Parents looking for an alternative to unrestricted smartphones now have a growing market to choose from. A wave of companies is building phones designed specifically for children, according to TechCrunch, ranging from feature-limited mobiles to minimalist home phones that focus only on calling and texting.
Most of today's kid phones keep the touchscreen, camera and calling features of a regular smartphone but strip out the browser, social media and app stores. Parents manage everything through a companion app: approving contacts, tracking location, setting screen-time limits and choosing which apps are allowed. Some devices also send alerts about cyberbullying, explicit content or online predators.
Bark, Gabb, Pinwheel and the kid-phone market
The Bark Phone is one of the best-known options. It runs on Samsung Galaxy hardware with Bark's monitoring software and only allows calls and texts with approved contacts, scanning messages, emails, photos and supported apps for signs of cyberbullying, grooming, suicidal ideation or sexual content before alerting parents. Parents can gradually unlock browsing and apps as a child matures.
Gabb takes the opposite approach: instead of monitoring content, it removes online risk altogether. Its phones have no social media, browser or app store, offering calling, texting and a curated set of preloaded apps plus a music library. Pinwheel, meanwhile, focuses on routines and modes — for example, limiting the phone to calling and navigation during school hours — and has also launched two landline phones and a smartwatch.
Teracube, launched in 2022, runs a tailored version of Android called Thrive OS, which lets parents approve every app download, filter browsing and set routines for school or bedtime. Because it keeps more traditional smartphone features, it is often recommended for older children.
- Bark Phone — Samsung Galaxy hardware, $240, plan from $29/month
- Gabb — no browser, no app store, phones from around $159.99, service from $24.99/month
- Pinwheel — phones from around $119, Caregiver Portal from $14.99/month, two landlines at $68 and $79, smartwatch at $160
