Choosing a Phone for Your Child
At some point, you’ll no doubt decide the time is right to give your child a phone.
At Sayph, we’d love to still be in a world where childhoods are spent playing games outside with friends, but we know the world has changed in the last 30 years. That’s why we’re working to create a phone that you could safely give to a child as young as 5, if you wanted to (we believe they don’t need one at that age).
As our own children are growing up, we’ve been shocked at the limited options available to parents. It feels like however long you hold off from giving them a phone, at some point you’ll end up having to give in, and they’ll suddenly have the whole internet in their pocket.
That’s why we’ve set out to create the safest way for your child to stay in touch, without losing their innocence.
So, what are the options for a safe, child-friendly phone?
| Option | Pros | Cons | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Phone | Congrats – your child is safe! | …but you can’t get hold of them | |
 | Dumb Phone | Simple, low-cost, limited distractions, no worries about what they’re looking at. | No control over their contacts (they could add anyone’s number), no GPS, limited functionality, does little to fend off peer pressure. |
 | iPhone with parental controls | Ability to set limits for screen time, app approval, gives the child what they want. | Limited visibility of how child is using phone; possible for children to get around the parental controls (and easy for them to find out how online), parents also need to be iOS users. |
 | Android phone with Google Family Link | Family Link is free to Android users | But it’s also limited (like the Apple version) in terms of the control it gives the parents. |
 | Network managed parental controls | Phone based controls with network content restrictions | Network restrictions don’t work over wifi; phone controls need to be maintained by parent & could be circumvented. |
 | Sayph phone | Designed by parents for children. Monitor remotely via parent app; grows with child (add functionality as they mature); parent approves contacts; Sayph content filter. | Coming soon! Join our waiting list |