When it’s working this app works well. Sometimes it lags or if there is an issue with the phone then the app itself is not very helpful. I recently got my son’s watch replaced because regardless of the days/times we set school mode, the watch would automatically go into school mode including on weekends. This went on regardless of troubleshooting efforts until Verizon sent us a replacement and we’ll see how it goes. Another thing I would like to mention is that the Disney edition watch really needs a timer function. I don’t know why this was removed for a watch that is twice as expensive as the other Gizmos that have the timer function. As other reviewers (on the Disney Gizmo watch reviews) mentioned, the Disney watch could really use a timer function and no one could figure out why this useful function was removed. Kids use this for homework, tasks, etc. I’m hoping this would be a software update soon. When we got the watch, for example, there was no Boba Fett character option, and after a software update a couple months later the Boba Fett character option appeared. Hopefully a timer option can be updated this way? I mention this request here because a Verizon representative actually told me this (Gizmo app reviews section) would be the best place to make such a request/suggestion.
This watch has worked very well for my child whom is now 9. It works exactly as it says ! If you follow the directions with the 10 contacts an put their level for the right abilities for example ( texting from apple to gizmo) is able if you have the apple user as an authorized person to the watcher holder at the level for texting. Note : there are different levels of permission for the 10 contacts. I say this for anyone seeing these reviews for deciding if it’s right for ur little one an what features in details/functions work best etc. because I did the same research. It’s GPS is unmatched even against apple it’s much more precise! And the volume …. The volume on my child’s watch is so LOUD WHEN NEEDED, an CLEAR, I have an Apple Watch and it’s no where near as clear an loud so this is a huge deal! The rep at Verizon let us know of other places we can find more band options to update with a wrap band vs the ones with pin holes as the wrap kind are better with kiddos I can send pics if needed to show how maybe gismo can make some of these direct… the only tiny thing I didn’t like was My child scratched the front not screen but the border part of it when sitting on the floor in gym class n it had no protector for that but that’s not a biggie.. would love to replace that n have a cover option. Love love love this!!! Will always recommend it
We’ve used a gizmo watch (replaced it once when my son forgot to take off before swimming) for about 4 years. PROS: Aside from the cost to purchase, it’s only $5/month for basic services AND gps (huge “bang for the buck”); the gps is more accurate than iPhone location services, it calls 10 people, location alerts let me know when he leaves school, I can put it on “quiet mode” if he forgets, holds a charge for 2 days (depending on how long his calls are). CONS: It takes at least 3 minutes to locate the watch using gps (this can be nerve wracking in an emergency), it doesn’t allow a 911 call (although I think you can make 911 one of your contacts), if I put it in quiet mode, he can’t take it off, sometimes the text messages are delayed (even though the notifications are on time), there are limited quick response texts (yes, he can use audio snippet but sometimes he is unable to talk), the watch band isn’t too durable (we’ve replaced or repaired ours at least once a year). All that aside, I’d highly recommend it for safety. He finally got a phone but the compromise was that he continue to wear his watch as backup. The watch gps is way more accurate and his phone inevitably dies or he forgets it at home. Eventually he’ll “age out” of this watch but it’s done it’s job for 4 years now. 👍🏽
The Gizmo has been a very good ‘in-between’ device for my daughters too young for a phone. Aside from being able to call them — I really, REALLY like the ability to be able to see where they are at any given time, straight from my phone with the press of a button. The ability to set up time-based alerts sending me their location at specific times is an excellent feature.. I always know if my 5th grader arrives at school by 8:15 every day or not, and I rely on those daily notifications. I also appreciate that I can set up ‘location alerts’ (versus time-based alerts) which let me watch for her to arrive/leave a specified place during certain hours. I set up alerts and delete them on a regular basis for temporary use (Example: Last night my daughter went out of town to a haunted house and I was able to get her location, set up an alert notifying me when she left the haunted house... and using that notification, I was able to estimate her home arrival and have dinner ready when she got home.) It would be good if the texts I send the Gizmo could be longer than 30 characters, but that’s not a big deal as we’re used to it. Also wanted to mention that I appreciate that the developers extended the location alerts to 8 hours versus 2 hours (yay!) Thanks.
So frustrated with this app. Was working fine until it randomly logged me out one day and I have never been able to get back in since. I logged in with my Apple ID - when trying to log in, I got an error that said “could not update the Apple JWT token”. I went to my Apple ID and disassociated it from The GizmoHub app. Now, when I try to login it says I need to setup a new account but my number is already associated with an account. So I’m totally locked out and my daughter is walking around with a useless watch. I tried calling Verizon three times and they are totally clueless. They told me to contact the developer of the app who is Samsung - ummm. No it isn’t - it’s Verizon as clearly seen here in the App Store. I also tried emailing the developer who is responding to many of these reviews but have received no response. So upset - feels like a total waste of money. Update: the email I sent received a reply and the person was very helpful in fixing the issue. It took a few days which was tough when we need the watch to work but he was very polite and understood the issue unlike the multitude of calls I made to Verizon. I think he’s the only person working for gizmo troubleshooting. Verizon, your reps answering the phone should know how to handle basic gizmo issues! Thanks to Daniel for the help. The watch is useful and nice when it works.
I really like this watch for my 8 y/o who is not old/responsible enough for a phone or Apple Watch. This is his second Gizmo Watch - the first one was the original GizmoWatch and the speaker and microphone quit working (probably because he took it swimming or something). This one is the GizmoWatch 2, and I like the vibration feature to notify him of an incoming call/message. It is also a little slimmer in profile, which is nice for wearing under his ski jacket. Otherwise it seems pretty similar to the original. The app has worked pretty well for us so far. No issues with pairing or functionality. It would be great if it had a couple more features. I would like to be able to send/receive texts outside of the GizmoHub app. My 10 y/o daughter has an Apple Watch set up on Family Setup (so not associated with its own iPhone). Because of this, she is unable to text her brother, since there is no version of the GizmoHub app for the Apple watch and you can’t send “regular” texts. If the direct texting option is not possible, then I would like to see an Apple Watch version of the GizmoHub app so that contacts without phones can text the Gizmo-wearer.
Please make this work with apple watch so I can reply via my watch from the app. Also, thank you for updating to the 8 hours. One more thing, please try to do something to speed up the real time location. It take about 5 minutes to get it. We are not rural and neither is my child's school so I'm not sure why this feature is so slow, which would only be used in cases of urgency/emergency. I had to use it once when his bus didn't arrive on time and then drove past our stop. It was a substitute driver who didn't know any of the addresses or the route and it was scary. Luckily I called him on the watch and he answered but he is only 5 and didn't know where he was. I kept trying to locate the bus via the live step by step feature and it took a long time. Needs to update faster in those moments. It's soooo slow for the real time locating. The updates are good though on the set times and locations.
We’ve only had our Gizmo for a couple weeks. So far it works great for phone calls and, though it takes a while to show the location, it does bring up where my son is. The issue is with the text function. This is preferable for us since I work in an office and he is at daycare and we can keep in touch this way. Unfortunately, my son sends me texts and I get an alert on my phone and a badge on the app, but when I open the app there are no messages. When I check his Gizmo watch later, I see that he did send me some messages that I never received. Occasionally they will come through later - sometimes after a day or 2. But usually they never come through. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, closing out of the app, and have done a hard reset on my phone, but this has not fixed the problem. We have the Gizmo watch to stay in touch, so not being able to receive texts from my son is a huge issue. I appreciate you looking into this or offering suggestions on how I can fix this on my end.
I had heard such good things about this watch, but I have to say since getting one over 2 years ago, I’ve learned they have BIG flaws. For starters, when signing up you’ll want to be sure you’ll never change your email address as you can’t edit this for future usage. Also if you run into any troubles, Verizon asks that you contact LG, and vice versa. Then there’s the app... it truly lacks in upgrades/updates. It takes a bit of time to generate location no matter if your phone is on network or WiFi. It frequently signs me out without notice or reason. Notifications are set for numerous “features”, but no notification is ever pushed through or received. The app greatly limited fun emoji’s for kids and the voice memos are sometimes difficult to make out due to microphone clarity. Also the watch itself often hangs up on contacts at random. I just feel all in all this device & it’s app utilize a huge amount of my time monitoring it, than it provides of peace of mind benefit of being in contact with my child on the go. Save your time and money folks.
We bought this watch yesterday from a Verizon store. We tried to pair it to my phone as well as my husbands no luck. Went back to the Verizon store where they tried on both of our phones, factory reset the watch, gave us a new watch, called tech support...still no luck. Tech support says this is a known issue and they will contact us once it’s been resolved. So until then thanks for taking my $200 bucks, charging me a monthly service fee, and leaving me to try to explain to a 9 year old why her cool new watch that she has been begging for months now has to sit on the shelf and in all actually will likely be returned...sigh, EPIC FAIL!!! Update: I have been on hold with customer support for 1 hour and 6 minutes...no one seems to know what is wrong BUT that it is a known issue and they have other tickets open for this same problem...meanwhile my 9 year is crossing her fingers that her watch will work...the saga continues!! Update: Bye bye gizmo, returning it today. It never would pair despite multiple attempts with Verizon customer service and emails to app support. This would be a great product IF it actually worked.
We got this for our daughter last year when she started riding the school bus. The bus is often late, or has a substitute driver. They’ve gotten lost and been stuck down a one-way alley downtown before. Basically the bus could drop off anytime between 3:50 and 5:30 (that’s a crazy large window of time). I don’t like her walking down the street alone; we live in a big city! Now, we can track the bus and see exactly where she’s at and when she’s about to be at the stop so we can meet her there (rather than sitting at the stop for over an hour waiting). I also love that she can call me or text me, anytime, from anywhere. She has called me from school when she’s just having a tough day and needs some support and encouraging words. This watch has been a huge lifesaver! We love it so much we’re getting a second one this Christmas for our 8 yo son! Love, love the GizmoPal watch!
So a few weeks ago my wife bought our son a Gizmo watch. We downloaded the app on both phones and neither one will sync. Went back to the store, had a rep come by our business, then to another store, got a 2nd Gizmo to replace the first one, and it still won’t sync with either of our phones. Between 5 Verizon reps, 2 Gizmos and a lot of my time, deleting, updating, doing everything numerous times because “nobody has ever had this type of problem with syncing a Gizmo”. But it turns out you can spend a few minutes online and see it’s a known problem. The issue is likely with the latest Gizmo Hub App (an update probably is to blame) and they have a few more days to get it fixed or we will be giving up this thing for good. No telling how many others have already given up theirs, probably in the thousands since it’s been going on for a few weeks. I hope Gizmo has their people working around the clock to fix it because this issue could end the whole product if it continues much longer. It’s such a great idea, but like any idea, if it’s not executed properly it’s a waste.
Bought this for my grandson in July 2024. His mother is the guardian and in control of the phone and I am listed as a caretaker. We are both having issues with the phone not updating location even when we manually try to update it. We did a reset based on email correspondence I am having with the tech team and the phone worked half a day and it has started doing the same thing again. Been working with the tech team over a week via email and it is very slow. They don’t do anything over the weekend and sometimes they don’t respond back at all and I get one response today. They’ll ask one question and I’ll respond and then I don’t hear from them until the next day or even two days later. It is extremely frustrating and is not performing like it is meant to. My grandson is also having difficulty with it vibrating randomly and there are no messages or anything that would cause it. At this particular point I wish I had purchased something different.
The app overall is fantastic with my only minor complaint being the inability to adjust the sensitivity of typing in the pin access to open the app. I tend to have to attempt to type in the number a couple times before it gets picked up in the app. The bigger complaint is with the watches themselves. My kids complain that the watches will randomly dial someone and the call connection can be distracting even in school when in silent mode. I’m sure this is due to screen sensitivity of the watch itself and them not being aware of the accidental contact they make with the screen. It would be great if I could help my kids by using the app to adjust the screens touch sensitivity of the watch. While this observation is not directly app related, I used the example to highlight where app improvements could help the overall experience. Otherwise, no regrets on the watch products or the app that controls it.
We had to have it replaced originally because she stopped being able to hear callers. It got really soft. The replacement is doing fine. I’m wondering if maybe it’s doing the reverse now where people can’t hear her as well but time will tell. I really like being able to see where she’s at, if she made it to school, she’s on her way home…. I also like being able to reach her whenever I need to. It will randomly turn on school mode or turn it off. Not sure what’s going on there? For the most part, it’s been a great product. Oh, I was also disappointed when we first got it that it can’t make emergency calls to 911. The emergency call it’s just when she holds down the button and it will call me. I do think kids should be able to have access to 911. Not all of them are gonna play around with it. I know plenty of kids that have Apple watches.
I got this for my almost 8 year old because he is often with family or has other after school activities. This way I can always let him know exactly where I will be to pick him up and he can call to let us know if there is a time change for anything. It is wonderful. It allows us to reach out to him— without him having all of the bells and whistles of a smart phone (like apps and the internet) that he does NOT need. I also love that only his contact list is contactable. He loves sending quick little recordings and emojis in the text box to family across the country. He gets to feel like he can keep in contact without going through me all the time. My only complaint is how long the GPS takes to update his location. I am nervous about keeping the real-time location on and draining his battery if he is not due to be picked up yet.
Got my grandson the gizmo for his birthday, and the watch & app work (almost) great, except for a problem with scheduling quiet time. When I set the start of quiet time (9pm), the stop time automatically resets to an hour later. Then, if I reset the stop time (10am), the start time automatically resets to an hour before the stop time. So basically the app is letting me schedule 1 HOUR of quiet time rather than overnight. Fix this and the rating jumps to 5 stars. Thanks for your response; followed your recommendations and they worked fine. I’m only going to bump to four stars, though, because it seems a little user-unfriendly to have to set three separate quiet periods to get one that runs 13 hours overnight. Might want to re-look at those system limitations to see if they’re really that necessary. Really do love the watch, though, and, more importantly, so does my grandson.
I love the gizmo watch and app that we recently purchased for our son who has autism. The ability to contact him without him having to keep track of a phone is invaluable- as well as the location services. There are two reasons I gave it only four stars- one being the limited text response from him. I have edited them but he is 14 and has more to say than the few allotments we have available. The second is that the app will not work on my Apple Watch. I forget my phone at home quite often (the Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!) and I can see an alert when he sends me a text but I do not have the ability to respond if my phone is not with me. I wish that could be updated. Even with those limitations I would highly recommend the gizmo watch and app to those who are looking at purchasing a communication device for their children.
When the GPS works it’s great but for the most part it doesn’t work well. There is a big lag most of the time. Defeats the purpose of having this watch. I’m having to close the app then reload at times to get the GPS working (this is when I’m using the live tracking and click on the icon to update location) . I get text saying she’s at a certain location but the app still has her at school. For safety reasons this app/watch leaves much to desire. Maybe they do it on purpose to force you into getting a smart phone for your kid. The call and texting feature seems to work well. Update: today our call was dropped and then no calls would go through ( in or out). What’s the point if my child can’t contact me. When I got home I had to power the watch off then back on. It work fine after that. And yes the app is up to date on updates as well as the app on my phone.
I picked up this Gizmo smart watch in October for my son who was going to a new school during a pandemic for only two days a week. He has multiple allergies and asthma so I figure this would be a great way to communicate with him without getting in trouble for having a phone in school. I also thought it was great for kids who don’t care to have an actual phone. My son is 11 and although I love the features of the watch I hope that they make a teen version of it with a few more apps such as blue tooth capability and maybe a camera. Would love some apps like music as well. I think if it had a couple more of these functions he may wear it up until his teens with out needing an actual phone. Other then that we don’t have anything negative to say about it. We did switch out the band to make it more sleek looking. A couple people thought he was wearing an Apple Watch.
Love the gizmo and the app. We have had gizmos for over 3 years. I do wish the child could type their own text messages if the parent allows. The voice texting allows them to get the message through, though I cannot play it if I am somewhere where I cannot play a message out loud. Overall the app and gizmos are awesome for my 11 and 7 year-olds and we will be using them as long as we can! I also wish the “To Do” list items could be checked off without playing a timer. I put things on there for my kids to get done and reminders to put on the watches but I do not need a timer with those items. I love the feature that allows the reminder to play until it is turned off though. It prevents a lot of forgotten watches. It would also be great if there were an Apple Watch app for the gizmo hub.
We have had 2 sons use Gizmo Gadget and Gizmo Pal watches. I would definitely recommend Gadget over the Pal - many more features for both parent and kid, and worth the price difference! We have used every option on the app and find them all very helpful, especially the GPS! It is accurate and a nice way to check in without needing to “bug” your child. The areas I’d like to see improvement: 1. Sometimes my messages will not get delivered to my son for hours - or even days. Or if I call, sometimes he won’t pick up. When I ask why, he says the watch never rang. On multiple occasions I’ve then checked the watch, and he wasn’t lying - my call is not registered. Scary! 2. How quickly the watch dies after giving you the low battery warning. (The battery does stay charged for a good amount of time, but once it’s dying, it goes FAST.) 3. The durability of the band (it’s not horrible, but we’ve made some self-fixes that have worked for now). 4. The time it takes to locate all the time, but especially if the parent is in a building it seems to take longer. 5. Seemingly randomly, sometimes the app will sign me out. Overall, we’ve been very happy with the product and feel it is well worth the $5 a month. (Not so much with the Gizmo Pal.)
My daughters first watch Gizmo Pal would turn off automatically so upgraded to Gizmo Watch. Which I was worried about the screen so bought an expensive liquid screen protector which didn’t work at all cause while my daughter was taking off the watch it fell and screen broke. So I have insurance on the watch and no problems they sent me a new watch. New watch came in got activated and and wouldn’t pair to gizmo hub. So they sent me another brand new watch. same thing. I’m on my third watch now now and still won’t pair. I finally got someone in Verizon that knows what they doing and said it’s not the watch it’s the app. Not happy as it’s the busiest time of the year for me and my family and my daughter have been without her watch since May 1st. I can’t call her after school to let her know what’s happening or anything. Not happy at this time as I’m paying for a service and My daughter is without her Gizmo Watch. I will change my Review once this gets fixed because before this issue it was working great. Need to fix this ASAP
I never write reviews but if I can save just one person from the immense frustration of this device, I’m here for it. First Gizmo2 stopped working after a day. Just relentlessly turned on them off. Forced to order a second Gizmo to replace the first (still waiting on that refund) and now the Hub won’t connect it to my child. I activated it per GizmoHub instructions. I go to pair with my child. It said that Gizmo is already connected to my account. But GizmoHub says I can’t do anything because I have no gizmos added to my child. Click here to add gizmo. I add gizmo. That gizmo is already paired to my account. Lather, rinse, repeat. Hours with Verizon tech people. First delete and add a child. Then delete the app and redownload. Completely circular instructions, same “add a gizmo” then when adding the Gizmo, “that gizmo already paired with account.” Now I have to go to the store to get THIS device refunded. Don’t put yourself through this. There are other more reliable ways to keep up with the kid. This is junk.
This is the 4th gizmo I’ve purchased, I took a short break from Verizon and while with a different phone company my daughter used their version of the watch. When we switched back to Verizon we were so disappointed because we had forgotten that the “texting” is just using one of 30 pre written choices not actual texting. The other company has the option to swipe to text. You should offer both the pre written option or the swipe or tap to text. My 12 year old wanted to keep using a watch because she recognized the drama that cell phones cause and wanted to continue to use her watch to communicate but was unable to send actual texts so she opted to switch to a phone reluctantly. Please see if you can make that an option as my first grader who enjoys reading and writing would like that option to communicate with us.
I love the Gizmo Watch ! I’m actually looking forward to up grading my daughter watch. The watch she has now she can only have 4 contacts. The contacts you add on her watch is the only contacts that can call the watch. The gps on the phone and watch works well together. It gives me her current and past location. Also if she doesn’t answer her watch It can be set up to automatically answer! I love that I got her this watch it’s a lot of things going on in this cruel world why not invest in something that would be beneficial for our children . The upgrade watch has more to it like 10 contacts, capabilities to text, you can change the band on the watch, gps, water proof, has a fitness games and etc! I recommend all parents to get the watch for their children.
I don’t understand why the app must be setup on an approved contacts phone to text a Gizmo watch user especially since each watch has a valid Verizon phone number and the app is not required for phone calls. Not every one has a smart phone and there is no hands free option for texting (while in car, Siri etc). Older folks wanting to be techy with kids/grandkids are being left out and Verizon isn’t addressing some key functionality. Please consider more options. The approved contacts list already restricts who can contact the user and is well controlled. Other carrier solutions like Tmobile offer more options Also a screen protector is desperately needed. The Disney edition seems be be the hardest to find protectors for. Verizon is missing out here too on key product accessories. These screens are not replaceable so additional steps should be available to prevent scratches and cracks.
This watch has been a fame changer in our house hold. We bought my 9 year old daughter this watch about 4 months ago. Few issues it’s takes about 3 minutes to get a update on location, battery status, the biggest is I will get a notification that I have a message from the gizmo watch but when I go into the app there is no message. I will check my daughters watch and see a message has been sent but I do not see anything on my end. I have tried turning off my app, reinstalling the app still nothing now this doesn’t happen every time but it does happen 1 out 5 times maybe witch is a big concern. However having this watch for my daughter has helped my daughter with her anxiety knowing I’m just a call or text away. Please fix the texting issue, this is a huge glitch in your system. Thank you.
We bought the GizmoGadget for my high functioning autistic son. He had been wanting a bit more freedom outside of the house and this has given him what he desires. I love I can limit who he calls and who calls him. I love he doesn't have internet access with his GizmoGadget where he can get into a bunch of things he doesn’t need to know. I love the auto answer feature. The price was great compared to other options I looked into like angel sense, other GPS watches, and cellphones. The only reason I didn't give the the app 5 stars is because of the lack of real time GPS location services. I do wish I could set a timer to go off for reminders for different activities he needs to be reminded of. Beyond that, great app for what we need it for and easy to use product.
We’ve had our watch for about 2 years. We only use it when my 10yo son with autism wants to walk around the neighborhood and walking trail behind our house. We have noticed a decline in accuracy of the gps tracking over the last 6 months or so. Sometimes it shows he is on the freeway next to the trail or inside an apartment complex so it can be a couple hundred feet off. This seems to be a new problem because it worked much better when we first started using it. Other than that it’s worked well for us especially this year during COVID. He can go for a walk to get about of the house and get some space from us but we have the peace of mind knowing where he is. Even when the Sheriff picked him up after someone reported him walking alone (kids walk around our neighborhood all the time but my son makes odd body movements so they thought he was lost) the Deputy saw the watch and knew what it was and was able to get my son to call us so we could come get him. I would make these recommendations: Have a function that gives you walking directions back home (or school, or your Nana’s) Map feature to show the kids where they are and maybe reverse locate parents. Overall I’m happy with my purchase, just wish that the GPS was more accurate.
Overall, the watch works as advertised. However, I can find no way to clear off past notifications I no longer want to see. I have gone thru the instruction manual, Googled problem, and even contacted Verizon Customer Support and no one has been able to help. There is an option to clear the text messages on the messaging screen but no option I can find on the notifications list screen to clear them off. Clearing off past notifications should be an option for the primary account owner to do so. Do all these notification stay there forever? Also, on the Notifications options screen you can an only choose “all notifications” or select only one from the list. I think the account owner should be able to select only those options they want - no all or only one.
The app is okay, I don’t like that you cannot turn the watch back on from the app. Also, as I write this my gizmo app has not updated at all today (h my husbands) and I have already uninstalled/reinstalled. My kids are currently at school (hopefully) and the app has now failed to do its job by not notifying me of anything as it is stuck showing me last night and had not updated at all. Also, the task reminder times are way off or don’t ring at all on either of my children's watches. Great idea, but already has bugs and the battery doesn’t seem to hold a charge as long and we have owned these watches for less than 1 week. On that note I am giving it 3 stars because when working it does its job of letting us know where are kids are and allows them to contact us in a emergency.
This app is ok. It does what it needs to do…albeit very, very slowly. This new version is faster, but still slower than most apps on the phone. When is Touch ID coming? This would help with the login process and the slight delay that frequently occurs. You can text your kids, call them and it’s a great way to stay in touch without giving your child a phone. Even though the app frustrates me, I still love the Gizmo compared to a phone. Still waiting for the developers to fix the bug where the phone loudly chimes every morning at 7am to kick off a step goal. There’s no way to adjust this other than to turn of step tracking, which my kids love. I did turn it off for a few days and then back on. It worked to remove the reminder on my daughter’s phone but not on my son’s.
Quite useless if you are buying this to know the location
Got the Gizmo-Disney edition. The watch looks cute. It has some nice features like phone call and text message. But, there are many issues that you will not expect in a product from a company like Verizon. (Had been a loyal Verizon customer for almost 20 years, and usually I am very satisfied by their service even though they are on the expensive side). First of all, the location tracking doesn’t work 95% of the time even when the phone shows full signal strength. For me, this is a show-stopper. Secondly, you can pair only one phone to the watch. (Verizon, use your common sense, both parents should be able to track the kid). Returning the watch as it is quite useless when tracking doesn’t work. There is $50 restocking fee, but still better than keeping a useless product.
When the app works it’s nice. I like being able to track on demand or always track, easily send messages or calls back and forth and add to do lists, reminders etc. but so often the app or watches themselves lag, don’t update, freeze all together. And lastly…the fatal flaw in my opinion…no way to turn the watches back on via app or to not have a way to turn them off except for via app like other similar brands. To me, this renders them almost pointless. A kid is mad at you and turns their watch off, someone kidnaps them and turns the watch off, someone steals the watch and turns it off…SOL. This should be priority number 1 in updating to something capable of remote power on or removing the power off feature from the actual watch itself and only allowing power off via battery drain or through the app.
Overall the watch is a good option. I like that my 10 year old can reach me when he needs to. We can go about 2 days on a charge. One feature that seems very basic to me and I was surprised the watch doesn’t have is vibrate. My son has missed messages from me because you basically need to be looking at the watch or you don’t know when you get a message. Also, more often then not there is a delay with the app receiving and/or notifying me when he texts me. I need to be constantly checking the app because you can’t count on the badge to alert when a text is sent. We are glad you have the watch but would love for there to be a vibrate feature and an app update.
GPS/location tracking takes forever and is still incorrect
I am still very frustrated with this app. We have been using it since August of last year and there have been absolutely no improvements made to the GPS locating feature. Taking 2+ minutes every single time I want to see my child’s location, and half of the time the location being wrong (not actually updating) or stating that there is a weak connection and the location cannot be found is ridiculous. Isn’t this what we pay monthly service fee for?!? Using the GPS is the main reason we have this watch and it’s extremely frustrating that I am paying monthly for something that does not do it’s job. Also, The battery life never updates when I go into the app, I have to physically tap it every time to get an update or turn my phone off and then back on to get an accurate battery reading. PLEASE FIX THESE ISSUES, ESPECIALLY LOCATION TRACKING.
I have been having an experience where my son’s watch is saying he is located at a certain address that is not our home, that he’s never been to and it continuously has been happening for two weeks now. I was told to contact customer service at Verizon. They have been very rude, not helpful and told me they were not going to help me anymore. We are putting our kids lives at stake using this system and if we can’t count on it, if it is unreliable and we can’t get help when something isn’t working, then I don’t recommend any parent using it! Very Disappointed! Dawn S. To Whom It May Concern: The issue is still ongoing. It actually just happened right now. Yes, I did say I think two inappropriate words during the two day ritual that we had to perform to try to get anything resolved. No, that isn’t the most appropriate way to handle things, I understand but my child’s life is at stake. So, obviously to me, that’s more important I think then somebody’s feelings. I’m sorry if you don’t understand that. As parents, we have a right to be concerned about our children’s welfare and the services that you provide and if you want us to continue to pay for the services and pay for your businesses, then I think you should have some understanding.
Bought this for my son who is now riding the bus home from school. All seems to work great. GPS is normally a little off, but close enough. My problem is the notifications on the parent devise. When my son sends me a message I get a quick ding and the badge icon. No screen pop up or repeating sound like a text message and nothing on my Apple Watch. So that means when the iPhone is asleep, and all notifications revert to the watch (like it’s supposed to) I get NO GizmoHub notifications. I often don’t see messages for hours bc I don’t get notifications on my Apple Watch. Even dominos tells me my pizza is ready on my watch, but not this? I need repeating/more aggressive iPhone notifications and I also need Apple Watch notifications to give this 5 stars.
We got the Gizmo watch for our son a couple of months ago. We’re enjoying the peace of mind of being able to contact him when he’s out & about in our neighborhood playing with his buddies. And, he likes being able to contact us, when needed. The only thing that I’m not crazy about is the delay time in pinpointing his location. Sometimes it’ll take just a couple of minutes. Other times, it won’t update his location for 10 minutes or so. My hubby tells friends and family that we’ve “low-jacked” our son! 🤪 Overall we’re really happy with it. Just wish it would update quicker when it’s not in real time mode. That really drains the battery quick!
Our kids love the devices and the app itself is easy enough to setup and apply controls. However the biggest functional gap that takes away from the overall usability and convenience of this product versus other smart watches for kids is the unavailable text message option for “Calling contacts”, which is often what we want to add friends under. Makes no sense to add non-family members as “Caregiver” as that would allow them to track GPS locations or even remove other settings on the GizmoWatches. PLEASE VERIZON GIZMOHUB DEVOPS, fast track a new feature update to enable texting for Calling contacts or even creating a custom Role with basic calling and texting options.
I gave this to my 15 year old son for his birthday because I am an overprotective parent. One day, my son took his gizmo with him because he was having a sleepover at his friend Koni Mahoni’s house. I checked the gizmo to see where he was, and it said he was at 4768 Brown Street. Being the overprotective parent that I am, I looked in the school directory to make sure that was his friend’s house. But it was not. It said he was at Tony Lavoni’s house, but his best friend was actually Koni Mahoni. I drove over to the address and demanded to see my son. The parents were surprised, and brought him down with his friend. It turned out Tony Lavoni went by the nickname Koni Mahoni. Thanks for nothing.
I have nothing negative to say about this app. The functions and accuracy it has to support my son’s Gizmo watch are exactly what I wanted and needed out of a smart watch made for a 7 year old. He loves wearing it because of the technology aspect, and can play a couple of different games while keeping himself on task to finish responsibilities and earn rewards at home. The GPS accuracy of the watch/app has really put my mind at ease when we go any place where there is a crowd of people, or traveling. I have never had any issues with the app itself or the watch, and I was skeptical prior to purchasing.
I started my son with the T-Mobile kids Watch and when I switched over to Verizon he was already so used to it. App is super easy to use. I love the fact that I can see where he is and that he can communicate with me and close family. I mostly got it for him to communicate with his dad with out me being involved unless it’s necessary and let me tell you 10/10. I would love to know how I can get him to be able to text from gizmo to Apple with out the app. Only way is to set him up with a permission level where he can be tracked by the other person and I ready don’t want that. Aside from that love the app !
It’s really too bad the GizmoHub and GizmoWatch do not function as intended. Even worse is the lack of support you’ll get from Verizon in troubleshooting the device. Often the app is unresponsive and watch unable to be tracked. Even when the watch is in a wide open area with phenomenal cellular coverage. The notifications you set up with various arrival times at certain destinations work one day and not the next. You only bought this to monitor your child. No big deal if it only works sometimes right? (Sarcasm obviously) Then when you visit Verizon to troubleshoot they will not help you in store. Instead you are sent instructions on how to create and send “device logs” to someone who will respond to you less than 50% of the time. And oh yeah, not resolve your issues. Buyer beware.
I have the watch 100% charged and on. I’ve tried uploading the latest software which our gizmo 3 is now needing 2 software updates and it DOES NOT LOAD. I’ve tried deleting and reinstalling the app and that doesn’t work. When the watch works it’s great, but my daughter wants to be able to type her own text to me and can only use the preset responses which is so frustrating. There is no keyboard option. My neighbor bought their son a Gizmo 3 and his works fine. I really don’t want to deal with Verizon support, just buying the phone was a nightmare because even though I’m and admin on our account our local store declined to sell me the item at first stating I wasn’t authorized. I really want to love this especially with school coming up.
Pleased with the watch but does have glitches every now and then
I love the watch it gives me a piece of mind but also sometimes the gps wants to act up and tell me my daughter moved out of her school zone and a minute later it corrects itself. I know that may happen but I think it needs to be worked on because that’s the whole point of having it for tracking and making sure your child is where their suppose to be and it’s giving me mini heart attacks. I know it’s not a phone but we are still paying a fee every month and the watch itself is almost as much as an Apple Watch. But overall for my daughter I do love it.
I just received a replacement device for the gizmo watch. I was trying to pair it to the phone and after hours of messing around deleting and re-downloading the app and spending over an hour on the phone with technical support from Verizon they basically told me there was nothing further that they could do in the watch was no good. My only option was to reach out to the app developers and hope that they may have a solution. This is not my first replacement watch that has not worked. Fortunately in the past after spending long hours trying to get it to connect it finally did but not this time. The amount of time that it takes two pair of these watches seems ridiculous and frankly not worth it. I’m very disappointed as now I am paying for a watch I can no longer use and my child is without a contact device.
I’m updating my review after the update. Somehow.... somehow they made it worse... the update fixed none of the bugs, added clicks to perform functions such as logging in and added.... advertisements! For something I already pay for monthly. Down to 2 stars now. I mean... when you have already bought the gizmo watch it’s not like you have a choice but to download it. That being said: it works. Doesn’t crash and I gess that’s good. It’s not very user friendly however. After you send a kid a message you have to just sort of click on random things to get back to your dashboard since there is no button to do so. I also constantly have the red “1” on the icon even though I have no messages. It works but if there was an alternative I would download it
I have friends that have the watch. They really wanted me to be able to call and/or text them. Their dad added me as a contact so, I got the app. Every time I try to make an account it says “ REGISTRATION ERROR”, and then it says, “Sorry, we cannot complete your registration at this time.” I have tried to, redownload the app(Several times, every day. I wasn’t just trying over and over again, I waited a whole day in between!), make an account, their dad added me twice, he even added me in two different ways! Nothing worked! I finally found a way to add their number to my contacts so I can call them, but I still can’t text! And that isn’t through the app. There is no way I could give a good review when I can’t even use the app, and that is very disappointing.
The GizmoHub app lets you locate, call and stay in control of your child’s wearable device. Speak, exchange messages and invite trusted contacts to communicate with your child, all while managing their Gizmo Watch and keeping their information safe. GizmoHub lets you: - Monitor your child’s location and receive alerts while they’re out and about. - Call, text and video your child’s GizmoWatch easily. - Ensure that only trusted contacts call or text your child’s GizmoWatch. - Assign a contact to receive an instant notification if the SOS button is pressed. - Track your child’s steps and set up daily exercise reminders. Download the GizmoHub app and get a little peace of mind along with it. To get started: 1. Download the GizmoHub app on your smartphone. 2. Follow the instructions to create a GizmoHub account. 3. Pair your smartphone with the Gizmo Watch.