Both our girls have iPads and it's been fine but I've always been tempted to get them the Fire Kids. But I've read so many reviews where people say it's really annoying to deal with, like being adult mode vs kids mode, downloading stuff, no visibility, not as smooth as iPad in general... What are your thoughts if you own one or both?
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Don’t do it! The kids kindle is so glitchy. It freezes constantly, apps don’t work right half the time. It makes my daughter so frustrated, and me because it always freezes when I’m in the middle of a doctor appointment where I can’t help her. We’ve also had problems with it retaining a charge. We’ve had it for about a year and a half and have already replaced it once.
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We returned them. There is no real way to monitor to limit the material they can download. I wanted just a few things available to them to use and it's ALL or nothing. You can pick an age range but it's still crazy.
We got cheap Samsung tablets and have been pretty happy with them.
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@Aria: Wow, really? It kind of sounds like yours is defective! I'd call up Amazon!
We have two. I don't LOVE them, but that could be because of my own incompetence, not because of the device. You can set up profiles for your kids and then add apps, videos, books to their profiles, so that they can only see what you've given them access to, which I love. But I can't figure out how to add regular prime videos to their accounts - it seems like I can only add purchased prime videos. That might just be me not understanding how to use it fully though.
But it's very usable. My 5 year old knows how to get into his profile and he'll play Angry Birds or watch one of the videos we have installed without any issues. It's great for road trips when we're in the car and I can't really assist him! Though the 3 year old still needs assistance getting the next episode to start playing after the previous ended - maybe that's a setting I just haven't figured out yet...
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@maddyz: Is that using the FreeTime stuff? We've never used that, so the kids can only access the specific apps and videos I've given them access to. Plus I disabled the wifi on the kids' profiles, so they can't get access to anything I haven't already downloaded for them.
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@Adira yes, but the apps that they/I wanted I would have had to rebuy if they even worked on the fire. We got the Samsung because that's what our phones are and it was easier/cheaper.
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We have two and really like them. My kids (3 and 5) use the Freetime feature and it got us through Europe on a family vacation quite peacefully! I do have to say, my kids don't use iPads (I have one for myself) and don't do screen time regularly. So for them, it's a treat and they are blissfully unaware of the limitations!
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We have been happy with ours. LO has had his 2.5 years. It doesn’t hold charge as well now, but that happens to all electronics after a few years in my experience. LO mostly uses a pbs kids apps (one for games and one for shows) and Netflix, prime video etc. We used the free year of freetime when we got it at first, and he was young enough he didn’t try to download anything.
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@Ginabean3: As an iPad user, are you satisfied with all the functions that you have to perform like setting control, d/l stuff, etc?
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@jhd: Can the PBS show app be used offline? We use that on our iPads now but it's streaming only with no option to download.
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@snowjewelz: the shows have to be streamed but the games can be used offline
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This conversation pops up from time to time and there's always are two very distinct camps. The apple people hate it because it's not an ipad and the interface is not familiar. The android people love it because it's familiar and syncs with everything they already own. If you're already an apple person, you probably won't like it.
We love ours. It's not glitchy at all, doesn't freeze, we have freetime so he can download whatever he wants without us having to pay anything additional. It can switch between accounts, so I can use it as an adult tablet when the kids aren't using it. We're obviously android people
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@snowjewelz: I am! I don't think it's as intuitive as an iPad but it isn't too much of a hassle. My kids use Freetime and then I will download some movies for them and that's its. They don't browse the internet or use any other apps.
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@snowjewelz: i went for one today for a trip because our old iPads that our girls use are missing/glitchy and can’t download new apps. So I’m gonna try it since it’s 1/3 of the price of a refurbed iPad.
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@birdofafeather: in your case since the iPad is not working well I would have def tried Fire too for the same reason! I think I’ll sit this one out since the ipads are still fine. Please do let me know what you think!
@Ginabean3: I appreciate your input! So I may not hate it as much as some people seem to hahaa!
@kiddosc: totally agree! I feel like I can live with it since I have pretty realistic expectations at this point!
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@kiddosc: totally agree with your assessment.
I’m an iPhone person and I find the kids kindle
Fire really annoying and confusing to navigate. My almost 5 year old can’t really navigate it herself. And it’s pretty slow to load thing. It’s fine and way less than an iPad, but I would definitely rather just have an iPad.I did find the amazon free time pretty annoying. It would show a lot of things she could click on but that would take forever to open or be unable to open. We mostly just use it on long car trips so if t required WiFi she would get very frustrated. Now that I cancelled that I think it’s a little more clear what is actually there.
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My kid has the most basic kid's fire. If cost really wasn't a concern (even if the tablet got broken...or broken repeatedly) I would certainly prefer an iPad. As it is, an iPad is a decent chunk of change and I would be really put out of it got broken due to normal (not even negligent) kid stuff. I don't use anything else Android and I do find the interface baffling, but my 3-year-old doesn't so... The year of Free Time is pretty nifty.
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My son was using my old iPad but we bought him a kindle fire last prime day. We’ve been happy with it. Our only gripe was that he wouldn’t use it at first because his favorite activity from when he had the iPad was the YouTube kids app, which we didn’t think we could get on the fire. Turns out that some internet searching revealed that it was possible to get it in parent mode and since then my son has been thrilled with it. Ours isn’t glitchy at all. It’s a great price and even though we are Apple users, we really like it.
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