In this review, we are going to take a look at the Fitbit Ace 3. This exercise and health tracker for kids is similar to the adult Fitbit, but with the design and functions built specifically to help motivate, encourage, and challenge young kids to be active every single day. Before you buy the Fitbit Ace 3, let us find out if this is the perfect fit for your kid.
The Fitbit Ace 3 is recommended for children ages 6 and up. We gave it to the only 6-year-old we know, and the first thing he said was, “This looks awesome!” Luckily we had the red and black version, which are his favorite colors, but it also comes in blue and green.
The Ace 3 has sensors that traced how many minutes he exercised each day, how many steps he took, and how much sleep he was getting.
He loved watching the step count go up. It must be easy to get a lot of steps in when your legs are so short because he was racking up close to 20,000 steps some days. Which was awesome because he really was motivated by that.
His parents also challenged him to play outside or be active for at least 60 minutes before he was allowed any screen time. This worked really well because he loves video games. So he was extremely motivated to always hit his goal, and he usually went well past it.
Sleep tracker
We did not go over the sleep feature with him very much. Mostly because it was not something he was necessarily excited about. But it was super useful for the parents because they could really begin to understand why their child might be acting up or not doing well some days.
You can see that sometimes, kids just have trouble sleeping. The Ace 3 can be a useful tool in knowing if you should have them take a nap. Or at least you will have a heads up if it will be a rougher day with them.
Some of the ‘adult’ features that you see in the regular Fitbit, like tracking calories or weight loss, are not included with the Ace 3. It probably would not be a great idea to have your child constantly worrying about those types of numbers anyways.
Water Lock
Like the previous Fitbit Ace 2, the Ace 3 is water-resistant up to 50 meters. This is great because, without that resistance, there is no chance this thing would have survived more than a day with my 6-year-old buddy.
It also has a Water Lock that you can turn on by holding down the side buttons. This prevents the screen from constantly thinking you are pressing it when you go into the water. But do not worry if your kid forgets to turn this on. It will still be fine after a bath or some time in the pool.
Battery life
The touchscreen is black and white, and it was designed this way for a specific reason. Most smart watches need to be charged daily, which would not be ideal for a young kid. By having the black and white screen, the Ace 3 battery lasts eight days on one charge. This made it very easy for him to just wear and not have to worry about charging it. Although he will need to be reminded to do so at least once a week.
Fitbit app
The Ace 3 pairs with the Fitbit app, so we could easily see all of his activity stats. Just in his first week, he averaged over 10,000 steps a day! It was also very useful being able to track his sleep. I noticed on the days he was less active, he had way more trouble sleeping.
If your child has their own smartphone or tablet, you can grant them Kid’s View access to the app. Here they can see their stats, earn badges, and change clock faces without having full access to the main account. Our favorite clock face is the classic rocket ship.
The Fitbit app also offers parental controls so you can set different goals, bedtime alarms, and more. But the Ace 3 does not include a GPS for location tracking.
Setting-up your Ace 3
Downloading the app and getting everything set up with the Fitbit Ace 3 was definitely not the smoothest process. It is not a complex setup; it just takes some time. I would recommend waiting to start the Ace 3 set-up once you have plenty of time to spend on it.
- First, you need to download the Fitbit app from the App Store.
- Second, you will create a Fitbit account. This step took me several attempts as the confirmation email was just not going through. But do not give up if that happens to you. It will eventually work and you only have to do this one time.
- Next, you will need to create a Family Plan. This allows you to keep track of more than one Fitbit device on your account.
- Once you have created a Family Plan, you will add the Ace 3 device. Keep in mind that your Ace 3 will need to be near your phone and at least 40% charged to complete the set-up.
- After you have agreed to the terms, the Fitbit software will download and sync onto your Ace 3. This process can take anywhere from seven to ten minutes. For me, it took closer to ten minutes. Feel free to do other things on your phone while it syncs. But make sure you keep the Fitbit app running in the background so it does not get interrupted.
- Once the app is done syncing, it will review the watch functions and then you are ready to roll.
Conclusion
Overall, my friend Renzo loved the Fitbit Ace 3. Every morning, he looked forward to completing his daily challenge minutes so he could earn other screen time later in the day.
And it was not like an adult who would just go on a walk or do boring actives to achieve a number. He would do all kinds of fun and wacky things, from chasing his sister to riding his bike. He would play soccer and even dance. Renzo is super happy with his Fitbit Ace 3, and it is really helping him stay active. I do not think you could ask for any more than that.
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