Apple Watch Family Sharing is not ready for real families

Our original intent was straightforward: We wanted to buy a cellular + GPS Apple Watch for our 10-year-old son so he could contact Mom or Dad if needed, and so both parents could independently see his location. No phone, no games, no social apps, just basic safety and communication.

What followed was a multi-day process that revealed some fundamental gaps in how Apple Watch Family Sharing works in the real world.

Carrier onboarding breaks down entirely with MVNOs

We initially purchased an Apple Watch SE 3 (cellular/GPS) directly from our mobile provider, Spectrum Mobile. Spectrum explicitly told us the watch could operate as a standalone device under Apple Watch Family Setup on their network. That turned out to be false.

After hours of troubleshooting, we learned that Spectrum does not support Apple Watch Family Setup at all. (The third phone representative was honest, after the two previous had been defensive.) Despite using Verizon’s underlying network, Spectrum lacks the provisioning capabilities required for standalone Apple Watch operation. This distinction was never made clear at the point of sale, and we were left with a watch that simply could not do what it was sold to do.

We returned that watch and bought the 2nd generation SE, unlocked, from Walmart. This time we activated it through Verizon, one of the carriers that actually supports Family Setup. Because the host iPhone was still on Spectrum, automatic activation failed silently and required a manual IMEI-based setup with a Verizon representative.

The takeaway here is not just that MVNOs are limited, it’s that Apple Watch Family Setup assumes a level of carrier capability and honesty that doesn’t exist in practice. Families are left discovering incompatibilities only after purchasing hardware and spending hours in setup limbo.

Only one parent can see a child’s location

Once the watch was finally activated and working, we ran into a much more surprising limitation: only the parent who performed Family Setup can see the child’s watch location in Find My.

There is no way for a second parent — even one who is part of Family Sharing — to independently view the child’s location. There is no toggle, no invitation flow, and no explanation in the UI. The child’s watch reports location, but visibility is locked to a single adult Apple ID.

For something branded as “Family” sharing, this is a glaring omission. In a two-parent household, it is entirely reasonable and often necessary for both parents to know where their child is. Requiring one parent to act as the sole gatekeeper for location data does not reflect how real families operate.

Speech-to-text is disabled for kids, removing an accessibility tool

Finally, after testing the watch in daily use, we discovered that speech-to-text dictation for messaging — a standard feature on regular Apple Watches — is completely disabled on watches configured via Family Sharing.

Children are limited to canned responses, emojis, or Scribble, where letters must be drawn one at a time on the screen. Scribble assumes fine motor control, legible handwriting, sustained attention, and tolerance for slow, error-prone input on a tiny screen.

This is not just inconvenient; it’s exclusionary. Our son has ADHD and poor handwriting, and he actively uses speech-to-text as an accessibility tool at school. Apple supports dictation across its platforms and already provides parental controls through Screen Time, yet this capability is removed entirely for children on Family Setup.

If Family Sharing is meant to help kids stay connected safely, disabling one of the most accessible forms of communication runs directly counter to that goal.

Summary

Taken individually, each of these issues is frustrating. Taken together, they point to a broader conclusion: Apple Watch Family Sharing is not ready for real families.

It assumes ideal carrier support that often doesn’t exist, enforces a single-parent model for location awareness, and removes accessibility features that many children rely on to communicate. The result is a system that looks good on a marketing page but breaks down under normal family use.

I hope Apple revisits these design decisions and takes a stronger role in preventing MVNOs from marketing Apple Watch Family Setup as standalone functionality when it cannot actually be delivered. The idea behind Family Sharing is solid, but the execution falls short in ways that matter.

Note: I have submitted these issues via Apple Feedback. The character-truncated submission form does not allow extended issue descriptions.