TickTalk 5 Review – The Best Smartwatch for School Kids

Santa came early again this year and look what arrived: a TickTalk 5 Kids Safe Smartwatch with GPS!

(Curious?  See what Santa brought us last year!)

Oh, friends, this watch is just absolutely perfect for kids!  Are you ready for the official Tick Talk 5 review?  Find out what I love and wish they would improve about the TickTalk 5 Kids Safe Smartwatch.

Disclaimer: I received a TickTalk 5 for the purpose of reviewing the product.  However, all opinions are my own. I’m also a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase through my link, I can earn a small commission.  I only review products that I have used myself and truly believe in.  Thank you for supporting my family!

Jump ahead:

• What is a Tick Talk 5?
• What can you do with a TickTalk 5?
• Can you text on a TickTalk 5?
• Can you make phone calls on the TickTalk 5?
• What parent controls are available on the TickTalk 5?
• How safe is a TickTalk5?
• What service does TickTalk 5 use?
• Does TickTalk 5 have a monthly fee?
• Can the TickTalk 5 smartwatch be used with Wi-Fi only?
• What age is a TickTalk 5 watch for?
• Can non-readers use this watch?
• Does the TickTalk 5 come in different colors and styles?
• How is the sound and video quality of the TickTalk 5?
• How does the TickTalk5 charge?
• What comes in the box?
• Are there any drawbacks to the TickTalk 5?

Tick Talk 5 Review – Yes or no?

Parents often wonder, “Can a kid have a smartwatch without a phone?” and the resounding answer is YES! 

What is a Tick Talk 5?

A TickTalk 5 Kids Safe Smartwatch is the best way to connect with your child through messages, videos, and FaceTalk – not to mention a GPS tracker – without putting a smartphone in your kid’s hands before they are ready.

What can you do with a TickTalk 5?

The TickTalk 5 comes pre-loaded with some great features:

• Touchscreen display
• Text messaging
• Group chats
• Voice phone calls
• Video FaceTalk calls
• Time/clock
• Reminders
• Emergency calls
• Location tracking
• Activity tracker
• Streaming music through iHeart Radio
• 5 Megapixels Camera
• Do-not-disturb mode
• Calculator
• Digital Greeting Cards
• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, & Cellular 4G connectivity
• Water-resistant

Can you text on a TickTalk 5?

Yes, your child can text on a TickTalk 5 to anyone who has the TickTalk app downloaded.  Parents must approve all contacts, so there is no worry about anyone being able to randomly text your child without your approval or knowledge. (I love that!)

Group chat is also available via the app.  My older kids with phones thought it was great that they could group chat now with little sister via her watch!

Can you make phone calls on the TickTalk 5?

Yes, your child can make and accept voice phone calls and video chats using the TickTalk app.  When a phone call comes in, they can control the sound and answer by speaking directly into the watch or click a little button to use their Bluetooth headphones instead.

What parent controls are available on the TickTalk 5?

One of the reasons I really love this watch is because of the incredible parent controls!  The TickTalk 5 was definitely designed for kids! Parents have full control of every aspect of the smartwatch including:

• Approve all contacts such as phone book, friends, users, and contact requests
• Assign 2 shortcuts (like Mom and Dad!)
• See child’s precise location
• See past precise locations
• Remotely reboot or turn off child’s watch
• Create custom automatic text responses for your kid to use
• Set do not disturb times
• View call log of outgoing and incoming calls
• View blocked SMS text requests
• Set daily step goals in activity tracker
• System reset
• Control of settings
• Disable streaming music
• Set daily music limits
• Set data usage
• Set Wi-Fi settings
• Select features child can use
• Choose the settings the child can access
• Set up to 20 reminders and alarms

How safe is a TickTalk5?

One of the best things about the TickTalk5 watch in my opinion is the safety features. 

No internet

There is no internet access, which was a huge plus for us!  I love that my child can connect with family and friends without the dangers of the internet.

No stranger danger

All communication (messages, group chats, videos, FaceTalk) is conducted through the free TickTalk app, available for iPhones and Android.  This means that parents can see, block, and overview all interactions.

Since parents must approve all contacts, there is never concern about a stranger’s ability to connect with your child, either.  Parents have full control.

SOS and emergency calls

Another safety feature of the TickTalk 5 is an SOS button.  Parents can designate one contact as the SOS contact.  The child simply needs to hold down the red button on the side of the phone for 5 seconds to send an SOS.  The smartwatch will immediately send a notification and location to the SOS contact.  Additionally, parents can allow or disable emergency 911 calls.

Privacy

As part of the initial set-up, the company provides full transparency about what data is visible to TickTalk Tech LLC, and their compliance with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.  They promise no selling of data and no ads.  They also do not sell or share your child’s data with 3^rd parties.

What service does TickTalk 5 use?

Another amazing feature of a TickTalk5 smartwatch is that you do not need to add an additional phoneline to your plan in order for your child to use.

In the app, parents simply choose a pay-as-you-go monthly plan, with no contract, no activation fee, and no cancellation fee. Current plans are available for AT&T or T-Mobile.  But here’s the good news: since it’s not a part of YOUR plan for your cell, there’s no need for you personally to use either of those networks for the watch to be connected.  That’s right!  You can be on Verizon, for example, and your kid can still use the watch just fine.

Does TickTalk 5 have a monthly fee?

Yes, currently the cost of cellular service for the TickTalk 5 SmartWatch starts at $9.99/month with a higher data plan for $15.99/month.  Both plans included unlimited in-app texts. 

Can the TickTalk 5 smartwatch be used with Wi-Fi only?

Yes!  If you prefer not to pay the monthly cellular fee, the TickTalk5 smartwatch still works just fine using your Wi-Fi network.  Some features may not be available when using it with Wi-Fi only. However, messages, calls, video chats, and music streaming all still work for free if you choose to not pay the monthly fee.

In fact, this is how my daughter tried out this product when it first arrived!  I wanted to get a good feel for the smartwatch immediately for purposes of writing this review.  So before connecting it to a cellular service (for the monthly fee), she wore it and used it using Wi-Fi only.

Pros of Wi-Fi only: Access to all features & worked just fine

Cons: Features will not work when outside playing or in other non Wi-Fi areas

What age is a TickTalk 5 watch for?

On the TickTalk5 website, it says the smartwatch is designed for children ages 3 to 12. 

After playing with it for a while, I’m not sure I would buy it for my 3–5-year-old child.  But it is a really great smartwatch for school age children, especially when you anticipate that your kids will be heading off away from you for school, sports, camp, or other activities. 

The wristband is small and designed for kids.  It fits wrists from 5 .0”– 7.48” inches (117 to 170 mm).  Just for grins, I tried it on my man-sized teenager and while it did barely make it around his big wrist, it didn’t really fit well.

In my opinion, this watch is ideal for elementary and tweener age kids.  It has been the perfect watch for my 10 year old!

Can non-readers use this watch?

The watch is intuitive to use and easy for even beginning readers or non-readers thanks to the graphics.  A young pre-reader could still use the video chat features but may not be able yet to text.

One plus is that the watch comes loaded with preset texts such as “Hi, Mom” or “be right back” or “thank you” that a younger child may be able to read but not yet write on their own. Parents can also save their own prewritten text as well.

Does the TickTalk 5 come in different colors and styles?

Currently the TickTalk 5 comes in four wristband color choices: blue, gray, purple, and lime. Some complain that it is bulky, but it is about the same as other smartwatches designed for kids.

How is the sound and video quality of the TickTalk 5?

The sound quality is impressive for a kid’s smartwatch!  In fact, it’s pretty loud but can be turned down. 

Using the free, built-in speakers, you can listen to a large array of kids’ music available through iHeart Radio Family Streaming Music.  The selections are vast and include music from Disney, lullabies, Christmas music, kids classic songs, nursery rhymes, Netflix theme show songs, jazz essentials, piano tunes, and kid movie tunes.  You can also pause, play, and skip songs. 

Using the Bluetooth connectivity, your child cast their music onto other speakers for even more sound options.  On-demand kid-friendly pod-casts are also available.

The camera quality at 5 megapixels isn’t incredible but is in full color and definitely gets the job done.  It is all that’s needed for a kid’s smartwatch.  The picture is clear. 

Kids can take both photos and videos as well as video chat using the app.  The video chats are limited to only 3 minutes to prevent the battery from draining.

The TickTalk 5 smartphone has 5.46 gb of storage and can be backed up for access to photos and videos in the future.

How does the TickTalk5 charge?

The smartwatch comes with a cable for charging.  Simply plug it into a standard USB port. 

Optionally, though, they have a super fun charging base that looks like a little monster.  My daughter thought it was really cool!  She quickly chose the monster charging base over the charging cord.

The monster charging base has a magnetic feature that locks the watch into the correct position for charging.  The monster charger can just hang out on your child’s nightstand or bathroom counter so your TickTalk 5 will be ready for use each morning!

It seems to take about 4-5 hours to fully charge.  The charge will last all day if used sparingly.  However, streaming music and many video calls definitely drain the battery!

The phone vibrates and sends a sound warning when the watch reaches 20% and again at 10% to warn the child to stop and recharge.  Parents can modify the vibration and sound tones as desired

Are there any drawbacks to the TickTalk 5?

After using the smartwatch for a bit, we noticed three areas I’m hoping the company will fix before the next upgrade:

• GPS location is not precise. 

The GPS location is often off by a few houses or a street over.  So, while I know the general area to find my child, I can’t rely on it for her exact, precise location.  I wish this were better! So far, the smartwatch has yet to correctly peg her location.

• Gets hot. 

When my music-loving daughter uses the watch to stream music, or uses the video chat feature, she noticed that the watch gets uncomfortably warm.  This isn’t a game-changer.  She just takes it off and sets it somewhere for a few minutes and lets it cool.  It also helps if she casts the streaming music via Bluetooth onto speakers instead of using the watch’s built-in speakers.

• Limited color choices.

My daughter was not too thrilled with the color choices.  As a tweener, she wanted more grown-up choices and felt like the colors available were geared towards younger kids and boys. She went with the gray because it felt the most neutral. 

TickTalk5 Review – A clear winner for parents and kids

Overall, I was really impressed with the TickTalk 5 smartwatch for kids, despite the few drawbacks.  I loved the safety features and extensive parent controls.  I was also thrilled about being able to easily connect with my girl through text, phone calls, and video chats as she begins to stay home alone at times or venture out without me.

My daughter loved the ease of use, streaming music, and being able to message and video chat with friends and family. Super fun!  She said wearing the watch made her feel more grown up, too.

The TickTalk 5 Kids Safe Smartwatch was a definite win-win for both of us!  Fabulous product and definitely one of the best smartwatches for kids on the market!