Apple brings 'Apple Watch For Your Kids' to India: What it is, how it works and more

Apple Watch for your kids

Apple has introduced the Apple Watch For Kids feature in India. The feature doesn’t require kids to have an iPhone and can be useful for parents to monitor their children’s activities, location and more.

What it brings for children

Kids using Apple Watch For Your Kids will have their own phone number through a separate cellular plan, and by using their own Apple ID, they can follow their schedule and family events using Calendar, learn to manage tasks with Reminders, view photo albums synced from a guardian’s iPhone, and more. Also, a family member’s location can be shared with their guardian through the Find People app on Apple Watch. Apple has also made the location notifications more customisable, allowing the guardian to receive an update on their family member’s location for one occasion, or on a recurring or time-based schedule.

What benefits it brings

Apple has customised its popular Activity rings feature. The Activity rings experience has been optimised for kids to track Move minutes instead of kilojoules burned and provide customisable goals for the Exercise and Stand rings. Outdoor Walk, Outdoor Run, and Outdoor Cycle workouts have been specifically tuned for kids, giving appropriate credit for Move minutes, exercise, distance, and other metrics. Also, coaching notifications are tailored to relevant reading levels and made more fun with emoji. Kids can also send and receive Activity Sharing invitations directly on Apple Watch, challenge friends with Activity Competitions, and see an Awards page so milestones can be celebrated right on their wrist.

Apple Watch For Your Kids also includes a mode called Schooltime, which will help ensure kids stay focused and attentive in the classroom or at home. During Schooltime, a distinctive yellow circle is displayed on the watch face for teachers and parents to easily recognise, signifying that access to apps is restricted and Do Not Disturb is turned on.

Parents can also set the schedule on their iPhone so Apple Watch automatically goes into Schooltime during certain hours, or turn it on from Control Center on the child’s watch. To support responsible usage of the device, the Downtime feature of Screen Time extends to Apple Watch, with the child receiving a reminder five minutes before it begins.

Where is it available?

Apple Watch For Your Kids is available in India, on cellular models of Apple Watch Series 4 or later or Apple Watch SE, paired with iPhone 8 or later running the latest watchOS and iOS. However, not all features will be available if Apple Watch is set up through Apple Watch For Your Kids. A wireless service plan for Apple Watch is required for cellular service, currently available through Jio in India.