• 3 min read
Safer Phones for Kids Are Gaining Ground
Bark, Gabb, Pinwheel, Teracube, Ooma, and Tin Can are building phones that limit apps, contacts, browsing, and other risks for children.
Image: JGI/Jamie Grill (opens in a new window)
Parents increasingly worried about unrestricted smartphone access are driving demand for devices built specifically for children. These phones often retain touchscreens, cameras, and calling features, but restrict or remove browsers, social media, app stores, and other distractions.
Parents typically manage the devices through a companion app. Controls can include approved contacts, location tracking, screen-time limits, app permissions, and alerts for cyberbullying, explicit content, or online predators. Other products take a minimalist approach, offering only calling and texting—sometimes through a child-focused home phone such as Tin Can or the recently launched Pinwheel Home.
Bark Phone
Built on Samsung Galaxy hardware, the Bark Phone pairs a kid-focused smartphone with Bark’s monitoring software. It allows calls and texts only with approved contacts, while continuously scanning texts, emails, photos, and supported apps for potential signs of cyberbullying, grooming, suicidal ideation, sexual content, and other concerns. Parents receive alerts when the system detects potential risks.
Parents can gradually unlock web browsing, apps, and other features as a child matures. The phone also offers GPS tracking and screen-time controls. The standard model costs $240, with a required wireless plan starting at $29 per month. Higher-tier plans add internet access and unlimited texting.
Gabb
Gabb takes a different approach, focusing less on content monitoring and more on removing online risks. Its phones have no social media, browser, or app store. Instead, children get calling, texting, and a curated set of preloaded apps, including a camera, calendar, and calculator.
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The company also promotes a “worry-free” music streaming library with millions of songs. Parents can view location data and manage selected device settings, while optional services such as Gabb Guard block spam calls and unwanted texts. Phone pricing starts at about $159.99, with cellular service from around $24.99 per month.
Pinwheel and Teracube Thrive
With Pinwheel, parents approve every app, control contacts, schedule screen time, create routines, and monitor location history. Its modes feature can apply different restrictions during the day—for example, limiting the phone to calling and navigation during school hours, then enabling more features after homework.
Pinwheel phones start at about $119. The Caregiver Portal subscription starts at $14.99 per month, excluding cellular service, which can be purchased separately through participating carriers. The company recently launched two landline phones priced at $68 and $79, and also sells a smartwatch for $160.
Launched in 2022, Teracube Thrive runs a customized Android version called Thrive OS. It lets parents approve every app download, filter web browsing, set app-specific and overall screen-time limits, monitor location, and create routines for school or bedtime. Because it offers more conventional smartphone features, it is often recommended for older children. Thrive costs $99, with plans starting at $35 per month.
Child-focused home phones
Ooma MyPhone is a home phone rather than a mobile device, designed as a modern replacement for a household landline. Its Trusted Circle feature limits calls to approved contacts, while Quiet Hours, address-based 911 service, emergency alerts when 911 is dialed, and online call-log reviews give parents additional controls. There are no apps, web browsing, texting, or social media. The phone costs $99.99, and service starts at $7.99 per month.
For $100, Tin Can offers a landline-style device with a distinctive tin-can design. It connects over Wi-Fi rather than requiring a traditional phone jack. Only approved contacts can call, and parents manage those contacts through a companion app.
Tin Can has a free plan for calls to other Tin Can users and a $9.99-per-month plan for calls to all approved contacts. Purchases made through links in the original article may generate a small commission, which does not affect the publication’s editorial independence.
Gadgets Editor
Eli is obsessed with the tangible future. He reviews phones, wearables, and everything with a battery. Known for his rigorous testing protocols and unabashed teardowns, Eli has broken more review units than he cares to admit, all in the name of discovering the truth about durability and repairability.
via TechCrunch
