Closed 'Friend Circle' on Xiaotiancai Kids' Watches Leaves Parents Feeling Forced to Buy

"Only I can't add them." For many Chinese parents, that line from a child sums up the dilemma that pushed a children's smartwatch brand to the top of Weibo's trending list yesterday.

The hashtag accused Xiaotiancai, sold overseas as imoo, of using a "closed social network" to force parents to buy its watches. The brand's devices do not run WeChat or QQ. Instead, children chat through the watch's own messaging app and add friends by bumping two watches together, a feature that works only between Xiaotiancai devices.

Watches from other brands cannot be added to a Xiaotiancai user's friends list or friend circle and can only be saved as contacts for phone calls. Any two Xiaotiancai watches can add each other, whatever the model.

In many primary and secondary school classes, most pupils wear the same brand. A child with a different watch is left out of the group's chats and likes, and many parents end up buying a Xiaotiancai to keep their child in the circle. Parents online summed up the trap as "buy one and fuel the comparing, or skip it and risk isolation," The Paper reported.

The price of entry is not small. The brand's flagship Z12, launched in May, lists at 2,699 yuan (US$380), more than many mid-range smartphones. Online sales data cited by Red Star Capital Bureau, a business news outlet in Chengdu, show Xiaotiancai accounted for less than 30 percent of online children's watch units sold but more than half of sales revenue, with about nine in 10 of its models priced above 500 yuan.

Parents also complained about lock-in and blind spots. Switching to another brand wipes a child's friends list and data, and the parent app does not show the child's friend circle or chats, according to the reports.

Rivals take a more open approach. Xiaomi's customer service said its Mitu children's watch 7 series supports WeChat, including text, voice, photos and video calls. Huawei said its children's watch 5 series, now on sale, supports children's versions of WeChat and QQ, letting kids add friends across brands through those apps. Both brands, like Xiaotiancai, allow non-brand watches to be saved only as phone contacts within their own systems.

The barrier is set to come down, at least in part. In late 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation released China's first mandatory national standard on children's watch safety. It takes effect on January 1, 2027, after which all children's watches made, sold or imported in China must comply.

Clause 4.18 of the standard says children's smartwatches should allow watches of different brands to exchange phone numbers and nicknames, with the feature controlled through the parents' management app. The standard, which covers watches for children aged 3 to 13, also bans splash-screen ads and preloaded games, short-video and livestreaming apps, requires parental consent for first-time payments, and lets parents set daily usage limits.

Xiaotiancai said in June it had tested its Z12 against the standard with a laboratory affiliated with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, and that several key items met the requirements.

Zhang Yi, founder and CEO of the consultancy iiMedia Research, said the cross-brand requirement "directly dismantles the core moat of the leading brands." The industry had been a classic case of social monopoly, he said, and competition will now turn on safety and value for money.

Some commentators noted, however, that exchanging phone numbers is not the same as joining a friend circle, and that likes, rankings and levels inside each brand's ecosystem would remain.

The scrutiny comes as regulators tighten online rules for minors more broadly. On September 18, the Cyberspace Administration of China released draft State Council regulations on minors' safe use of the Internet for public comment, which closed on October 17. The draft would bar online services from offering minors social networking with strangers, "virtual relative" and "virtual partner" services, and services that induce addiction, and would ban livestreaming by users under 16. Industry insiders said children's smartwatches would be among the products most affected.

Asked whether cross-brand friending would be opened up before then, Xiaotiancai's customer service said it was not yet known.