← Parent guides

Best first phone for kids: an objective buying guide

By Ben, co-founder of Sayph · Last checked: June 2026

Let's be upfront about one thing before we start: we make a phone for children, so we have a horse in this race. That is exactly why this guide is going to be even-handed. You can spot a sales pitch dressed up as advice a mile off, and so can we. So here is a straight run through every realistic option for a child's first phone, what each one is really good and bad at, and how to work out which is right for your family. We will tell you plainly where ours fits, and where it doesn't.

Start with the right question

The mistake most of us make is starting with "which phone?". The better starting point is "what do I actually want it to do, and what do I want to keep out?".

A first phone can be anything from a way for your child to ring you on the walk home, to a full pocket computer with the entire internet on it. Those are wildly different decisions, even though we lump them together under one word. So before you compare handsets, jot down two short lists: the things you want (usually staying in touch, a bit of independence, knowing where they are), and the things you would rather they did not have yet (social media, an open web browser, an app store, an endless scroll). Your answers will point you straight at the right category below.

If you are still wrestling with the age question itself, our separate guide on what age a child should get a phone covers the evidence.

The five real options

1. A basic "brick" phone

Think Nokia 105, Nokia 2660 Flip or a Doro handset. Calls and texts, often a torch and a bit of radio, and nothing else. They cost around twenty to thirty pounds and last for days on a charge.

  • Good for: younger children, a first gentle step, parents on a tight budget.
  • Watch out for: a lot of children find them embarrassing and resist using them, the keypad texting drives them mad, and you may well be back making this decision again in a year when their friends move on.

2. A GPS phone watch

A wrist device that handles calls and texts to a short list of approved numbers, with location built in. No screen to get lost in.

  • Good for: younger children where the real need is "I want to be able to reach them and know where they are", not "they need a phone socially".
  • Watch out for: limited as they get older, and it is not a phone in the way their friends mean it, so it tends to have a short shelf life before the pressure returns.

3. A normal smartphone with parental controls

An iPhone with Screen Time, or an Android with Google Family Link. Often the cheapest route if you already have an old handset in a drawer, and the controls are free.

  • Good for: older or more responsible children you are happy to give broad access to, with a bit of supervision. It grows with them and does everything.
  • Watch out for: you are starting with a full smartphone and trying to lock the risky parts away afterwards. Those controls sit on top of the phone as software, which means there are settings a determined child can find and switch off, a steady stream of prompts and updates for you to manage, and the app store and open web are only ever a tap away. In practice, you become the family IT department for a device that was designed to be hard to put down.

4. An app-curated kids' smartphone

A growing category of phones built for children that still run apps, but in a managed way. In the UK this includes Pinwheel (which launched here in late 2024), the HMD Fuse, and OtherPhone. Broadly, they let your child use apps you approve while restricting social media, with a parent portal and GPS. Pinwheel, for example, offers a curated library of vetted apps and blocks social media at the operating-system level; HMD Fuse runs standard Android with apps requiring parental approval.

  • Good for: parents who do want their child to have some apps (maps, a music app, Duolingo, school tools) but with guardrails, and who expect to grow towards a fuller smartphone over time.
  • Watch out for: there is usually a subscription, it is still an app world to set up and supervise, and the underlying philosophy is "curate the apps" rather than "keep it minimal". For some families that is exactly right. For others it is more phone than they wanted at this stage. (Features and prices in this category change quickly, so check the current details.)

5. A pared-back first phone

This is the most deliberately simple end of the purpose-built phones, and it is where Sayph sits. A real phone for calls, texts and the essentials, with no app store and no open internet, and the restrictions built into the phone itself rather than bolted on afterwards.

  • Good for: parents who want to keep the first phone as simple as possible, give real-world independence, and delay the app and social-media world for longer rather than manage it early.
  • Watch out for: there is a subscription, and it is deliberately not an app phone. If what you actually want is a curated set of apps, one of the option-4 phones will suit you better, and we would rather tell you that than sell you the wrong thing.

So which is right for you?

A rough steer, said plainly:

  • If your child is young and it is mostly about reachability, look at a phone watch or a basic phone.
  • If you are happy for them to have broad access and you already own a spare handset, a smartphone with parental controls is the cheapest route, as long as you are realistic about the admin and the bypass risk.
  • If you want them to have approved apps with guardrails and to grow toward a full smartphone, look at an app-curated phone like Pinwheel, HMD Fuse or OtherPhone.
  • If you want a real phone that keeps things simple and holds the line on social media and the open internet for longer, that is where Sayph comes in.

There is no prize for the most restrictive choice or the most permissive one. There is just the one that matches the two lists you wrote at the start.

The choices we made with Sayph, and why

Since this is our guide, it is only fair to show our working rather than just plant a logo. Here is the thinking behind the design, so you can judge it on the merits.

We took the app store out entirely. Most of both the risk and the time-sink of a child's phone lives in the app store and the open web. Rather than curate which apps are allowed, we decided the simplest first phone is one without an app store at all, with calls, texts and a few essentials instead. It is a stronger line, and it is not for everyone, but it is a clear one.

We built the restrictions into the phone, not on top of it. With bolt-on controls, the limits are software running over a normal smartphone, so there are settings to find and switch off. We reconfigured the operating system so the limits are the phone itself. No device on earth is tamper-proof, but there is nothing sitting on top for a child to quietly disable.

We tried to take the labour off you. The thing parents tell us they dread is becoming the full-time administrator of the controls. Sayph gives you a parent portal with simple summaries of how the phone is being used, designed to flag things you might want to look at, so you stay in the picture without policing every message.

We minimised the data, on purpose. Messages, calls and location are encrypted, visible only to you and never to Sayph staff, and automatically deleted after a maximum of thirty days. We do not sell data and we do not profile children. We think a child's first phone is the wrong place to build a surveillance habit.

We chose to keep it phone-light for longer. This is the real philosophical difference. Some excellent products in this space are designed to grow into a fuller smartphone fairly soon. We built Sayph for parents who want to extend the simpler stage, not shorten it. If that matches your instinct, we are probably a good fit. If it does not, one of the other routes above will be, and that is fine.

A few practical things to check, whatever you choose

  • The SIM and the contract. Some kids' phones tie you to specific networks; others let you bring your own. Check before you commit.
  • Cost over time, not just upfront. Factor in any subscription, the contract, and the near-certainty of a dropped screen.
  • How location actually works. GPS and tracking usually need mobile data or wifi to update when your child is out and about, so read the small print rather than assuming real-time everywhere.
  • How it grows. Will it still suit your child in two years, or are you buying again soon?
  • Your own bandwidth. Be straight with yourself about how much ongoing managing you will realistically do. The best phone for your family is one you will actually keep set up properly.

The bottom line

There is no single best first phone, only the right one for your child and your family. Work out what you want it to do and what you want to keep out, match that to the five options above, and you will make a good decision whichever way you go.

And if your instinct is that the first phone should be a simple, real phone that holds off on the app store and the open internet for a good while yet, that is the gap we built Sayph to fill.

More from our parent guides: what age should a child get a phone?, and iPhone with Screen Time vs a kids' phone.

Sources