Fitness trackershave become a ubiquitous tool for monitoring health metrics, such as blood pressure, steps, and heart rate. Many health-conscious individuals use them to achieve their fitness goals, and some health insurance providers offer discounts to users. However, if you’ve been thinking about trying to instill some healthy and fun habits into your children, there are fitness trackers focused on kids that could help.
Aside from the aesthetics, one of the differences you’ll find with fitness trackers for kids is their durability and kid-friendly controls. With features like exercise apps, animated clock faces, and award badges, a fitness tracker might be just the motivation your child needs to maintain an active lifestyle. It’s not wrong to give your kids an after-school snack andtablet time, but why not give them a piece of tech to encourage more physical activity?
Fitbit Ace 3
Fitbit Ace LTE
Biggerfive Vigor 2 L
Garmin Vivofit Jr 3
Xiaomi Smart Band 8
Amazfit Band 7
Cubitt Jr Smart Watch
Garmin Bounce
Top fitness trackers for kids
Great all-around model for kids
The Fitbit Ace 3 offers kid-centric controls, and a durable build is what you’d expect from this reputable brand. Plus, parents will love that they can send smartphone notifications and track their child’s health progress.
Fitbit has been a trusty fitness tracker for years, and it’s nice to know that they put the same care and attention into the Ace 3 as they have with their adult counterparts. You won’t find a calorie counter or anything weight-loss specific, but it measures your child’s activity. So whether they’re playing tag, jumping on the backyard trampoline, or shooting hoops, the Fitbit Ace 3 tracks it.
Keep in mind that there’s no GPS tracking; however, you can monitor your child’s progress with your smartphone. The Ace 3 doesn’t only track your child’s daily activities; it’s also a solid sleep tracker.
It has a user-friendly interface, controlled by pinching the sides or swiping the screen to toggle easily through modes. Its bright monochrome OLED uses simple touchscreen controls, perfect for little fingers. The display is only 1.4 inches, though that should be plenty big for a child’s wrist.
Kids will love all the custom clock faces and animations designed to motivate, like a rocket ship that propels once they meet their goals. Battery life is also impressive and a significant upgrade from the Ace 2. The Ace 3 should last up to 8 days, three days longer than the previous generation.
What catapults the Ace 3 to the top of this list, however, are all the little touches made specifically for younger users, like its silicone band. The band is soft to the touch and comfortable enough for long-term wear. Don’t let the softness fool you. Your little tree climber will have a tough time snapping this strap. Plus, the silicone wraps around the screen for extra protection.
This tracker is also water-resistant up to 50 meters, so long afternoons at the pool won’t be an issue. That said, don’t forget to select Water Lock mode before going for a swim — this will prevent the buttons from activating.
More than a fitness tracker
The Fitbit Ace LTE may be expensive, but for the right kid (and parent), it’s worth the price. This durable fitness tracker encourages kids to move through engaging games, Tamagotchi-esque creatures, and setting reachable daily movement goals. Parents will love the easy-to-use app and location map and the ability to call and text their kids via the Fitbit Ace App.
We recently reviewed Google’s Fitbit Ace LTE, and there’s a lot to like. In some ways, this watch has more in common with a smartwatch than a fitness tracker. For starters, you can call and text with it, though you’ll need the Fitbit Ace appanda subscription to the Ace Pass. For $10 per month, you’ll get 4G LTE and access to an increasing roster of games. You’ll even be able to track your kid’s location with a detailed, Google-powered map.
The Ace LTE is a tough little watch, too, with its scratch-resistant screen and IP68 water-resistant rating. The watch band is equally durable, and you can purchase up to six varieties and two band styles –Active Bands and Comfort Bands. Active bands are more sporty and use a soft, breathable polyurethane material; Comfort bands are equally soft, but opt for a stretchy fabric material.
But we’d wager the part kids are going to like the most about any of the bands they choose is the eejie, a digital human-like creature. Each band comes with its own theme and eejie that resides in the Bit Valley. Through the completion of daily movement goals, kids earn clothes, accessories, and furniture for their eejie.
There are also several games on the Ace LTE designed to encourage movement. Whatever game they choose to play, kids are only allotted up to five minutes of gameplay until the Fitbit prompts them to get up and earn “move points.” Kids will have to shoot some hoops, do some jumping jacks, or go on a short bike ride before they can continue playing.
Considering the impressive OLED screen and colorful cartoonish graphics, the games are enticing enough to keep kids from sitting around the house all day.
Google’s Fitbit Ace LTE is a near-perfect fitness tracker for kids
It’s absolutely worth the price
While we wish the battery life lasted longer and that parents didn’t have to use the app for calls and texts, Google’s Fitbit Ace LTE is worth the money, especially if you aren’t ready to spring for a smartphone.
A cost-effective choice
The Vigor 2 L stands out as an economical, yet reliable fitness tracker, mirroring the Fitbit’s vibe at a way lower price. Designed with children in mind, it uses a comfy silicone strap. What’s more, its IP68 rating ensures it withstands dust, water, and general wear. It comes with plenty of activity modes, from running to dancing. All in all, it’s a value-packed companion for your kid’s active lifestyle.
The Vigor 2 L looks much like a Fitbit, except it’s significantly less expensive. We don’t all want to spend an arm and a leg on something our kids may lose on the playground or at the neighborhood pool. As long as you temper your expectations, this is a solid value pick.
The fitness tracker may be a budget buy, but its soft silicone strap and IP68 rating don’t feel cheap. Dust, water, and general grime won’t be a problem. In fact, your kids can wear the tracker while they go for a swim in a pool, but we’d stay clear of oceans and hot baths, as the Vigor 2 L isn’t durable enough for saltwater or extreme temperatures.
Since this is a fitness tracker, it should come as no surprise that the Vigor 2 L has plenty of activity modes, including running, basketball, cycling, and more — there’s even a dancing mode. The activity tracker keeps up with your kids' activities for a 24-hour cycle, monitoring things like steps, distance, and calories. All of these data points are easy to monitor through the Biggerfive app.
Biggerfive Vigor 2 review: Perfectly priced fitness tracker for your kids
An easy way to help kids stay active while staying in control of their health data
Parents are in complete control over all the settings. Through the app, you can monitor and manage which sports to track, everything from cycling to basketball. If you have a teen who likes to sleep, the Vigor 2 L can act as a silent alarm clock, using gentle vibrations to wake them without disturbing others. The Vigor app also allows you to monitor heart rates and sleep cycles.
Sure, it’d be nice if the display wasn’t so dim, but at $30, it’s hard to complain. The Vigor 2 L still offers generous features and a durable build for the price.
A feature-rich choice worth every cent
With its excellent battery life and equally excellent apps, the Garmin Vivofit Jr 3 boasts the same quality as its adult counterpart. Plus, it provides unique features like chore reminders, personal challenges, and helpful widgets.
Like Fitbit, Garmin is a household name for fitness tracker enthusiasts. Their Vivofit Jr. has been around for a few generations, and the latest iteration is probably its best so far. Its premium price tag might be hard to swallow, but this little guy has a lot to offer.
First off, this thing is durable. Its rugged, silicone strap provides that notable Garmin durability without adding bulk to tiny wrists. This tracker is also built with water in mind, so extended submersion shouldn’t be an issue. Also, the Vivofit Jr. 3 has a battery life of up to a year, so no worries about it running out. However, users eventually have to replace the battery.
The brightly colored display is nice, albeit underwhelming. Depending on which model you choose, your kiddo will be greeted by Jasmine, Baby Yoda, a Marvel character, or one of the several non-Disney-related avatars. It’s not a high-resolution display, nor is it a touchscreen, but you can customize the clock face and select different wallpapers. Still, it gets the job, and most importantly, it’s easy to read in direct sunlight.
Since this is a Garmin fitness tracker, the Vivofit Jr. has plenty of useful apps and widgets. Aside from the standard fitness-tracking apps and sleep monitoring, it also provides motivational apps, like the chore tracker. Kids can check off chores, and parents can pay them with digital coins via the Smartphone app. Your kids can then “cash” them in with you for a more palpable prize.
Plus, kids can unlock games they can play on their (or your) smartphones after reaching their exercise goal. It’s a handy incentive and makes the drudge of exercise more fun. And on a more serious note, the Vivofit Jr. comes with practical widgets, like ICE (In Case of Emergency), so you can provide contact information like a phone number or address.
Grown-up features for growing kids
The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 emerges as a fashionable, yet practical, choice for teens, ditching the childish aesthetic for a sleek design. The tracker excels with over 150 workout modes and an amazing 16-day battery life with rapid charging. However, the Smart Band 8’s strap durability and unique charger present minor inconveniences. Nonetheless, it stands out as a value-packed option.
The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 lacks the kiddish vibe of some of our other picks, but we think the older teen in your life will prefer it. It’s slim and lightweight and provides a near-limitless selection of watch faces for its 1.62 AMOLED display. In short, the Smart Band 8 is pretty stylish. But it’s abundantly practical, too.
As our review notes, this fitness tracker offers over 150 workout modes, paying special attention to things like stride and cadence calculation. If your teen is a runner, these types of tracking features are especially useful.
And if you’d like a more detailed reading, you can attach the Smart Band 8 to your shoes and activate the Pebble Mode. This mode gives runners an accurate summary of their running form, flight ratio, and ground contact time. Durability-wise, it can handle 50 meters of water, though it’s not built for intense water sports (like rafting), saunas, and steamy showers.
You’d be justified to assume that the battery life on the Smart Band 8 is average at best, but we discovered otherwise. Surprisingly, this fitness tracker will last you 16 days. Even better, it only takes an hour to fully charge. There aren’t many fitness trackers in the sub $50 price range that can boast numbers like that.
Xiaomi Smart Band 8 review: Fitness tracking on a budget
This is a lot of fitness band for just $50
However, the Smart Band 8 is not without some minor flaws. For one, the strap comes undone pretty easily. Also, the magnetic battery charger means you’ll have yet another cord to keep track of — hasn’t Xiaomi heard of USB-C cables? Despite these demerits, Xiaomi’s Smart Band 8 is an affordable fitness tracker, perfect for teens looking for premium features at a lower cost.
A smart fitness tracker for less
The Amazfit Band 7 is another excellent option for older kids and teens. It showcases a seemingly endless variety of watch faces and sports modes, and metrics like heart rate and sleep tracking provide easy ways for kids to keep their health in check. Couple that with its built-in Alexa and 18-day battery life, and you have a budget-minded fitness tracker that doesn’t skimp on features.
The Amazfit Band 7 is a worthwhile choice for older kids and teens. Its 1.47-inch display is not too big or small and compliments the slim design. Plus, they’ll love having over 50 watch faces and customizable widgets to choose from.
From a practical angle, you’ll find 120 sports modes with the usual options, like running, tennis, cycling, and even more unique selections, like yoga. For the health-conscious, the Band 7 tracks heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep, and stress levels. With a simple button tap, results can be retrieved in as little as 45 seconds.
Another convenient perk is that Alexa comes with the Band 7. With it, you can set alarms, respond to texts, and more. The response time might be a tad slower than if you were using a Fire tablet or an Echo Show, but for $50, it’s not too bad. However, we should mention there’s no speaker, so all of Alexa’s responses are text-based. Still, Amazfit’s Zepp OS and companion Zepp app offer a wealth of tools.
From the Band 7, you can control music on your phone, track your cycle, keep a calendar, and much more. We also appreciate that we can view more detailed health data in the Zepp app. Unfortunately, you won’t find GPS, NFC, or cellular options. The lack of GPS is the biggest bummer for those of us who like to go for runs without our phones, so if you want accurate distance info, you’ll need to take your phone along.
Amazfit Band 7 review: Amazing fit for your casual exercise journey
Not an elite athlete or weekend warrior? You still deserve a high-quality fitness tracker, and this might be the one
Now, to the battery life. This is where the Band 7 shines, with Amazfit managing to fit a 232 mAh battery in this slim tracker. With typical usage, the Band 7 will run without a charge for an astounding 18 days, or 28 days if you enable the battery-saver mode.
Make fitness fun
The Cubitt Jr Smart Watch really shines because its games are made for mental and physical stamina. They’re also fun and engaging enough that most kids won’t even notice the edutainment nature of these health-promoting games.
If you’re raising a gamer, one of the best ways to encourage them to venture out of the house is to gamify physical activity. Enter the Cubitt Jr. Smart Watch.
With its attractive 1.4-inch IPS color touchscreen and extensive game library, it’ll easily get your kids burning calories, and they’ll have fun doing it. The watch features games specifically built to help boost alertness and intelligence, one of the few trackers on the list to include mental stamina alongside the physical variety.
However, the Cubitt Jr. is more than just fun and games. In addition to all-day fitness tracking, this watch supports some more unique modes, like body temperature tracking. And for kids that already own a smartphone, the Cubitt Jr. plays well with other devices, allowing push notifications and calls to pipe directly to the watch. With an active battery life of up to a week, it’s also great for kids who might forget to plug in their devices.
A fitness tracker that tracks your kid
The Garmin Bounce provides parents with a smartphone alternative and a GPS tracker for peace of mind. Plus, it includes some of the best fitness-tracking apps.
You might think the Garmin Bounce is too expensive, and you’re right. However, it’s so much more than a fitness tracker. It does everything a fitness tracker should, like monitoring activity levels and sleep cycles, but it even rewards kids with engaging games and quizzes after an hour of activity. There’s also an adventure app where they can learn about landmarks as you and your family travel the world.
But it’s not all fun and games; Garmin seems to understand this. For example, parents worried about unregulated classroom screen time can implement “School Mode” via the parental app, so their kids stay on task during the day. Moreover, the Bounce helps organize chores and to-do lists; when these tasks are complete, feel free to reward them with virtual coins.
The Bounce leaps ahead of the competition with its built-in GPS, which lets you track your kid wherever they are. You can also send text and voice messages for a low monthly (or annual) subscription, perfect for parents who want to hold off on giving their kids a smartphone.
All of these apps and features expend a lot of energy. The battery life only lasts two days, and charging takes about two hours, so given all the Bounce’s merits, it might be a calculable compromise.
Be the fun parent, responsibly
The best fitness trackers for kids kickstart healthy habits that hopefully last a lifetime. What your kid will care about, however, is a device that’s both easy and fun to use, and all of these picks cover that quite well. The real MVPs also include lots of parent-friendly features, so you’re able to keep a subtle eye on your kids' fitness goals.
The Fitbit Ace 3 does all of the above admirably (and looks great doing it), but if you’re searching for something less expensive that ticks most of those boxes, you may’t go wrong with Biggerfive’s Vigor 2 L. It performs near on-par with the Ace 3 and at a much lower price.
Alternatively, if you don’t mind spending more, Google’s Fitbit Ace LTE is one of the best premium kid fitness trackers money can buy. Its smart features, durability, and engaging games make its high price a little easier to swallow.
Whatever you choose, a fitness tracker is a helpful tool for encouraging an active lifestyle in a world that seems focused on kids staying glued to their screens. Along with fun incentives and family participation, you and your family can stay fit together. Of course, it’s not a cure-all, but for parents worried about technology encouraging idle behavior, a fitness tracker is the perfect way to harness tech to improve health.
The Fitbit Ace 3 offers kid-centric controls and a durable build, which is what you’d expect from this reputable brand. Plus, parents will love that they can send notifications via Smartphone as well as track their child’s health progress.
