Whereas some mother and father deal with their youngsters to an Apple Watch, the Pinwheel Watch goals to supply an fascinating different. The $160 mobile smartwatch combines sturdy parental controls with a kid-friendly AI chatbot.
Not like the true factor, the Pinwheel features a digicam, with the corporate promising that video calling will likely be coming later this yr …
Engadget says that not like some smartwatches designed for youths, this one doesn’t seem like a toy.
The Pinwheel Watch doesn’t scream “this can be a youngsters’ system.” The brand new smartwatch, unveiled at Pepcom throughout CES 2025, doesn’t have a chunky, brightly coloured casing or super-thick bezels. It’s really fairly glossy, with a construct like a barely bigger Apple Watch — plus a little bit digicam bump — and swappable straps of various kinds. To tech-aware youngsters who’ve begun bugging their mother and father for a smartwatch similar to they’ve, it will simply move as an analogue for an grownup wearable.
Pinwheel says the parental controls provide a really excessive diploma of energy and suppleness.
For a youthful child, they could set it so all contacts have to be authorised, whereas a 14-year-old may be granted the liberty so as to add no matter buddies they need with out approval. Dad and mom can remotely monitor textual content and name historical past, and switch off sure options — like picture sending — individually for contacts.
The corporate additionally claims the AI chatbot is kid-proof.
[It has] a kid-friendly model of ChatGPT known as PinwheelGPT. The corporate says the chatbot has been examined for all of the widespread workarounds used to trick this stuff into doing what they shouldn’t, so it received’t produce inappropriate responses when prompted to. And fogeys can see these chats, together with deleted ones.
“You’ll be able to actually ask it no matter, nevertheless it received’t reply,” mentioned Pinwheel co-founder Dane Witbeck. “It rapidly backs out and says, ‘hey, that’s one thing you must discuss to a trusted grownup about.’”
The digicam, sitting on the backside of the watch, will help two-way video calls.
There’s no availability date but past later this yr, and along with the $160 buy worth it’s going to want a customized mobile plan at round $15 per thirty days.
Photos: Pinwheel
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