To buy DD an iPhone- which one?

[Brian9600]

I need to buy my DD (12) an iPhone- her first. At her age, her brother inherited my old 4 and now has my old 6S.

Trying to work out what to get that is reasonable value and fair (ie equivalent to what DS got, which obviously doesn’t mean the same as 4s are no longer supported).

Reconditioned 6? Does anyone know whether that’s likely to be supported for a while yet? Are reconditioned phones (from Giff Gaff or similar) likely to cause issues?

We are an Apple household so don’t want to switch brand.

Thank you!

[BasilTheGreat]

I’ve bought my children iPhone 7 and 8 and will get another 8 for my youngest later this year when she’s starting secondary school. You need a good wallet case though, something like Otterbox.

[Purplejay]

No one ‘needs’ an iPhone. We are an Apple family and all have iPhones and iPads. He is on a Cheap contract. We have family sharing so apps purchased can be shared. I can monitor his usage. I love that I can see where he is on ‘find my iPhone’. It also came in very handy when he lost his phone on the school field! You can also mark as lost, put a message for the finder and other useful stuff. We also share music.

He had a used 6 before this one and then it broke. Given their age now I thought a 6s would be better. He would have liked a 7 but they were more than I was prepared to pay. He paid half for his current phone.

[Beamur]

An old iPhone is not very expensive. They're very robust and the apps work well. If you have a family set up and all sign into the same account you can see where the phone is.
DD uses hers on the basis that we can easily check her messages. You also get to use functions like facetime if you don't want to use apps like WhatsApp (should be 16)
It's been a pretty cheap and practical phone for us.

[friskybivalves]

We also have a 5s on the go for DD and it's totally fine so far.

[Babynamess]

I cannot get my head around a 12 year old needing an iphone

This ^

[CallMeWoman]

Not too bad then. Thanks.

[Purplejay]

My 12 yo has a 6s. Cost about £90 on eBay.

[CallMeWoman]

We'll see how she gets on and in the meantime I'll save up for another ridiculously expensive phone.

[Beamur]

I think 5 is still supported. It was due not to be but then updates were issued. DD has a 5 without any problems but I would buy 6 or newer now.

[CallMeWoman]

I am quite lucky, it has to be said.

[AlaskanOilBaron]

I'm surprised you still have an operational 5s, I would have thought the scheduled breakdown feature would have long-since activated.

[CallMeWoman]

Drat, I didn't know 5's are no longer supported. I just gave DD my old iPhone 5s. How long before it's completely unusable? Stupid apple iOS.

[AlaskanOilBaron]

i've got apple pay on my old 6s

Hm. He must have had a 6, then - so my 13 year old has a 6. Seems all OK.

[DaisyBD]

My 16 year old now has a 7, which is really useful because you can put Apple Pay on it - he has my card, but so do I. This was my main reason for upgrading my 16 year old to a 7.

i've got apple pay on my old 6s

[MumUnderTheMoon]

The way I see it when her DB needed a phone you had one to hand down. Now you don't. There isn't a "fair" way to manage the situation. Go for a refurbished se or a 6 and just don't make a big deal of it.

[WeeMadArthur]

I think it’s worth getting her to try holding and using a selection first, I find them quite difficult to use due to the width, it also means she would be more likely to drop it if she can’t hold it comfortably.

[Apoiads]

The 6s is good.

[Comefromaway]

Agree. Dd doesn’t like apple and has a Samsung and it’s a pain as she can’t family share/find my iPhone etc.

We are also a musical family and the fact ds has an iPhone means that dh’s Mac music software is all compatible along with iTunes etc.

[AlaskanOilBaron]

We just got my 13 year old his first, it's a 6s, my 16 year old's old phone.

My 16 year old now has a 7, which is really useful because you can put Apple Pay on it - he has my card, but so do I. This was my main reason for upgrading my 16 year old to a 7.

[BrieAndChilli]

I cannot get my head around a 12 year old needing an iphone

No they don’t need an iPhone but if the parents have Apple it’s easier to share apps, can track each other on fine my iPhone, have access to internet to look up bus times, or check thier money balance on thier go Henry card, send and receive emails to school,

Mine have the SE, cheap enough now, not so breakable, but all the features we want them to haves

[MuddlingMackem]

We're an Android household, but DC2 aged 12 has an iPhone because all of her friends have them and they facetime each other loads. She recently upgraded to a 6S from a 5 as the 5 is no longer supported and too many apps will no longer work on it, but the 6S should be fine for a while yet.

[BertrandRussell]

Have a look at Chex. We get all our phones from there.

[Comefromaway]

6S. I’ve still got one and love it. I won’t upgrade until I abusolutely have to.

[Brian9600]

Thanks, all x

[needsleepzzz]

I would get a second hand 6s, good phone and the S model had any bugs sorted out from the 6