GizmoHub (Retired)

Review by eFreeware

A kids' smartwatch is only as useful as the app behind it. The watch itself can make calls and share a location, but the parent is the one who sets trusted contacts, draws a boundary and decides who is allowed through. When that companion app goes away, the watch in your child's bag becomes a lot less useful, and that is exactly the situation GizmoHub users are in now.

GizmoHub is the companion app for Verizon's kid smartwatch, published by Verizon Consumer Group under the Communication category. It has been available since November 19, 2014, and has passed 1,000,000 installs with a 4.0 average from 15,010 ratings. GizmoHub shuts down on September 23, 2026, and Verizon Family takes over.

This review is not about whether to install GizmoHub fresh. It is about what the app has been doing for families, what the switch involves, and what you need to know if a watch is still on your account.

What the app has handled for watch families

The core job is linking a parent's phone to a child's watch. Through that link you set up the people your child can call and message, and you decide which alerts reach you. Trusted contacts and boundary alerts are the two things that carry over, which shows how central they are: one is about who your child can reach, the other about knowing when the watch leaves an area you have defined.

That combination is what makes a watch like this workable for a younger child. You are handing over a device whose contact list and movement alerts you control from your own phone. GizmoHub is the piece that makes those controls reachable without digging through watch menus.

The app is free and carries ads, and it does not offer in-app purchases. For a utility that sits in the background and gets opened when you need to change something, that arrangement is unremarkable, though ads in a parental control tool are worth knowing about before you set expectations.

The switch to Verizon Family

Verizon's instruction is to download and set up Verizon Family before that date so service is not interrupted. The developer says the new app keeps the same features at no additional cost, and that device settings, trusted contacts and boundary alerts move across automatically once you sign in.

The part that will matter most to parents is the reassurance about hardware. You do not need to reset the gizmo, and your child's watch does not have to be wiped before you start using the new app. Link the accounts and the rest carries over by itself. Anyone who has ever set up a kids' watch from scratch knows how much time that saves.

The other piece is the people around your child. Caregivers and trusted contacts need to download Verizon Family as well, so the change is not confined to one phone. If a grandparent or a sitter is on the list, they will need to make the move too, which is the sort of thing that is easy to forget until a call does not come through.

Signing in and what changes for your account

Sign-in depends on what kind of Verizon customer you are. My Verizon credentials work for Verizon Mobile customers. For account security, Verizon logins now take the place of social media sign-ins, so if you previously signed in that way, expect to use your Verizon account instead.

For Verizon Business and non-Verizon Mobile customers, the existing Apple or Google login still works on Verizon Family. That split is the one detail worth checking before you start, because it determines which credentials you will need on hand.

You can reach support by email at [email protected], or through the app's More section, where Contact Support sits. The new app is where help lives now.

Families this setup fits

The people who get the most from this arrangement are parents who want a watch on a younger child's wrist with a short, controlled contact list and a way to know when the watch leaves an agreed area. The trusted contact and boundary alert features map directly onto that need, and the automatic transfer means the work you have already done carries forward.

It also suits households where more than one adult or caregiver is involved in pickup and drop-off. Because trusted contacts move across and those contacts need the new app, the whole circle ends up on the same system rather than one person holding all the controls.

The other group this matters to is anyone still holding off on the change. With a shutdown date set, the useful move is to set up Verizon Family while the old app is still working, rather than waiting for a call or an alert to fail first.

What to do with GizmoHub now

GizmoHub has done its job for a long time, and the 4.0 average across 15,010 ratings suggests it did it well enough for a large group of families. But the retirement notice changes the calculation completely. There is no reason to start fresh with this app, and every reason for existing users to complete the move.

The steps are short: install Verizon Family, sign in with the credentials that match your account type, and let your caregivers know they need it too. Your settings, contacts and alerts come with you, and the watch stays as it is.

If you are a current GizmoHub household, treat the switch as a task for this week, not for September 2026. If you are shopping for a kids' watch setup, the app to look at is Verizon Family, since that is where these features now live.