With the announcement of Fitbit Ace, geared towards kids this week, Fitbit now has a health-tracking smartwatch for every member of the family. The Ace is meant to be used by kids 8 and up. The decision goes well with research showing that’s the age when kids tend to become more sedentary.
In many ways the Fitbit Ace resembles the company’s Alta tracker, but with youthful interchangeable band colors and a few child-friendly tweaks. A bright display makes stats easy to read, even for elementary-age children.
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Child Safety
The most important feature in Ace is Fitbit’s new family account option, which gives parents control over how their child uses their tracker. The feature is compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. Using this feature, if the child wants to connect with a person, they must be approved by the parents.
Monitoring Sleep
The parents can also view their child’s activity progress and sleep trends, the latter of which can help them manage their children’s bedtimes. The Ace aims to help kids get 9 to 12 hours of sleep.
Remind Kids to Move
The Ace can automatically monitor active minutes, track steps, and remind kids to be active when they’ve been sedentary for too long.
The Ace’s default move goal is 60 minutes, in line with the World Health Organization’s recommendation that children between the ages of 5 and 17 get an hour of physical activity per day. For adults, the default move goal is 30 minutes.
Rewards for Being Active
Family Faceoff, another new feature, will let kids compete in a five-day step challenge against the other members of their family account. The children are also rewarded with in-app badges for achieving their health goals.
Fitbit Account Grows With the Kid
The Fitbit app experience will change when the kid turns the applicable age of consent in their country (age 13 in the U.S.). When they reach age of consent, the child will have access to the full functionality of the Fitbit app, including access to previously unavailable health and fitness data such as female health tracking, calorie, weight, and body fat measurements. They will also no longer need parental approval for social features within the app.
The Ace launch is part of the company’s wider goal of reaching out to new audiences.
The Ace will be available in blue and purple, is showerproof, and should last for five days on a single charge. This child-friendly band costs $99.95. It accompanies the lower-priced Versa. The Versa is meant as an everyday smartwatch rather than a fitness-only sports watch, like some of the company’s other products.
