The best phones for kids — reviewed for parents
Independent reviews of purpose-built children's phones, parental-control handsets, and monitoring-focused devices. Each review covers the age range it suits, how restrictions actually work, and when children outgrow it. Research-based recommendations for parents choosing a first phone.
See best kid-safe phones
Hardware-level restrictions mean there's no browser, no app store, and no social media — not a setting to toggle off, but a device that simply doesn't have it. GPS for parents.
All kid-safe phones we've reviewed
| Product | Review | Mechanism | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabb Phone | Read review | parental-controls | device under $100 + plan | Buy |
| Pinwheel | Read review | parental-controls | around $150 + subscription | Buy |
| Bark Phone | Read review | monitoring | $360 upfront for the device (Bark Phone Pro: $600) + a month-to-month plan from $29/month (Starter) up to $79/month (unlimited data), with Bark Premium monitoring included; Affirm and Klarna available | Buy |
Reviews
A purpose-built kids' phone where the restrictions are hardware-level — there is no browser to find, no app store to open, and no social media to stumble into.
An Android phone with parent-controlled permissions that can grow with the child — the middle path between a locked-down kids' phone and an unrestricted smartphone.
The monitoring-first approach to kids' phones — Bark's AI watches for concerning content and alerts parents, rather than blocking everything upfront.