Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) GPS + Cellular 40mm

I have kids that I do not feel are at the age to get a cell phone yet. They’re actually pretty responsible. However, they’re not there yet and this was our second solution to bridging the gap in needing to communicate with us.

First, this was relatively easy to set up. But, you need an updated iPhone for this. Check with Apple as you do need to have an iPhone but they’ll let you know exactly which models you can use. For reference I tried my old old iPhone 6s and it wouldn’t work. Its considered ancient by now. I had to purchased a used iPhone 11 for this purpose. You CAN use someone else’s phone in your family but here is the catch: although you will likely use the phone to set the watch up, you will need to reference that phone and the watch app within it to make some changes to the watch. I almost had grandma who was with us set it up but she then left to another state and it would have been a pain to call her and ask her to modify settings a few hours away from us.

Once set up, it’s easy for the kids to use. Mine use it to notify me of anything they need when they go back and forth between each parent’s home. If there is anything urgent they can send a message. Otherwise, because it lacks the massive array of distractions a general phone has, they don’t meddle with it too much. For example, I’ve never had to say ” so and so please put your watch away and pay attention to…”. Yea… Hasn’t happened yet. They have played around with their emoji face and keep track of their steps and challenge us with it. Otherwise, it serves as a way to call and message when needed.

We could have cared less for what color because ultimately we bought screen protectors to cover the screen and they come in different colors. The same goes for the watch strap.

For our needs:
– we needed it for the messaging and call function.
– the added plus is the “Find My” section. We have tried using the apple air tag and that was awful in updating in real time (or as close to it as needed). The find my feature on the watch is way more accurate and faster to update. We don’t need to track out kids’ steps every waking moment. But we use this after school to know when they’ve left school, are on the bus and when we should leave to pick them up. You can set up alerts for locations so we have an alert set when our kids leave the school. This pops up on my phone and says ” So and So has left 1234 School Drive” and how long ago that was. It also allows you to set alerts for when they arrive also. This helps us BIG time. The air tag wouldn’t update for long periods of time.

Charging: it charges quickly in less than an hour (probably less than 30 min) and it lasts all day. But, be careful to close our apps that are in use and can drain the battery . The first day of school and first day using this the watch died half way through. My kid had left the alarm, activity feature, text, and a few other items opened. Now they know to close them out after using it.

It does what it needs to do, looks good. I got the sporty band and it is good but gets dirty easily and a little bit difficult to clean, would suggest the leather band if you don’t want the hassle. It does what any other smart watch would do but it is good within the apple ecosystem and looks a little fancier. I am a little disappointed in the duration of the charge as I feel like with this price it would last a little longer, but overall I got what I expected with this item.

Does everything I need to. Great