How much of this can a smart watch do?

[goodkidsmaadhouse]

DD would like a phone for her upcoming 10th birthday. DH and I do not want her to have a phone yet.

We’ve asked her what she wants from a phone and the items on her list which she would be allowed are as follows (eg she wants YouTube but she’s not having it)
— make calls

• text
• listen to music
• take photos
• FaceTime friends

Is there a watch that can do most (all?!) of that? I’m assuming the FaceTime is impossible without a phone/tablet but I’ve told her she can use my phone to FaceTime if she wants to and she’s never taken me up on it.

I dont think taking photos would be an option either

I can only do those things (not photos or facetime though) with my smart watch because it is linked to my phone so I think a phone is a necessary part of it.

If you give her an old iPhone you can lock everything except those things you have mentioned

I'm not understanding why you don't just give her a phone as you seen to be looking for an alternative tool that does everything a phone does.

Personally I don't think 10 is old enough to have a device that allows texting and calls (which is basically all FaceTime is, a fancy call), but if you do think that 10 is old enough then get her a phone and lock it down to prevent internet access and apps like YouTube.

Smart watches don't have cameras, they can just operate the camera on your main phone. You can listen to music on them, but that music comes from your main phone, you can text and make calls but it will require again being linked to and near a main phone. Some watches come with cellular data plans so you can text/call just from them without your phone nearby, but at that point you'd be as well just paying for a phone. They are complementary devices to a phone, not replacements.

DD (11) has had a "phone" since Covid. At first it was set up with a speaker to listen to music only. When we got rid of the house phone, we set it up so she could face time me, DH and MIL.
She's now 11 and has had it as a proper phone for about 6 months. She only has access to allowed websites, no games. She has one friend on (doesn't want the drama of having the rest of the class!) who she can contact 7am- 7pm. You can set it so only you can add contacts, can limit who she can contact when E.g. allowed contacts all the time, the others between certain times of day.

Basically she uses it to listen to music. Occasionally send a friend a text, or call. Make videos when her friends are over.

If you want something that does all that give her a phone!

Mine got one for his 10th birthday but he is a geek. He sets up apps for fun. I said he could have one in year 6 for Christmas or birthday but he pointed out Christmas is a third of the way through Year 6 and his 11th birthday even further through. His reasoning was impressive at least!

You need a phone for the watch to work off.

A watch really only does all that because it's running off a phone.

Thanks all, neither DH nor I have a smart watch so I had no idea how they worked and someone had suggested one as a good alternative. I didn’t really realise you could lock phones down that well, I’m not good with tech so assumed she’d be able to access internet etc if she had one. But it sounds like I can block all that.

The text/phone would mainly to be contact me as she’s now walking quite far by herself to go places and I’d like to know when she gets there safely, or if she ever needs picking up because she’s feeling uncomfortable or something like that. Maybe texting some of her relatives as Grandma etc live a long way away.

Yes with an iPhone you can block and allow functions you want and also time settings if useful

Another benefit of child having an iPhone if you have another iPhone/iPad in the house is you can track the location of the phone if she’s reaching the age of going out alone.

That’s really good to know. We have got a very old iPhone kicking about so actually locking it down and paying for a year of a low data/call/text plan might be the most sensible (and not too expensive!) thing.

Its a good plan as low cost and if it doesn’t work out you can just take the phone back