Fitbit Ace LTE Smartwatch for Kids Debuts, Not in Canada Yet

Google has unveiled the Fitbit Ace LTE, a connected smartwatch designed for children aged seven and up. This new device offers kids interactive 3D games on their wrists while giving parents peace of mind through calling, messaging, and location sharing. A connected smartwatch with a cellular connection means you can stay in touch with you kid, without the need to buy them a cellphone yet (which they get hooked on).

The Fitbit Ace LTE encourages exercise through various games, with new ones coming periodically. Google says only parents can see their child’s location and activity data, and no third-party apps or ads are included. The smartwatch uses a new movement algorithm from Google Research to accurately track various physical activities.

A unique feature of the Fitbit Ace LTE is the “eejie,” a customizable creature that thrives on your child’s physical activity. As children reach their movement goals, they earn rewards to personalize their eejie’s appearance and home in Bit Valley. Gamifying exercise will ensure your kiddos keep moving to stay healthy (you can’t just play Roblox inside all day).

The smartwatch comes with six collectible bands that unlock different items and experiences when connected. For example, the blue Courtside band immerses the eejie in a basketball world, while the green band introduces Wally, Bit Valley’s resident Spooky Pug. This is a clever way to sell more bands to kids.

The Fitbit Ace LTE lets parents see their child’s real-time location, manage contacts, and control settings like School Time to minimize distractions. Future updates will add features such as Tap to Pay for safe access to a digital wallet, which is a cool idea too (for when lil’ Timmy wants a Slurpee on the way home from school).

This new kids watch is water-resistant up to 50 metres and has a scratch-resistant, dustproof Corning Gorilla Glass 3 screen, to go with battery life of over 16 hours.

The Fitbit Ace LTE start pre-orders in the United States only for $229.95 USD—sorry Canada. LTE connectivity is $9.99 USD per month or $119.99 USD annually. Those that jump on the annual LTE plan before August 31 will get a 50% discount, which is pretty good. The Fitbit Ace LTE hits the U.S. Google Store and Amazon US on June 5. No word when this will come to Canada but we’ll find out.

Google says the Fitbit Ace app works with most smartphones running Android 11.0 or newer or iOS 15 or newer.

The new Fitbit Ace LTE looks to compete with Garmin’s Bounce smartwatch for kids, which also has LTE connectivity and similar pricing for the LTE plans. We’ve put that watch through its paces and it works well for what it is (despite the Garmin software being super archaic, slow and hard to use).