Buying a cell phone for kids isn’t just giving them a phone. It’s about how you want to introduce them to modern technology. But, you also need to have a certain amount of control over their use. Thus, knowing the best cell phone with parental controls is beneficial.
There are plenty of phones on the market suitable for kids. And, they have variable functions from the only call or text-only phones to most modern high-end phones.
Here I am adding the 5 best cell phones with parental controls. Just a friendly reminder, they may or may not be the best option for you, but after reading the article, you will know what kind of cell phone to look for your kids.
Our Top 5 Best Cell Phones With Parental Controls 2023
Mobile Phones are incredibly advantageous for both kids and families – you, as a parent, can anytime get in touch with your kids or vice versa. Also, you can monitor your children’s locations with GPS capacity.
Your kids may want to play games in their free time. So, you can do your tasks with your phone and let your child play games or other things on their phones.
But, the question is, when should you give them one?
According to a survey, An average child gets their first mobile phone around age 10. But, I absolutely don’t recommend giving a cell phone to your kid at this young age.
Some child experts suggest giving a phone after 14 years or more. But, depending on your situation, you can adjust the time.
1. Palm Phone
With its 3.3-inch screen, the Palm Phone is easy enough to fit in your coin pocket. It shares your phone number, acts as a secondary communicator, connects just like a smartwatch. You need to pay an extra $10 to Verizon with your plan, like a smartwatch, to keep it active.
But, it isn’t a smartwatch; a complete android phone. You can use it as a substitute for your primary cell phone.
As I said, the Palm Phone is a parental controls for android cell phones, which dimensions of 3.8 x 2 x 0.29 inches. But, because of the teeny figure, don’t be confused with its delicate performance.
The front and back have Gorilla Glass 3, and the midframe is made of aluminum. As rated dust and water-resistant by IP68, the phone can survive waterfalls up to 5 feet.
The screen isn’t too bright, or dim either. But, it’s on the dimmer side with 398 nits of peak brightness. It may hard to see anything under the noon sun.
The rear camera isn’t that powerful either, which captures with a 12MP camera. But, there isn’t any ultra-wide or micro lens. So, image quality is not something to be pleased with.
Palm Phone is a simple phone, with no extraordinary features. It is suitable for your kids if you want to give them a phone for mostly talking and texting.
Also, they can use Bluetooth headphones to listen to music since there’s not a headphone jack in the phone.
The best thing about the phone is, it’s not a phone for gaming. This is essential for many parents, as they want their kids to spend time playing physical games instead of on the phone.
2. Samsung Galaxy A11
If your child is in mid-teen or you want to give yourself a phone that is better than just texting and calling, Samsung Galaxy A11 is a better option.
The rear of the phone is plastic, which makes you think of older models like the Galaxy A50. This isn’t necessarily bad, as some things are better than shimmering or glossy rainbow textures.
The phone also comes at a reasonable price, which costs around a hundred dollars. Despite that, the Samsung has an almost bezeless 6.4-inch display. But, there isn’t any notch or teardrop-shaped front camera, just a single hole on the left corner.
The model is also not too large and hefty and is only 6.35 by 3.00 by 0.31 inches. With a TFT and HD+ screen, it makes a toned-down color gamut. So, images come out fairly sharp and bright.
With the three rear cameras (13MP wide, 5MP ultra-wide, and 2MP Depth) and 8MP front camera, Galaxy A11 is considered a pretty decent camera phone.
The phone has 2GB ram and 32GB storage, which allows you to play some heavy games. But as the processor is the Snapdragon 450 chipset, the screen refresh time gets slowed while gaming. Moreover, you can’t play high-end games like PUBG and Fortnite.
3. Moto G Fast
Moto G Fast is another phone with modern features for your older kids. Released in early 2020, Motorola’s this unit is affordable with outstanding performance, long battery life, and decent camera quality.
The model has a pretty attractive appearance but is not as sleek as other models. And, it is rather large too, measuring 6.37 x 2.98 x 0.36 inches (HWD). So, watching videos and playing games is excellent.
The phone dominates a 6.4 inches LCD from the front with a tiny notch on the corner for taking selfies.
The display is bright enough and offers excellent color accuracy for teen kids. Its back camera also provides high-quality images. So, This phone is especially for kids who like to explore this world with cameras. Its three lenses, including microlens, allow users to get 5x closer to objects.
And, as you expected, you can text, audio call, or video call them anytime. It is also for kids or parents away from home, who can talk on video calls. The network performance on the cell phone is consistent and supports most of the LTE bands.
The Moto G Fast is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset, has 3GB RAM and 32GB internal space. Users can add up to an additional 512GB of storage as a MicroSD card.
So, you can install some heavy apps and games on the phone. If you allow your youngster to explore and play games, this is the best cell phone with parental controls.
4. Google Pixel 4a
Coming in at $350, Google Pixel 4a isn’t a cheap phone, but its price and functionality zone hits perfectly. This phone goes with the teens showing they are responsible.
The exciting thing about this model is, it can take photos of previous year’s flagships. With plenty of photography features like night mood, the model of Google, without a double among the best-budgeted cell phones with an excellent camera.
It’s another great device for your kids to take pictures with their friends and surroundings.
There are a few reasons why the phone is often recommended for young guys. First of all, its display is 5.8 inches, which is reachable for small hands, and 143g is light enough for them.
Then, the plastic body with a matte finish gives them the illusion of quality. Additionally, there are also other bonuses like the robust build.
The Pixel 4a is packed with the Snapdragon 730G chipset and 6GB RAM, making it suitable for heavy users. And, heave games like Call Of Duty perform excellently with the phone.
But, if you come to a phone with a Snapdragon 765G, the screen refresh rate of the phone is a little slow. So, it is expected to have exceptional battery life. But, surprisingly, the phone comes with a small power pack at 3140mAh.
The unit fits from young to older, especially for the kids, because of its specialty in camera, display, and built-in departments.
5. iPod Touch
To me (or even to you), the iPod touch is nothing but just a faster phone without a cellular chip. And that’s what makes it an excellent device for kids without spending much.
Got its last update in 2019, the iPod touch still in 2023 is a capable device. It comes in pretty compact and thin specs. And, it is identical to its predecessor, iPhone S5, with its 4-inches retina display and sleek and lightweight construction.
Despite being a pretty old phone, its specifications can still be considered decent. When released first, its main attraction was the 4-inch retina display and A10 Fusion chip. The rear has an 8MP camera with autofocus and auto image stabilization, whereas the front is a 1.2 FaceTime HD camera.
The latest iPod Touch runs on iOS 15.1, which is the newest version, updated this fall. That means you can use all the apps you can use on an iPhone, of course, except the phone itself.
As you may know, you can’t make calls or access the internet over a mobile network; but you can text using messaging apps like WhatApps or Messenger over Wifi.
With the A10 Fusion chip installed, the iPod Touch is optimized for gaming. Users can play heavy to light, any type of game. That’s the reason this phone is regarded as being for kids.
The unit has gotten quite popular in this Pandemic, as parents can’t let their child go outside to play. If your child also loves to play games, and iPod Touch is the best cell phone with parental controls.
Some Helpful apps when Parental Control
As you may notice, although I said it was the best cell phone with parental controls, I still didn’t introduce a single phone with parental control. Actually, I didn’t find any decent cell phone with parental control integrated with the system.
But, using apps, you can achieve the same result pretty quickly. And, using an app is more simple than the other way. Here are some apps you can try out –
Net Nanny Parental Control
It’s a premium parental control app, regarded as the best for monitoring kids’ phones. It’s a little expensive, costing $54.99/year. And, it’s available for both android and iPhone.
The app can trace your children’s location, show where they were, set a time allowance for using the phone, and schedule for mobile and desktop.
Now you can also filter inside social media content within Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube.
Norton Family
This is also a premium parental control app only for Android ( and Windows ), priced at $49.99/year. The app is ideal for households with many children.
This app also has all the features that you need from a parental control app, including location tracking, time scheduling, web filtering, and monitoring activities. Plus, a new feature was added, which is called automatic location alert. That alerts you when your kids cross the set area.
Kaspersky Safe Kids
Kaspersky Safe Kids is one of the most affordable parental control apps, not only letting you monitor your child’s activity on PCs or Macs but also smartphones. And, yes, it operates on both Android and iOs.
Similar to the previous apps, this also offers basic monitoring features, including geofencing and device scheduling. The price you have to pay for this is $7.99 per year.
Some Tips For Choosing A Phone For Your Children
There are a few tips I would like to share with you from my experience before ending this topic.
- Purchase a phone for the right reason. Don’t buy them just because their friends have or other excessive reasons.
- Must consider the price. Kids are meant to break or lose stuff pretty quickly. So, give used or inexpensive phones, and help them build the habit of valuing and taking care of things.
- Draw boundaries. Before you hand them a phone, make a promise in contract form to follow some rules, like use time, what to use, and whatnot.
- Monitor their use. Use the apps above to monitor what they are doing with their phone, what videos they are watching, what game they are playing, and what apps they are using.
- Use Parental Control Apps. Using the apps I mentioned, set a restriction over their use of inappropriate apps.
- If they fail to follow properly, take away the mobile. Somewhere I heard a quote, “ Having a phone is a privilege, not a right.” If they violate your trust or do something they shouldn’t, take away the phone, don’t hesitate in this case.
- Just make sure you don’t be too strict with them, either too loose.
