Kids' smartwatches: the downsides, first

Apple rates it at up to 18 hours. Tom's Guide says it often doesn't last the full 18 hours, and Wirecutter says it can run out before the day ends if a child messages friends and uses apps a lot. Parents' tester got a full day with average use.

Wirecutter says kids can use Siri to find apps and games, join group chats and view photos and videos. You can block downloads and Siri, but kids can exit Schooltime with the crown, group chats can't be turned off, and per-app time limits aren't available.

Wirecutter's tester's then-10-year-old scratched the screen within two weeks. Wirecutter also found parental controls more confusing to set up, since they're split between Screen Time and the Watch app. Tom's Guide notes most health features are switched off when the watch is assigned to a child.

Parents lists limited battery life as its con, saying it can drain very quickly depending on use. Wirecutter notes the radio can drain the battery, which is why you can limit it with parental controls.

Wirecutter says the TickTalk app can be a pain to set up, is more basic than Gizmo's, and doesn't let you refresh and see the child's live location quickly. Parents' tester, by contrast, set it up in under 10 minutes.

Wirecutter found the touchscreen sometimes too sensitive and other times not responsive at all.

Wirecutter says you can't text the watch's number from a normal phone: every contact who wants to text must install the app, and group texting is limited. One tester gave up because the child kept missing family group texts.

Wirecutter says location tracking can be inaccurate and slow to update and uses a lot of battery. Verizon rates the battery at up to 3.6 days of use, but Wirecutter's never lasted three days.

Wirecutter's earlier Gizmo Watch 3 stopped working after a short swim despite its IP68 rating, and some owners report watches cracking or breaking after contact with water. Wirecutter was billed for Verizon Mobile Protect after declining it, and calls Verizon's Gizmo privacy policy confusing.

Amazon's review summary says communication is mixed, with some owners reporting message and call problems. Low-star Walmart reviews describe significant lag between messages, horrible LTE, and calls and texts that rarely went through. Wirecutter isn't a fan of the communication either, since you can only send and receive calls and texts through the app.

Amazon's summary says battery life is mixed, with some owners saying it dropped from a week to 1-2 days. Several Walmart reviewers complain of short battery life. Parents lists up to 2 days.

Wirecutter says it's about as expensive as the Apple Watch SE 3, and Parents notes it isn't a budget pick. Parents also says the round screen sometimes cuts off text. Amazon's summary calls value mixed, and one Walmart reviewer says the GPS was always way off.

Parents says location wasn't as precise as other watches: it couldn't pinpoint the child within a city block and often showed the 12-year-old tester across the street. Its zones can be broad in a city.

Parents' tester saw scratches on the glass right away (a screen protector stopped further damage) and says the charging port can be finicky, so the watch may still be dead in the morning.

Parents says it doesn't connect to Wi-Fi, so video messages use cellular data and an unlimited plan makes sense. Verizon's product page shows a 2.7 out of 5 average from 105 reviews, compared with 4.0 for the Gizmo Watch 3 Adventure; the review text didn't load.

Wirecutter says the parent app repeatedly crashed and it struggled to find where to set up school mode. When its child accidentally dialed 911, the app never alerted or logged it as it's supposed to; Bark told Wirecutter it has since fixed this.

Parents says the camera quality and battery life fell short.

Wirecutter says its text messages occasionally wouldn't go through.

Wirecutter found this limiting and inconvenient. A low-star Walmart reviewer says calls and texts from the parent app didn't work when they were outside and off Wi-Fi.

Tom's Guide says it's rated for 16 hours and will likely last less in practice, even shorter than the Apple Watch SE 3. Low-star Walmart reviews also complain about battery life.

Wirecutter's calls were occasionally cut off, and the watch overheated after less than 10 minutes indoors. Walmart reviewers report it stopped working properly, didn't respond to app changes, and had a clock that couldn't be changed, which broke School Time. Others complain about very small text and the required $10 monthly subscription.

Amazon's review summary calls battery life poor, with some owners saying it lasts only 2-3 hours. Several 1-star Walmart reviews say it didn't hold a charge through a school day or lasted 4-5 hours, especially refurbished units. Parents lists battery life as 12-48 hours.

Amazon's summary says experiences with GPS accuracy and connectivity are mixed. Low-star Walmart reviewers describe a delayed location pin that doesn't update even when refreshed from the parent app, and location notifications that were completely off. Parents' tester, by contrast, found GPS accurate.

Wirecutter and Parents both note the $13-18/mo plan costs more than rivals, and Parents' tester wanted more features for that price. Wirecutter has read multiple complaints about customer service after a watch broke. Walmart reviewers report units that stopped turning on after a few months, couldn't be activated, or got stuck in Focus mode, and Amazon's summary calls reliability mixed.