A friend approached me with the question which smart watch to buy for her child, a 7 year old that will start to walk to school by herself. My friend wants the ease of mind that her daughter can call/notify her whenever something is up. And of course GPS tracking.<p>I already read a lot of really bad things going on security wise with a lot of those vendors [1]. For my own kids I will probably put of wearable "smart" tech until its not longer acceptable in their friends groups (probably around 12-14 here in my part of germany).<p>I guess I will not be able to persuade my friend from not buying something for the kid. So as an IT professional I wonder what advice I can give her.<p>Any vendors, certificates, setups that arguably stand out for you? Alternatives?<p>[1] eg https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24763110
My general advice is that children benefit more from high capability tools than from crappy tools marketed as for children. [1]<p>A regular smartphone is a better choice.<p>Android devices are cheap, but reliable.<p>iPhones of course are also reliable but not cheap.<p>Integrating either with the parents smartphone won't depend on some crappy app.<p>Of course I might convince you with all this, but probably not your friend because people mostly want their choices confirmed, not torpedoed...and your friend isn't on HN.<p>Good luck.<p>[1] There are many stories of people's programming journey starting with an Apple II or C64 or a 486. None with a Speak and Spell.