Kids Smart Watch Review – TinyTrack Buddy and SideKick

This kids smart watch review has got to the most fun my kids and I have had with any review so far. I have to admit that while I had heard of smart watches it never occurred to me to look up smart watches for kids.

Honestly I am not the most techie person around. Here’s an admission, I only bought my first smart phone last year, yes in 2016, and even then it was not without a fight. I gave up my old trusty Nokia with resentment when the echo got too bad to make calls and acquired myself a Samsung smart phone.

So when Quantifi asked me to do this review I was excited but also a little nervous about it, thankfully I had my five year old daughter only too keen to help me figure it all out, plus the great team at Quantifi to help me when I had any questions!

***UPDATED 2022 – IT APPEARS THESE WATCHES ARE OFF THE MARKET***

What does the TinyTrack SideKick and TinyTrack Buddy Offer?

The TinyTrack SideKick and TinyTrack Buddy are quite similar smart watches when it comes to the features that they offer, with the biggest difference being that the SideKick is a touch screen while the Buddy is an OLED.

You need to use a 3G Micro Sim card that is data and voice activated. You download the TinyTrack V1 app for the Buddy and the TinyTrack V2 app for the SideKick and manage everything through your app.

So here is a rundown of the important features of these smart watches.

Calling, Voice Messaging and Text Messaging

You can make calls to and from these smart watches as well as send and receive voice messages. The smart watches can receive one way text messages.

Real-time Tracking

You can track the smart watch’s location via GPS in real time and keep track of your kids movements. If the watch is turned off it will store the last known location before the watch was turned off.

SOS

You can send SOS messages from the smart watch, recordings and location status alerts to preset contacts.

Geofence

You can set predetermined boundaries and if the watch leaves those boundaries you will be notified.

School Mode

You can set school times and during those times all functionalities except the time and SOS alerts are restricted.

Adding of Friends

Your children can add friends that have the same model smart watch by pairing them using bluetooth when they are within range.

What was my personal experience of the SideKick and Buddy smart watches?

I absolutely loved them and so did my kids. The joy on my five year old daughter’s face when I added her Ouma to her list of family members and she made her first phone call on the SideKick was beyond pure ecstasy.

My three year old son had loads of fun with the Buddy and I can certainly see why the recommended age is from five years old. He just went crazy pushing everything and anything he could, dialing up family members and sending SOS alerts like there was no tomorrow. So I wouldn’t recommend letting your three year old loose with one and I am going to be keeping the Buddy for him until he is a little bit older!

My five year old daughter figured out the SideKick so fast and was off and away with it.

I love the whole idea of smart watches for kids, my reason being that there are so many kids with mobile phones at ridiculously young ages and it worries me.

There is the safety aspect of having access to the internet, which makes me really uncomfortable and then there are all those stories I hear about children having access to cameras on their phones and the internet and sending pics out on Whatsapp too. It is such a dangerous combination!

These smart watches give all the control back to the parents, which is exactly where it should be.

Your child cannot make a phone call unless the parent or admin of the account adds that number. Yes your child can add a friend that has the same smart watch, but you can see all your child’s friends on your mobile through the app.

I also love the additional little feature of being able to set an alarm through the app on your mobile, I can see how handy that will come in for getting your child up in the morning, setting reminders for your child to do homework and many other things like household chores. Yes I have an evil grin on my face right now. No more saying “Oh I forgot Mommy” right?

I do advise that if you plan on getting TinyTrack watches for your kids to get all the same ones considering that firstly they can only make friends with the same model and also the different models use different apps and it would be much more convenient to use one app to manage all your kids than to have a different app for each child.

So let’s get to the really fun stuff! TinyTrack is giving away one TinyTrack Buddy smart watch to one of our lucky readers, so let’s get started.

TinyTrack Buddy Kids Smart Watch Giveaway

Feel free to head on over to the TinyTrack Facebook Page and give them a like, no it won’t make you win the competition but its just nice to say thanks for the giveaway!

To enter into the draw answer the quiz below – you will have to get all the answers correct to be entered into the draw, but don’t worry there are links for you to follow to go and find the answers!

To increase your chances of winning share this post on social media using the share buttons below and include the hashtags #KidsSmartWatchGiveaway #TinyTrack #Kaboutjie

This competition closes on the 12th May 2017.

This Competition Is Closed For Entries

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