The Pinwheel Watch is a kid-safe Apple Watch Extremely lookalike to placate your tween

The Pinwheel Watch doesn’t scream “this can be a children’ machine.” The brand new smartwatch, unveiled at Pepcom throughout CES 2025, doesn’t have a chunky, brightly coloured casing or super-thick bezels. It’s truly fairly smooth, with a construct like a barely bigger Apple Watch — plus a bit of digital camera bump — and swappable straps of various kinds. To tech-aware children who’ve begun bugging their dad and mom for a smartwatch similar to they’ve, it could simply go as an analogue for an grownup wearable. However it’s additionally filled with security options meant to supply solely the quantity of connectedness that folks really feel snug with. And an AI chatbot, as a result of, in fact.

Pinwheel already has a smartphone platform that permits for parent-approved communications, however the watch is a standalone 4G LTE mobile machine with its personal cellular plan (about $15 in accordance with the corporate) and the power to make calls, ship texts and, down the road, do video chats. Mother and father can decide the extent of intervention they assume is suitable for his or her children, and alter these settings within the Pinwheel app as they see match.

For a youthful child, they may set it so all contacts should be accredited, whereas a 14-year-old may be granted the liberty so as to add no matter mates they need with out approval. Mother and father can remotely monitor textual content and name historical past, and switch off sure options — like picture sending — individually for contacts. It additionally gives GPS location monitoring so dad and mom can preserve tabs on their children’ whereabouts.

Past fundamental communication, there are a bunch of options which might be simply meant for enjoyable. There are built-in video games, like a helicopter sport I actually loved taking part in that entails tapping the display screen on the proper time to gather gems and preserve it within the air, and a kid-friendly model of ChatGPT known as PinwheelGPT. The corporate says the chatbot has been examined for all of the widespread workarounds used to trick this stuff into doing what they shouldn’t, so it gained’t produce inappropriate responses when prompted to. And fogeys can see these chats, together with deleted ones. “You’ll be able to definitely ask it no matter, nevertheless it will not reply,” stated Pinwheel co-founder Dane Witbeck. “It rapidly backs out and says, ‘hey, that is one thing it is best to discuss to a trusted grownup about.’” The abysmal hotel-casino Wi-Fi on the crowded occasion prevented me from truly placing that to the take a look at, although.

The Pinwheel Watch will go on sale later this 12 months for $160 (plus the month-to-month mobile subscription). It’s rated IP67, so it ought to be fairly sturdy in opposition to spills, grime and different child messes. For fogeys inquisitive about a safer method to let their kids begin utilizing good gadgets to speak to their family and friends, Pinwheel’s watch might be a fairly first rate choice, particularly for youths in tween territory that won’t need an especially restricted, immature-looking wearable.