What is Apple Watch for Your Kids and how does it work?

Apple Watch for Your Kids, formerly known as Family Setup, lets a parent set up a cellular Apple Watch for a child or older family member who doesn’t have an iPhone. The parent manages the watch from their own iPhone. Here’s what it does, what you need now, and how to set it up.

What is Apple Watch For Your Kids?

With Apple Watch for Kids, a parent or guardian can set up Apple Watch with cellular for kids or older people who do not have their own iPhones. The parent can use their iPhone to manage the kids’ Apple Watch.

Once set up, kids can use the Apple Watch freely without needing an iPhone. They can go to school, sports practice, a picnic, and anywhere without any concern, and the parent can know their whereabouts.

What can kids do with Apple Watch For Your Kids?

• Make and receive FaceTime audio calls and standard phone calls.
• Send and receive messages and emails.
• Connect Apple Watch to AirPods or any Bluetooth earphones & speaker and use Apple Music.
• Use Apple Cash Family (US only): This lets parents load money to kids’ Apple Watch, which they can utilize wherever Apple Pay is accepted.
• Have kid-oriented personalized Activity goals/Activity rings.
• Use custom Memoji right from the Apple Watch using its Memoji app.
• Use safety and everyday features without needing an iPhone, like Emergency SOS, Maps, Siri, Alarms, and the App Store.

What family members can do with their Apple Watch?

Receive emergency SOS notifications

If the parents or guardians are set as emergency contacts (which they should be), they’ll be notified in emergencies. Kids can look at their Medical ID for relevant information. Plus, the guardian can also view the health and activity of their family members using the iPhone’s Health app.

Set Schooltime Schedule

During Schooltime, the kid’s Apple Watch shows a yellow circle on the watch face. This helps the teachers in the classroom (or parent tutoring at home) easily recognize the apps whose access is restricted, plus Do Not Disturb can be enabled on the kid’s Apple Watch.

Apple Cash Family

This lets the parents load money to the kid’s watch via Apple Pay and choose to receive notifications when they spend it. The parent can even see the kid’s purchases in the Wallet app on the iPhone. This is a fine example of training the young generation for the coming cashless future!

Other Features

• Parents can allow certain contacts, and kids will be able to communicate only with these approved persons.
• Set content restrictions and Ask to Buy: This lets the parents manage which category of apps are available for download on the kid’s Apple Watch. Ask to Buy sends the parent an approval notification when the kid tries to purchase an app or make an in-app purchase.
• Share the kid’s location through Find My, so you can see where they are on your iPhone. Parents can also get location notifications, such as when the kid reaches school or basketball practice.
  
  

How to set up an Apple Watch for a family member

Before You Begin:

• Make sure the iPhone runs iOS 27, and the watch supports watchOS 27. The model list is in the compatibility section below.
• Turn ON Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on the iPhone.
• Erase the Apple Watch if it isn’t new.
• Make sure you have an Apple Account for yourself (the parent or guardian). The child gets their own phone number and Apple Account with the watch.
• Family Sharing: Setup creates a group if you don’t have one. The child must be in your Family Sharing group with a Child Account.

1. Have your child put on the Apple Watch and press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears.
   
2. Bring the watch near the iPhone. Wait for a moment, and you should see “Use your iPhone to set up this Apple Watch” on the iPhone screen. Tap on Continue. After this, tap on Set Up for a Family Member → Continue. If you don’t see this, open the Watch app on iPhone, go to My Watch → All Watches, and tap Add Watch.
   
3. Point the iPhone over the animation on the Apple Watch screen. You will see a message that says the Apple Watch is successfully paired.
   
4. Agree to the terms and conditions (if you do), select text size, and set a passcode for the Apple Watch.
   
5. Select a family member from the screen or tap on Add New Family Member. Now, enter the kid’s (or the family member’s) Apple Account and password, then proceed. It is a good idea to tap on Turn on Ask to Buy. (more about it above)
   
6. If your carrier supports Apple Watch for Your Kids, you can add the watch to your plan during this step. If it doesn’t, or you want a different carrier, tap Not Now and contact a supported carrier to set up the plan. Then set up Wi-Fi and turn on other options like location, Siri, Apple Cash Family, Health data, etc. You can also set up Schooltime and shared contacts. Once you are done, tap on OK. Now, the kid can start using the Apple Watch.
   

Family Setup compatible Apple Watch and iPhone

Family Setup is available on cellular models of Apple Watch Series 4 and later running watchOS 7. You can pair the watch with iPhone 6s and later running iOS 14.

Note: Apple says that ‘a cellular plan isn’t required to set up an Apple Watch for a family member, but is necessary for some features.’

Compatible Apple Watch and iPhone models

Apple recommends the Apple Watch SE 3 with GPS + Cellular. The watch has to be a cellular model that runs watchOS 27: Series 9 or later, SE 3, or Ultra 2 or later. Older models, including Series 8 and SE (2nd generation), can’t run watchOS 27, so check the model before you reuse an old watch.

The iPhone needs iOS 27 for watchOS 27. Apple’s requirement is an iPhone 11 or later, or an iPhone SE (2nd generation) or later.

Note: You don’t need a cellular plan to finish setup. The watch does need an active plan to connect to a cellular network, though, and some features depend on it.

Regions and carriers that support Family Setup

At launch, 18 carriers in 12 countries and regions support Family Setup. This is a carrier support-oriented feature (separate phone number, data plan, etc.) Thus, in the coming months, it will expand to other regions and carriers as well. For more information, like availability and pricing, contact your carrier.

Views on Family Setup

What are your thoughts on Apple Watch Family Setup? Is this something you are excited about? Are you planning to use it in your family? Please let us know in the comments down below.

In my opinion, this is a great feature. Now, you can give the kid an affordable Apple Watch SE or your old Series 5, and they get the power to stay safely connected to people that matter.

One thing that I feel strange is that Apple discontinued Series 4 and 5 but kept Series 3. And unfortunately, Family Setup requires Series 4 and above. So, that’s a bummer!

Now, instead of giving a smartphone, it is convenient to have a powerful tiny computer on the child’s wrist (that they won’t misplace) when at baseball practice or a friend’s house. Likewise, it lets you keep track of older people more conveniently.

Overall, I think it’s a smart move to get Apple Watch to more people in an affordable way!