Fitbit, Garmin and more: The best fitness trackers for kids in 2024

The Fitbit Ace 3 tops our list of the best fitness trackers for kids, because it provides the key metrics to help children keep track of their activity levels. It offers step counting, sleep tracking, and time spent being active. It also features reminders to get moving if they’ve been spending too long on the sofa, and rewards, avatars and clock faces for being active.

The Ace 3 is suitable for children from the age of six, and the companion Fitbit app allows parents to keep track of their children’s data. It doesn’t have as many health and fitness tracking features as many Fitbits. For younger children, this is potentially a good thing, as it means that stats such as estimated calorie burn, heart rate, and other metrics won’t be available. For older teenagers, this might be a bit limiting, if they want more insights into their health and fitness.

The design is relatively understated, making it great for younger children, but as they get older, it won’t be too babyish in appearance. The silicone strap is also interchangeable, giving some customisation options. It’s also designed to provide the screen with protection from bumps. It’s a good, basic fitness tracker that’s great for encouraging young children to get active. And it’s not too pricey either, with an RRP of £69.99, but often on sale for under £50.

If you’re looking for something more affordable - perhaps for younger children who aren’t renowned for their ability to look after things – then the Vigor 2 kids’ fitness tracker ticks a lot of boxes. Costing less than £30, it’s by far the cheapest fitness tracker on our list, but it still has the essentials you would expect to find. 

Offering step counting, distance covered and estimating calorie burn, the Vigor 2 also supports more than ten different activity types – including walking, running, cycling, football, and more. It’s also IP68 waterproof rated, meaning your kid can take it for a dip in the pool without worrying. It also offers heart rate and sleep tracking, making this a comprehensive tracker, especially at this price point.

It isn’t perfect; as you may expect for something so inexpensive, it isn’t as accurate as some more advanced devices, and the display isn’t great. The fact it counts calories may also be offputting for some. This is a device that’s probably best suited to help get your children interested in tracking their health and fitness, and when they’re ready, perhaps upgrading to one of the best fitness trackers under £50.

If you want to combine the aesthetics of a traditional analogue watch with the smarts of a fitness tracker, then the Gamin Vivomove Sport is a great option. The analogue watch face makes this look like a traditional watch, but it has a hidden touchscreen display, and can track plenty of health and fitness metrics as well. 

Because it’s a Garmin, it has loads of tools to help your kids stay on top of their fitness – metrics include body battery, sleep, heart rate, menstrual cycle and respiration tracking. The watch also tracks steps, calories, yoga, swimming, strength training and cardio activity. All of this is presented in the excellent Garmin Connect app, which is comprehensive and easy to use.

With an RRP of £179.99, it’s one of the pricier options on our list. For younger children, this will almost certainly be overkill, offering loads of features that simply aren’t necessary. For teenagers, for whom design is a factor, this represents a brilliant combination of style and substance.

As one of the best fitness trackers under £100, the Fitbit Inspire 3 is another polished device that will likely appeal to older kids and teenagers. It doesn’t have quite as many features as the newer (and considerably more expensive) Fitbit Charge 6, but as one of Fitbit’s smallest and most affordable fitness trackers, it still manages to pack plenty in. 

Heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen levels and estimated calorie burn are all available, as well as plenty of exercise modes to track common types of activity including walking, running and cycling. It’s also water resistant for swimming, and with the Fitbit app, users can access added insights like their Cardio Fitness Score and Daily Readiness Score (like Garmin’s Body Battery). 

On the downside, if you want access to all the features it offers – such as Daily Readiness Score and all your sleep insights - you’ll need to pay an extra £7.99 a month for Fitbit Premium. The Premium plan does offer extra workouts and nutrition guides, but for many kids, this won’t be of much use.

Garmin’s Vivofit Jr. 3 will appeal to younger kids – especially if they like Marvel, Star Wars, or Disney princesses – all of which are available as themes. It offers some basic fitness tracking features, including step counting, a 60-minute activity goal tracker, and timed activities.

There are also challenges and rewards to keep younger children engaged – such as adventures and games that are unlocked as children spend more time being active. The Vivofit Jr. 3 also provides fitness cards, which show basic exercise moves for children to learn, such as jumping jacks, mountain climbers, and downward dog. The battery also lasts for up to a year, so you won’t need to worry about regularly charging it. Finally, the Garmin Jr. app allows parents to assign chores, set reminders for their kids, and keep track of their activity levels.

The designs mean this device is more likely to appeal to younger children than teenagers, who might feel that it’s a bit too childish. It’s also a lot more basic than the Vivosmart 5 we highlighted earlier. But we’re huge fans of Garmin when it comes to fitness trackers, which are typically some of the most accurate on the market.

We’re big fans of Garmin smartwatches and fitness trackers. So, if you’re looking for a fitness tracker that offers more advanced metrics, an excellent supporting app, and accurate tracking, the Garmin Vivosmart 5 is a great choice. 

We’d say this one would be less suitable for young children, but could be ideal for teenagers, especially if they are involved in competitive sports. Offering heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep, estimated calorie burn and stress monitoring, this is one of the most comprehensive fitness trackers on our shortlist. Garmin Connect is one of the best companion apps around, presenting data clearly. It also has the excellent Body Battery feature, which offers insights into whether your body is ready for another intense day of activity, or if something more restful might be in order. The Vivosmart 5 also tracks a variety of different workout types, including running, cycling and swimming, among others. 

While the RRP is £129.99, the Vivosmart 5 has been around since 2022, so it’s sometimes available for under £100. It doesn’t have built-in GPS, which is a slight negative, as it means you’ll need a phone to accurately track runs or bike rides. The comprehensive data tracking and lack of parental controls mean this won’t be suitable for every child. But it has almost everything a serious young athlete might want, to help them reach their fitness goals.

The Apple Watch SE is the priciest device on this shortlist, with an RRP starting from £219. And it’s not a device that is designed specifically with kids in mind. But, if you are looking for a more complete smartwatch experience than you’ll get from a dedicated fitness tracker, and still have an element of parental control over its features, the Apple Watch SE is as good as it gets. 

The Apple Watch SE offers a full smartwatch experience, meaning it can be used for apps, music, sending text messages, and making phone calls, for example. Its built-in GPS means that as well as being able to accurately track outdoor activity, a parent can also track the whereabouts of the watch and their child, using the Find My app. 

Crucially in a shortlist for kids' fitness trackers, your child doesn’t need a smartphone of their own to use an Apple Watch. It can be set up on a parent’s iPhone using Family Setup. This also allows you to adjust features and settings to make sure it’s age appropriate. For example, the activity app can be tweaked to display minutes spent moving, rather than active calories burned. 

Battery life on Apple Watches isn’t the best – you'll almost certainly need to charge this daily. But you won’t find a more polished smartwatch experience anywhere else.

The Australian brand behind the Moochies Odyssey promotes this as a “phone watch” rather than a fitness tracker. It gives children an introduction to smart devices while keeping a close eye on safety. Unlike other devices on our list, this one requires a monthly SIM subscription (either £12.50 or £17.50 every 28 days).

In return, kids can use the watch to make and receive calls from a list of safe contacts set via the companion app. It can also send texts and photos, and an SOS mode allows the wearer to press a button and instantly send a live GPS location to everyone on the safe contact list. There’s even a Class Mode to stop the watch from causing any distractions during lessons. Oh, and there’s no social media access, either. 

In fitness terms, the inbuilt step tracker lets kids get an idea of how active they’ve been on any given day, while an IP68 waterproof rating means this watch can cope with getting wet. It’s less comprehensive than other devices in fitness terms – but it’s a clever introduction to smart devices, without compromising on safety.