Kids smart watches and trackers. Subscription options?
Discussion
Oldest child has an Xplora 6. We will use it to give her some contact options and for location tracking on the walk to school. Fir context, age 10, outer London. It wasn't like this in my day etc etc but that's how it is.
Any advice from people people who have trodden this path before?
It has a SIM pre installed and I can scan a qr code to activate it and download the app. It will work perfectly and cost me about £8 per month. But Xplora seem reluctant to tell me what I'm getting for my money. How much data, minutes etc and where are the hidden costs.
On Giffgaff I can get 6gb for the same cost and unlimited calls etc. I'd rather do that but then no idea if it will pair with the app on my phone or all the features we need are working.
No info on Xploras site, I'm sure they keep it deliberately vague to protect their ongoing revenue stream.
I appreciate any advice!
Any advice from people people who have trodden this path before?
It has a SIM pre installed and I can scan a qr code to activate it and download the app. It will work perfectly and cost me about £8 per month. But Xplora seem reluctant to tell me what I'm getting for my money. How much data, minutes etc and where are the hidden costs.
On Giffgaff I can get 6gb for the same cost and unlimited calls etc. I'd rather do that but then no idea if it will pair with the app on my phone or all the features we need are working.
No info on Xploras site, I'm sure they keep it deliberately vague to protect their ongoing revenue stream.
I appreciate any advice!
I got my daughter this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/imoo-Z1-Smartwatch-Long-l...
With some kind of cheap sim. Works perfectly. The app has a chat, tracking and video calling function. I also discovered a setting where it will auto answer to my number only. It means the kid would suddenly hear your voice without having to answer it. Only downside is, it doesn’t do WhatsApp though. I was tempted to try and hack the OS, but decided it was more hassle than it’s worth.
With some kind of cheap sim. Works perfectly. The app has a chat, tracking and video calling function. I also discovered a setting where it will auto answer to my number only. It means the kid would suddenly hear your voice without having to answer it. Only downside is, it doesn’t do WhatsApp though. I was tempted to try and hack the OS, but decided it was more hassle than it’s worth.
We went for Space Talk, although its probably too 'babyish' if she is heading for secondary school.
But for reference if anyone else is looking, we purchased through Sky as an "all in" monthly payment, so you got the SIM, the data and minutes, the watch, the app and the subscription for 3 years.
https://www.sky.com/shop/mobile/phones/spacetalk/s...
It was good for peace of mind and daughter really liked it. Was pretty cool in that is designed for school, so there are modes that turn off all functions other than tracking and emergency calling (to you) so they don't start messing with them in class.
She now is at secondary school so have moved to a regular (non smart) watch and an apple air tag on her house keys. However this isn't perfect as it keeps beeping in school because her phone is off and it thinks it's following other people, which is no good for school. I've yet to solve that as it might just be how I've set it up.
But for reference if anyone else is looking, we purchased through Sky as an "all in" monthly payment, so you got the SIM, the data and minutes, the watch, the app and the subscription for 3 years.
https://www.sky.com/shop/mobile/phones/spacetalk/s...
It was good for peace of mind and daughter really liked it. Was pretty cool in that is designed for school, so there are modes that turn off all functions other than tracking and emergency calling (to you) so they don't start messing with them in class.
She now is at secondary school so have moved to a regular (non smart) watch and an apple air tag on her house keys. However this isn't perfect as it keeps beeping in school because her phone is off and it thinks it's following other people, which is no good for school. I've yet to solve that as it might just be how I've set it up.
So just an update on the progress with Xplora.
after getting them on customer service (no phone, only email - useless) they confirmed that for their £8/month sub you get 50 minutes, 0 texts and 150 MB data (yes, MB). Messages are done through data they say. So we made the right call. It set up OK once we connected it to the home wifi and downloaded some stuff (not sure, I told Mrs 2gins how to connect the wife and she did the rest. I let her do the wifi because you need child's fingers to enter the WPA key on the tiny screen and I like letting her struggle with the trivialities).
Xplora are not very helpful, or maybe its the times. All their product support is in the form of email chat with a 24 hr minimum turnaround, or official Youtube videos, and of course they take every opportunity to point you to their own extortionate subscriptions. £8/150 MB is £50/GB!
after getting them on customer service (no phone, only email - useless) they confirmed that for their £8/month sub you get 50 minutes, 0 texts and 150 MB data (yes, MB). Messages are done through data they say. So we made the right call. It set up OK once we connected it to the home wifi and downloaded some stuff (not sure, I told Mrs 2gins how to connect the wife and she did the rest. I let her do the wifi because you need child's fingers to enter the WPA key on the tiny screen and I like letting her struggle with the trivialities).
Xplora are not very helpful, or maybe its the times. All their product support is in the form of email chat with a 24 hr minimum turnaround, or official Youtube videos, and of course they take every opportunity to point you to their own extortionate subscriptions. £8/150 MB is £50/GB!
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