Kids' Apple Watches + international usage

Who’s your cell phone carrier? I would contact them.

I have Verizon and when I get their international plan, my apple watch and iphone work just as they do at home.

That's good to know. I'll contact AT&T (our provider), but since we will be gone for a month, I assume that will be cost prohibitive, and was thinking an eSIM would be better. (We will likely rarely if ever make phone calls, but could definitely use data.)

Carrie, is your apple watch connected to your phone as well? The kids' watches are these special (annoying, lol) things when it comes to phone plans.

Hi, Tonya, I have an Apple Watch that does NOT have its own cellular line, but it really doesn't matter since I'm never far from my phone. I've never had a problem using my watch or my phone will in Europe (and my last three trips over the past 2 years have been to the UK). FWIW, I have a T-Mobile plan, which offers free international service (to a certain point).

Your kids shouldn't have any problem using their watches, which would include communicating with you via watch. Basically whatever you can do in the states, you can do in Europe with your phone (and watch).

It would be helpful if you told us who your cell phone carrier is, though. For example, if it's T-Mobile, your kids should have their own data allotment with their watches, which would be helpful.

We have AT&T. My kids' watches have their own cell number via a $11-ish monthly "plan."

I spent some time on A&T chat and it sounds like, if I get the international day pass with AT&T, the kids can still only use their watches if they are within Bluetooth range of my phone. This is unlike here at home, where their watches are cellular-enabled and they can call me to ask if they can go to a friend's house after school, for instance. This was really nice in Disneyland when one kid didn't want to go on some of the rides but felt comfortable enough striking off on his own to get a churro :).

I don't know if this is only because that's what AT&T offers internationally, or if there is actually a technical reason that the watches won't have cell availability internationally (different hardware, maybe; an Apple forum post indicated this might be the case but I couldn't confirm).

Perhaps a way of getting around this is to just buy a burner phone to give them if they intentionally split from us for a bit, and otherwise teach them how to deal with being separated from us, as parents have done for time immemorial before tiny wearable phones :)

Well, I'm not sure about AT&T, but I would probably call them and ask. It seems strange that they would not cover it. But even so, you could use the watch's Find My feature to keep track of them.

Failing that, yes, you could get a burner phone. I recently traveled with my 15 year old grandson and 11 year old granddaughter, and he had a phone, but I gave my granddaughter an Apple Airtag to keep with her just in case.