What are my first phone options for kids if I’m a slow-tech parent?

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It’s time to go shopping for your child’s first phone! Exciting!

But hold on…

Before you go buy the latest smartphone or even shuffle through the junk drawer to revive your old smartphone, take a minute to identify your NEEDS and your child’s NEEDS. Your child probably don’t NEED to own a smartphone with access to the 4 billion people on the internet with all levels of good to bad ideas. Especially if they’re under 14.

What do you need to be able to do with a phone? Call your child? Text? Locate them? Arrange schedules (calendar access)?

What are your family's needs?

Once you've identified what you need, you can explore options. We recommend starting with training wheels - a simple, low-tech "dumb" phone or a smartwatch.

Start with Safer Communication Devices for Kids

These kid-safe devices allow texting and calling without open internet or social media:

• Gabb Phone or Gabb Watch - No app store or browser, but kids can text/call approved contacts. Looks like a “real” device, so they still feel included.

• Bark Phone or Bark Smartwatch - Built-in parental controls and text monitoring in an Android phone. You decide what’s allowed and what’s blocked and it’s scalable over time to include everything.

• Verizon Gizmo Watch 3 Adventure - You decide who kids can call and there’s no access to the internet. The Adventure model has no camera; other models do.

• TickTalk - Two-way messaging device with a camera without browsers or social media. Great for younger kids or families easing into tech.

• Landline Kids – the ultimate slow-tech tool! Old-fashioned phones help kids practice listening and social skills, but not access the internet, cameras, etc. This website has links to phone services that use the internet, not a landline, and a way to create your own “Landline Pod” of friends your child can call.

The benefits to these devices? No TikTok. No YouTube rabbit holes. No sneaking time. Just safer ways to stay in touch.

If you already have a smartphone you’re giving your child, add the Bark app so you can supervise their behavior online.

Considerations

Some things to keep in mind - your child needs to buy into this plan and they’ll probably want to hear a timeline for when they’ll get a “real” phone. If you don’t include them in the selection of this device, there’s a chance they’ll be embarrassed by it and won’t pull it out of their backpack to even answer your call, defeating the whole purpose of a communication tool.

If you do decide on a smartphone for a first phone, choose an Android and install a monitoring app like Bark before you even hand over the phone.

Experts agree that Android devices are preferable to Apple devices when using the Bark app to supervise and to "see" what your kids are doing online - there’s just more access to information through Android. And just to be clear, we're not suggesting "spying" on every message and swipe your child ever does. You just need to see when your child is exposed to inappropriate words, photos or videos so you can supervise and give guidance.

Sometimes kids feel left out of social situations online when they have slow-tech parents who have delayed their access to tech. Here’s how to handle that situation.

What about smartwatches?

Smartwatches are a newer category and serve as good first devices for many families who need to contact their child but don’t need all the bells and whistles of a computer-in-you-pocket (smartphone). Here is a 2024 article from Parents Magazine with reviews on various smartwatches. With a smartwatch, you can track your child’s location, setup emergency contacts and communicate with your child.

Be aware - smartwatches can still access the internet. Yes, the screen is tiny but if a child is motivated, there are various ways they can connect to apps, games and websites through their watch.

As a solution, Bark just released their Bark smartwatch. Bark features include “no access to social media, games or internet browsers.” The watch also automatically scans texts for serious issues like bullying, predators, suicidal ideation, and more, and will send you a parental alert.

For more information about what you should be doing at each age for and with your kids, visit our Digital Roadmap Guidebook.