Galaxy Watch for my kid

[DamienBish]

Hi.  I couldn't find any threads dealing with this, so am posting new. My 12yr old got a Galaxy Watch from Santa. He doesn't have a phone so has been using it as is, out of the box since Christmas (it's not paired to any other device). Is there a way to manage the content on the watch from a PC or phone without the watch having access to my calls/texts, etc. He (and me) wants to be able to use the watch for analysing his activity, GPS data, etc. I tried setting it up to link to my Samasung phone, but bailed out when the Wearable App asked me to give the "Galaxy Watch Plugin" access to my calls/texts/calendar, etc. So, bottom line is that I want my phone or a PC to be able to read what's been going on with the watch and maybe configure the watch too, but I don't want the watch telling him what my phone is doing. Does anyone know if the Galaxy Watches can be used like this, or are they always meant to be an extension of your phone?  Thanks very much.  Damien

[papashaun]

Hi - one option might be to see if you can pick up a second hand Samsung phone and not put a sim in it but pair the watch to it and install the Wearable app, Samsung Health app etc I believe the watch transfers step counts etc to the health app on the phone
Not sure what model phone would be best viable option price wise etc but you can prob check what phone models / android version you would need
That would keep it entirely off your own phone

Conversely It would be worth trying pairing it with your phone and deny access to calls texts, notifications etc - might work ok for what you want - only thing is the health app might then combine steps for yourself that the phone records and your son's / daughter's steps etc that the watch records !

[Fiona26]

It's a shame Samsung doesn't have what fitbit do, downloading the app and just creating a kids account. That way the watch wouldn't get your notifications and would just have the app to see your child's activity.

[DamienBish]

Thanks for the suggestion, might work for me but I was hoping I could do this without having to dish out for a 2nd phone.  During setup on the Wearable App on my phone, if I reject any of the access questions then it justs kicks me out of the app without completing.  Seems I need to allow access to all.

[papashaun]

Could try going ahead with allowing the access to get the Wearable app installed - pair the watch - then in the wearable app turn off all notifications for the watch

[papashaun]

Hi again - just thinking - if you try that you would need to check all the settings menu in the watch itself as well - there may be things that could be turned on or still accessed by the watch and also maybe delete some of the apps on the watch - think watch would also be linked to your Samsung Account - not saying your son would deliberately try to do that - but a curious 12 year old who wants to see all that his new watch can do 😀 - and given 12 year old are prob more tech savvy than us 😀😀😀
Calendar, email , reminders etc would also be the ones to watch out for synchronising to your account etc

[DamienBish]

Thanks very much for your help.  That's pretty much what I've done.  I've disabled notifications and removed all the phone apps from the watch.   My calendar details and my ToDo's are still showing on his watch, so I'll try to figure that out over the next few days.  But I think it's pretty close now to what I was looking for.  I really appreciate the help, thanks.  

[DamienBish]

I thought I could live with this solution as a compromise, but I'm not so sure now.  As PapaShaun pointed out, the Samsung Health app is now combining Watch and Phone data, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of him having his own activity tracker.  So I think the best solution here is probably the original suggestion of pairing it to an unused phone.   Thanks again.

[papashaun · Accepted solution]

You're welcome - hope you get a good resolution ( if you do go the unused phone route is prob best to set up a new Samsung account for your son ) Really hope he gets to enjoy his watch 🤞😀😀😀

[james2076]

Solved. Not if the solution is to buy another phone. Bottom line is kids can't have Galaxy watches