While some parents treat their kids to an Apple Watch, the Pinwheel Watch aims to offer an interesting alternative. The $160 cellular smartwatch combines strong parental controls with a kid-friendly AI chatbot.
Unlike the real thing, the Pinwheel includes a camera, with the company promising that video calling will be coming later this year …
Engadget says that unlike some smartwatches designed for kids, this one doesn’t look like a toy.
The Pinwheel Watch doesn’t scream “this is a kids’ device.” The new smartwatch, unveiled at Pepcom during CES 2025, doesn’t have a chunky, brightly colored casing or super-thick bezels. It’s actually pretty sleek, with a build like a slightly larger Apple Watch — plus a little camera bump — and swappable straps of different styles. To tech-aware kids who have begun bugging their parents for a smartwatch just like they have, it would easily pass as an analogue for an adult wearable.
Pinwheel says the parental controls offer a very high degree of power and flexibility.
For a younger kid, they might set it so all contacts need to be approved, while a 14-year-old can be granted the freedom to add whatever friends they want without approval. Parents can remotely monitor text and call history, and turn off certain features — like image sending — individually for contacts.
The company also claims the AI chatbot is kid-proof.
[It has] a kid-friendly version of ChatGPT called PinwheelGPT. The company says the chatbot has been tested for all the common workarounds used to trick these things into doing what they shouldn’t, so it won’t produce inappropriate responses when prompted to. And parents can see these chats, including deleted ones.
“You can certainly ask it whatever, but it won’t answer,” said Pinwheel co-founder Dane Witbeck. “It quickly backs out and says, ‘hey, that’s something you should talk to a trusted adult about.’”
The camera, sitting at the bottom of the watch, will support two-way video calls.
There’s no availability date yet beyond later this year, and in addition to the $160 purchase price it will need a custom cellular plan at around $15 per month.
Images: Pinwheel
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