Why one parent swapped her teenager’s smartphone for an OtherPhone

Part of being a parent is knowing when to loosen the reins and give our kids the freedom to explore the world beyond our watchful eye. But when they’re out of sight, they’re certainly not out of mind. Having access to a phone can be an invaluable way to stay connected, especially in an emergency.

Still, while a phone keeps children a call away, smartphones can also expose them to inappropriate content and distract them from family time and schoolwork. 

For one OtherPhone user, those concerns became harder to ignore when she discovered her teenage daughter had bypassed the restrictions on her smartphone. 

So how can we strike a balance between staying connected and helping children stay safe? 

Why this family reconsidered the smartphone

It can be hard to remember a time before smartphones. For many of us, they’re never far from reach, whether we’re messaging loved ones, catching up on the news, scrolling through social media or shopping online. 

But that endless stream of content can feel more concerning in children’s hands, particularly when it comes to excessive screen time, explicit imagery or unwanted contact with strangers. 

One Mumsnet user, who has chosen to remain anonymous, tells Mumsnet she was happy for her two children, a 15-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son, to have phones. 

Although she had put parental controls in place, she was shocked when her daughter found a way around them. 

“When our daughter started secondary […] a phone was the norm and a rite of passage for children to ensure they were contactable. […] Our rules were no phones at the table and they were not to be kept in bedrooms. We didn't allow social media as I felt it would be addictive to our daughter and worried about the older age content and themes surrounding body image. 

“We thought we had all the appropriate controls in place. However, she found a way around it, and was then accessing Netflix at night and [messaging her friends]. She didn’t have social media, but this out-of-character behaviour caused us to be concerned that she may do other things we weren’t aware of, and that the appeal of the phone was so great for her, that she was willing to break rules we didn’t think she would ever do.”

What changed with OtherPhone

A basic phone that only allows calls and texts might seem like a suitable alternative. However, it won’t offer useful learning apps or a camera for scanning QR codes. Depending on the model, it may also lack location tracking for parents who want to check where their children are. 

OtherPhone, developed in collaboration with Mumsnet users and built in partnership with Nothing and SafetyMode, offers a smartphone with built-in safety controls. Parents can choose which apps their child can use, including when and whether to allow social media. The core safety features work without a subscription. 

Its controls detect and block inappropriate content on screen, within any app or browser,  including within messaging apps. The phone costs £279 as a one-off purchase, but an optional SafetyMode Plus subscription adds remote management from a parent portal e and email alerts when harmful content is detected and blocked. It’s free for the first three months, then £5.99 per month. 

The parent says her daughter now uses OtherPhone to contact her friends. With social media restricted through their chosen settings, she seems less attached to her phone. 

“She uses it to contact her friends as we have WhatsApp on there, but no other social media. Consequently, she’s not too obsessed about being on it all the time!”

She also felt more confident in the safety controls, saying OtherPhone offered more features than she had expected.

“We found the range of things it can protect against much wider than we thought, which has been great. We were also surprised that its functionality is just as wide as a [smartphone].”

The phone also saved screenshots of messages containing flagged language, alerting the parents to concerning behaviour in their daughter’s friendship group.

“We also feel happier about any possible inappropriate content being sent to her as we know from experience using this that we will be notified. This has helped us identify some bullying-type behaviour in the group due to being notified of certain swear words we set. Also one of the girls vaping. We all know teenagers may do these types of things but feeling that we are more likely to become aware of it so we can talk to our daughter feels reassuring.

“One of the girls was being unkind to another and we were alerted to it due to the bad language. The messages were subsequently deleted, but due to this feature, we could see the trail from the person involved, so it couldn’t then be denied.”

The drawbacks

The parent found her daughter wasn’t thrilled about the switch to OtherPhone, particularly as most of her friends still had their usual smartphones.

However, she also began noticing how much time they spent on their phones.

“As a 15-year-old, she isn’t particularly happy about not having [her previous smartphone], which she used to have and most of her friends have. However, she does know why we moved away from that, and she does sometimes comment on how her friends are glued to their phones and how she wishes that they weren’t!”

What she’d tell another parent

When her daughter started secondary school, the parent says a smartphone was the accepted norm for a first phone. With her son now in Year 7, she feels attitudes have shifted.

“My son worried that he might feel left out, but after a few weeks of secondary school he said that he doesn’t even want a phone as they are not allowed to use them in school at all anyway […]. So the longer I can keep him phone-free, the better. But when he does move to a phone, it will definitely be the OtherPhone.”

Join the OtherPhone Advocates Programme

For parents who want to recommend OtherPhone to other families, its Advocates Programme offers a £30 discount for the buyer and a £20 cash reward for the advocate on each qualifying referral. Register your interest to receive a personal code and link to share. 

The discount applies to OtherPhone purchases in the UK and Republic of Ireland, excludes SafetyMode Plus subscriptions and can’t be combined with other offers. Rewards are paid into a UK bank account, subject to the programme’s terms.