Parenting can be terrifying sometimes, particularly when it comes to tech.
The sad reality is that we live in an age where even products and technology that are created with the best intentions can be ruined by bad actors. I have two daughters, and despite our best efforts, my wife and I have been unable to fully keep the kids safe from some of the more nefarious corners of YouTube, TikTok, and Roblox. A big part of the problem is that the majority of digital “smart” devices on the market — tablets, smartphones, smartwatches, computers, you name it (even the Chromebooks provided by the schools!) — utilize parental controls that are often clunky and ineffective, and are plagued by safety and privacy tools that, frankly, just don’t work.
The Gabb Watch is a huge surprise. It’s a three-in-one phone, GPS tracker, and smartwatch that has parental controls that actually work as advertised without forcing parents or guardians to jump through unnecessary hoops. And, it has no internet access — zero — and is designed to cut down on screen-time while keeping families connected.
On the surface, it’s a stylish smartwatch that, at a glance, looks a bit like an Apple Watch. Under the hood, it’s running on the Gabb Wireless cellular network (built atop Verizon’s platform). You buy the watch and then choose from one of three different pricing options for unlimited talk and text that range from $9.99-16.99 a month, depending on the length of the plan.
Kids can make and receive calls from up to 10 approved contacts that a parent or guardian sets using the companion MyGabb app. Kids can also share voice messages of up to 20 seconds each with those 10 contacts, or send one of up to 15 preset, custom text messages and emojis. Kids won’t be able to receive any calls or messages from phone numbers that aren’t among the 10 approved by a parent or guardian.
Our oldest daughter (almost 13 years old) has been using her Gabb Watch daily, and the GPS function provides some additional peace of mind. We can locate her in real-time, and kids can also “check-in” when they reach a new destination, such as school, the park, or home. Parents can also set up a safe zone — a sort of “invisible fence” — that will alert a parent or guardian if the kid moves beyond its approved boundaries. While it is sweat/water-resistant, it is not waterproof, so don’t dunk it in the pool. And, if you want to be sure that there’s no distraction at school, Gabb Watch has a “lock mode” that can disable certain functions (aside from emergency calling) for a set period of time.
Of course, kid tech should be fun, and while there’s no internet on the Gabb Watch, the pre-installed Gabb Go app features a digital pet (think: Tamagotchi) that is designed to encourage kids to stay active and be productive. There’s a built-in step tracker, so parents can set daily step goals, and kids can earn coins that they can use to unlock new Gabb Go characters. Users can assign tasks to things like homework, but in the interest of knocking down screen-time, kids can only perform three tasks each day for their digital pet. Gabb Watch also has the watch functions you’d expect, like a timer, a stopwatch, and an alarm.
While the Gabb Watch is pretty stylish right out of the box, Gabb Wireless recently partnered with MobyFox to create a new line of watch bands and digital watch faces inspired by a galaxy far, far away. Created in collaboration with Lucasfilm, the Star Wars watch bands and faces feature iconic characters such as Princess Leia and Darth Vader, and newer ones, like Grogu aka Baby Yoda (the one my daughter is rockin’).
There are real questions of balance when it comes to tech for kids, particularly in an age where bad content is everywhere, but parents want to stay connected and keep their kids protected. Gabb Watch is a welcome step in the right direction and one that gives us some peace of mind in knowing that we can locate and communicate with our daughter without there being a constant distraction strapped to her arm.
