asking price of an LTE Galaxy Watch 7 is steep for a child’s watch, especially since Apple offers similar parent controls on older and more affordable models. This mode also requires the parent to have a Samsung phone, which limits the potential audience given that the Ace LTE and the Gizmo Watch 3 work across Android and iOS handsets.
Nevertheless, the features make sense as a way to give parents peace of mind, plus some of the kid-specific apps even sound fun to me, a full-grown adult. This kids’ mode might roll back to older Samsung watches at some point, but it could make sense for your family already if you’re invested in Samsung and want a fun option for keeping tabs on your child.
Samsung’s showing off lots of new gadgets and features for adults at Unpacked as well. Stay tuned for all of the announcements from the show.