If you’ve been researching safer first phones, you’ve probably heard of, or seen an ad for, Pinwheel. With good reason: it was one of the first child- or teen-focussed phones to come to the UK, and is a thoughtful product from a company that, like us, believes children need phones that were designed around their having different needs than adults. But every month, thousands of UK parents search for an alternative to Pinwheel – I imagine for one of three sensible reasons: the subscription is a not insignificant £15.99 a month (before you’ve bought a SIM), it was designed for the American market (UK support exists, but we’re an outpost), or – and this is what made us continue to build Sayph, after Pinwheel launched in the UK – the Pinwheel model means it will over time become a full-featured smartphone, if you let it. With over 1,500 apps available in the curated app store, we felt that if we gave this to our children, they would soon have a lot of apps available on their phone, and the outcome that we wanted (children who are living life in the real world, rather than through their phone) could be elusive. We’re not saying this is the case for all parents, as we recognise that many will want the extra functionality, but for us, we felt there was still a need for something simpler.
So with that in mind, and the fact that we make Sayph – so have a dog in the race – here’s our rundown of the options available to a parent or carer who wants a restricted smartphone for their young person, but has already decided that maybe Pinwheel isn’t quite what they were looking for. If it is what you’re looking for, check out our balanced view on when you might choose it over Sayph. As always, I’ll do my best to be fair and objective to help you find the right phone for your child.
In brief
There are four real alternatives to Pinwheel currently available in the UK, and they solve different problems:
Sayph if you want a simpler smartphone, with a few useful tools for both parent and child, that will not evolve into an all-the-bells-and-whistles adult smartphone the moment the pleading starts and your resolve weakens – at roughly a third of Pinwheel’s running cost. HMD Fuse if you want a full smartphone with serious AI content-blocking that grows towards independence. OtherPhone if you’ve decided on WhatsApp with an AI filter over it, and you’re comfortable with safety features that can later be removed. Wingio if you want a controls-first setup on a choice of standard Samsung handsets. And if your child is under eight, the answer is probably none of these – a smartwatch like Xplora’s covers calls and location for a bit less initial outlay.
Why parents go looking for a Pinwheel alternative
Pinwheel’s strengths are real: the biggest curated app library in the category, text monitoring, and a clear philosophy of growing towards a full smartphone. The friction, when it comes, tends to be one of these:
The running cost. Pinwheel’s Carer Portal is £15.99 a month (£154.99 a year), on top of the handset and your SIM. Over a typical two-year first-phone stretch that’s roughly £380 in subscription alone. Every alternative below is cheaper to run.
The curation never ends. A library of 1,500+ approvable apps is a feature if you want apps – and a permanent negotiation if you don’t. Some families love managing it. Others discover they’ve bought themselves a weekly “can I have this app?” conversation.
It grows towards a smartphone by design. That’s Pinwheel’s philosophy, openly held. If yours is the opposite – hold a simpler line, and minimise the digital distraction for longer – then you’d be paying for an app ecosystem you never plan to use.
The alternatives, and where we think they fit
Sayph – the no-app-store phone (ours)
Full disclosure: this is us. Sayph is a modified Samsung with the restrictions built into the operating system itself – no app store, no browser, no social media, not as settings but as the design. Calls, messages, camera, music, maps, location for you. Every message is visible to you in Sayph Space, grouped by contact, for up to 30 days, with AI summaries that flag what needs your attention – then messages auto-delete, never seen by our staff, never sold, never used to train AI. £189 one-off, £4.99 a month, any UK SIM (from £2–3 a month should do it). Designed and supported in the UK; Gold for Best Child-Friendly Phone at the MadeForMums Tech Awards 2026. Over two years it costs about £309 against Pinwheel’s £573.
The limitation, if you see it as such (we don’t, as it’s by design): there is no WhatsApp and never will be. If your child’s social life depends on it – more common from 13 up – read our guide to WhatsApp and your child before deciding, and our full Sayph vs Pinwheel comparison for the head-to-head. We take the view that the more apps you put on a phone, the more temptation there is to use it, and no amount of fancy AI filters will get around that.
HMD Fuse – the HarmBlock smartphone
HMD (the Nokia people) build the Fuse around HarmBlock+, on-device AI that blocks explicit imagery from being viewed, captured or shared – impressive technology that’s on by default, but relaxing as your child grows older. It’s sold through Vodafone and Three on contract (from about £33 a month with airtime) or £498 SIM-free. It’s the right call if you take a more pragmatic view of children’s smartphone use, preferring to ease them in to a full smartphone, and want it all done in a single contract covering everything. It’s the wrong call if £500-class hardware for a first phone makes you wince, or if “grows into a full smartphone” is the thing you’re trying to avoid.
OtherPhone – the WhatsApp-filter option
The OtherPhone (from SafetyMode, launched with Mumsnet) is built on the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite, and its AI filters content in real time, including inside WhatsApp, which no one else here offers. £279 plus £5.99 a month. Two things to consider: the safety layer is software that can be fully removed later – a feature in their telling, a bypass risk in ours – and Mumsnet have a commercial interest, so seek out independent reviews too. Our full Sayph vs OtherPhone comparison goes deeper.
Wingio – the monitoring option
Wingio pre-configures standard Samsung handsets (from £149) with device-level controls: approve every contact, read messages, geofence, disable the camera, schedule sleep (much like Sayph). Although this is paired with an app store, so you could end up adding more apps than you planned to at the outset. Subscription is £7.99 a month, or £199 one-off. Worth knowing before you weigh it: the oversight itself is much the same as Sayph’s – approved contacts, full message visibility, location – so the real difference is the handset range and the fact it can grow into a full smartphone.
What about Gabb, Bark and Troomi?
If you’ve conducted research on AI tools, or on US websites, you might have encountered these three. At the time of writing, none of them ships to the UK – Gabb and Troomi phones are US-carrier devices, and Bark’s phone is US-only (a handful of grey imports on Amazon won’t carry warranty or proper UK band support). The UK equivalents by philosophy: Gabb’s stripped-back approach → Sayph; Bark’s monitoring approach → Wingio; Troomi’s curated-apps approach → Pinwheel itself, which does ship here.
Side by side
| Handset cost | Monthly | Two-year cost* | App store | Model | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinwheel | from £189 | £15.99 | ~£573 | 1,500+ approvable, Play Store unlockable | Curate towards smartphone |
| Sayph | £189 | £4.99 | ~£309 | None, by design | Hold a simpler line |
| HMD Fuse | £498 (or contract) | from £33 incl. airtime | ~£820 | Full Android + HarmBlock | Protected smartphone |
| OtherPhone | £279 | £5.99 | ~£423 | Curated, removable safety layer | Filtered smartphone |
| Wingio | from £149 | £7.99 (or £199 once) | ~£340+ | Managed Android | Controls on standard Android |
*Handset + subscription, excluding SIM (add ~£2–3/mo except Fuse contract). Prices checked July 2026 – all five companies change pricing; confirm before buying.
How to choose
We’d suggest starting with the question: what do you want this phone to become? If the answer is “over time, a full smartphone, introduced gradually” – Pinwheel or the HMD Fuse are built for exactly that, and you should buy one of them. If the answer is “a phone, so I can reach them – and nothing else creeping in” – that’s Sayph, or a £20 brick if your child would tolerate one (at this age, many won’t; our complete guide to phones for kids weighs that trade). And if you can no longer hold out against WhatsApp, and hope the AI filters can screen out the bad bits it brings, then try the OtherPhone.
Whichever way you go, you’re already doing the thing that matters: choosing deliberately instead of handing over an old iPhone by default. Our first-phone buying guide covers the whole decision from scratch if you’re earlier in the process.
Frequently asked questions
Is Pinwheel available in the UK?
Yes – Pinwheel launched here in late 2024, sells UK models and supports all major UK networks. This guide exists because it’s available but not right for everyone, not because you can’t buy it.
What’s the cheapest Pinwheel alternative in the UK?
Over two years, Sayph (£189 + £4.99/month, about £309 all-in) runs cheapest of the kids’ phones here; Wingio’s not far behind at £149 for the phone plus £199 one-off subscription (£348 all in). A basic brick phone beats everything at around £20 and is a great option (albeit with no monitoring, location services or contact controls) if your child is happy with it.
Is Gabb or Troomi available in the UK?
No. Neither ships to the UK, and grey imports carry no warranty and patchy network support. Pinwheel, Sayph, OtherPhone, Wingio and the HMD Fuse are the phones actually sold and supported here.
Which alternative is best for a child starting secondary school?
See our dedicated guide to phones for Year 7 – the short version is that the decision turns on the group-chat question more than the handset.
Do any of these allow social media?
Pinwheel, Sayph and Wingio block it outright (Pinwheel allows WhatsApp from its app library – read our WhatsApp guide to see why that matters). The HMD Fuse and OtherPhone can allow more with parental approval as the child ages – which is either the point or the problem, depending on your philosophy.
Sayph is £189 with free UK delivery, plus £4.99/month for the Sayph Space parent portal. See how Sayph works or order today.
Get our printable guide to phones for kids
Weighing up a first phone? Pop in your email and we’ll send you our printable parents’ guide – plus the occasional note from Sayph. Unsubscribe anytime.
We’ll only use your email to send you the guide and occasional Sayph updates. See our Privacy Policy.
