Fitbit isn't ruling out making a kids tracker for even littler ones

The Ace could just be the start...
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Fitbit may be aiming its first fitness tracker for children aged 8 and above, but it's not ruling out making an Ace equivalent for younger users in the future.

"There's a lot of different ways we could have gone about it," Helen Reidy, Fitbit's EMEA product marketing manager told us. "With the Ace, we know at that age they are looking for something that's more like an adult tracker. That's not to say in the future we wouldn't target other age groups, but we focused on this group because we feel we have compelling offering for this group."

Hands on: Fitbit Ace review

There are a bunch of fitness trackers for kids already available, but many including the Garmin Vivofit Jr 2 and the X-Doria Kidfit aim to cater for users as young as five. Fitbit told us it had its reasons for not building this for anyone under 8 years old. "We wanted to make it very compelling, says Reidy. "To really get the most out of the Ace, you need to be a certain level of literacy, to be able to comfortably read understand different messages."

The Ace, which is a spitting image of the Alta HR (sans heart rate sensor), keeps things basic by letting users track steps, activity minutes and sleep. Hitting targets unlock rewards and Fitbit badges while there's also support for call notifications if kids want to pair it to their own smartphone. It doesn't have GPS or any form of location tracking tech at all, which has been a cause of concern when a report last year raised concerns about the hacking risk of kids smartwatches.

There were initial rumours flying around that Fitbit was toying with the idea of a kids smartwatch before we knew about the Ace. With plans to roll out a family of smartwatches in 2018, we may well still see another one before the end of the year.

Do you think the Fitbit Ace should have been designed for children younger than eight years old? Let us know in the comments below.

Fitbit isn't ruling out making a kids tracker for even littler ones





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Michael Sawh

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Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.

He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.

Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech. 

Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.


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