8 Best Kids Smartwatches of 2026

TickTalk 6 is a parent-managed watch that covers the main reasons families skip a phone: calls, texts and location. Kids can make voice calls and FaceTalk video calls, send real SMS and reach 911 in the US, while games, social media and the open internet are left out. TickTalk says GPS can update in as fast as 2 seconds, with Location History and SmartPin for places your child visits often. The watch uses a built-in eSIM on TickTalk Wireless, where the Essential plan costs $9.99 a month for 1 GB of data and 1,000 talk minutes and Premium costs $19.99 a month for unlimited data, talk and text, both with no contracts or activation fees. Parents can stay on any carrier and run everything from the TickTalk Parent App. The 700 mAh battery is rated for about 48 hours of light use and around 20 hours of heavy use. The watch is aimed at ages 3 to 12, so it suits elementary school best.

Cosmo built the JrTrack 5 SE for kids who are not ready for a smartphone but need to reach parents during the school day. It handles nationwide LTE calling and text, video and voice messages with parent-approved contacts only, and leaves out social media and the open internet. Location runs on HaloGPS, a dedicated chip that Cosmo says gives precise, real-time tracking, with geofences, arrival alerts and location history. SOS alerts go to every guardian, and School-Fi silences the watch in class. A 2 MP camera and App Station with music add some fun. The hardware has a 1.4 inch touchscreen, IP68 water resistance and a 680 mAh battery rated at 18 to 24 hours on default settings. At $129.99 it is the cheapest watch here, but the membership is $19.99 a month unless you prepay, which drops it to $14.99 for a year or $12.99 for two years.

Gabb Watch 3e keeps things simple for younger children: it calls and texts parent-approved contacts, shares location and stays off the internet. Gabb lists up to 100 approved contacts, unlimited calls and texts, group texting, AI-assisted content filtering and email alerts for parents. Kids can reply with speech-to-text, audio messages, presets, a 9-key keypad or emojis, which helps children who are still learning to type. Safe Zones send a notification within 15 minutes when a child enters or leaves a set area, but Gabb notes that GPS updates arrive roughly every 15 minutes and are not a real-time service. The SOS button calls the child's primary contact, and the watch cannot call 911. Hardware includes IP68 water resistance, a 1.41 inch screen and wireless charging, with 14 to 18 hours of battery in normal use. The watch costs $209.99 on sale and needs a Gabb plan from $12.99 a month.

The Gizmo Watch 4 is Verizon's own kids watch and the natural choice if the family already pays Verizon. It gets its own phone number, and kids can call, text or video chat with up to 40 parent-approved contacts, so random numbers and spam are shut out. Parents manage it in the Verizon Family app at no extra cost, with real-time geofence alerts, Auto-Answer, to-do lists and Watch Removal Detection. School Mode locks games and interactive features during school hours while keeping the SOS button active. The hardware is the most rugged of the kid-specific watches here, with a 5ATM rating for swimming, a Water Lock mode and a 1.6 inch AMOLED screen under Gorilla Glass. Verizon lists up to 36 hours of usage time. Device payments start at $4.99 a month for 36 months, plus the watch line. Video calls cap at three minutes, and the watch averaged 2.8 out of 5 from Verizon shoppers when we checked.

The Bark Watch takes a Samsung Galaxy Watch8 and runs it with Bark's parental controls, so the hardware is far nicer than most kids watches: a 1.34 inch sapphire crystal display, Armor Aluminum case and 5ATM, IP68 and MIL-STD-810H ratings. What sets it apart is monitoring. Bark scans texts, photos and videos for signs of bullying, predators and suicidal ideation and sends parents an alert when something concerning appears. Kids get their own number for LTE calls and texts, group texting and speech-to-text, plus an SOS feature that calls 911, while browsers, games and social media are left out. Parents see location in the Bark App and decide whether new contacts need approval. The device costs $288 and the plan is $15 a month, which includes a Bark App subscription for the rest of the family's devices and free number transfer. The 325 mAh battery is small, so expect to charge it daily.

Bounce 2 is Garmin's answer for parents who want to delay the smartphone, and it leans on Garmin's fitness background. Over LTE, parents can call the watch and swap voice messages from the Garmin Jr. app, and kids can text parent-approved contacts and family groups with a full on-device keyboard. Real-time location shows in the app, with notifications when a child enters or leaves a parent-defined area, and an Assistance feature calls family contacts and sends a LiveTrack link. Built-in GPS sports apps track running, walking and biking, plus swim laps and sleep. Parents can assign chores with coin rewards, set school mode and do-not-disturb, and manage up to 50 contacts. Garmin rates the battery at up to 2 days, and the subscription is managed by Garmin, so there is no carrier to change. The catch is price: $299.99 for the watch at Garmin's US store, plus the required subscription.

Apple Watch SE 3 is the cheapest Apple Watch, and Apple lets a parent set up any GPS + Cellular model for a child who does not have an iPhone. The child gets their own phone number and Apple Account, and the parent manages the watch from the Apple Watch app on their own iPhone, pairing one watch for each child. Kids can call and text the contacts you approve, including by voice, and Find My shows their location with alerts when they arrive somewhere, get home or leave a place like school. Communication Safety blocks detected nudity in Messages and FaceTime video messages and now intervenes on gore and violence too. The SE 3 starts at $249 for the GPS model, but a child's watch must be the GPS + Cellular version, which costs more, and it needs a carrier plan. That makes it the most capable watch here and one of the most expensive, best kept for tweens in iPhone families.

Galaxy Watch for Kids is a mode rather than a separate device: it turns a Galaxy Watch8, Watch7 or Watch6 LTE into a child's watch that works without a phone. Parents manage it with Google Family Link from their own Galaxy smartphone, setting approved contacts, time limits and which apps the child can download from Google Play. Location sharing shows the last location while the watch is worn and sends alerts when a child leaves or arrives at a set place, and school time schedules Do Not Disturb. Activity tracking runs on Samsung Health, and kid apps and watch faces from Crayola, Barbie, Marvel and Unicorn Academy add appeal. The fine print matters: the watch needs initial pairing with a compatible Samsung smartphone and an LTE plan, contact limits only cover Google Messages, Phone by Google and Samsung Phone, and Samsung warns that location may not be reliable in an emergency. Samsung's US price did not show in the page text we checked.