Why don't they invent a child/young teen safe smartphone?

[Mumoftwo1312]

Wouldn't this take off?

It's preloaded with apps, no access to an app store.

It's got only the apps parents want on there. Say, phone calls, messages, WhatsApp, a location tracker, Google Maps. Maybe a child-safe music streaming app and Kids' netflix. A camera.

It's got a Web browser with strict controls, and a linked web-history tracker the parents can access remotely.

Maybe you could add more apps but only remotely from an appstore on the parents phone. All games blocked. All apps with in game purchases blocked.

Because it's got limited functions, it's got long battery life.

It's cheaper because it doesn't have silly high processing speed and camera resolution.

Wouldn't hordes of parents want this?! Why won't they make this! It would sell like hot cakes!! With the right glamorous advertising, the kids might even want it too.

There are lots of phones and deals like this on the market already

My friend's 12 year old managed to circumvent the iPhone parental controls that were meant to limit her screen time.

Her phone (or access to it) was supposed to turn off at 8pm each night, but she worked out if she switched the time zone to LA she could have access most of the night....

This seems like such a basic thing and if Apple can't get that right I have almost zero faith in their parental controls generally. It's not always about parents being 'wet' - kids are determined and usually much more tech savvy than us!

I've heard other examples without having done much digging. Someone else mentioned that teens buy a 'burner' sim card they can swap out but tbh I don't know if that would get round parental controls or if they're on the phone itself rather than connected with the sim/the phone number on that sim.

But the simple answer to that is the phone is in the kitchen - or parents’ room - at night.

No, the answer is for the world's biggest and wealthiest tech company to make parental controls without gaping flaws in them!

Of course you can keep phone in kitchen if you know about the flaw, but it's not unreasonable of parents to assume screen time restrictions might actually do what they are supposed to, rather than being hackable by a 12 year old.

How may other aspects of parental controls don't work or are hackable?! What you don't know you don't know 🤷‍♀️

@ICouldBeVioletSky didnt' know about that one - but my point remains, plenty of parents are handing over the phones without even learning how to use screen time features, or setting them but with a pin their kids already know.

I do agree though that it really shouldn't be beyond the tech companies to sort either.

DS knows that if I find that he's circumnavigating the controls he'll have a phone ban for an unspecified number of days.