To get DD (8) a phone with no sim?

[Smileymoon1]

DD is turning 8 and would like a phone for her birthday. I’ve said no. I know some of her friends have phones but I’m not comfortable with this yet.
Could I give her a phone without a SIM? Has anyone done this? Can it be parent controlled?

What's the point in a phone with no SIM? She can still use internet and YouTube which are the biggest worries. What's the point in stopping her talking to her friends or calling you?

Maybe I'm missing something here

Yep, my DD8 has this. Tbh, I’m not sure how much of a difference it makes that she doesn’t have a SIM. I have parental controls that mean any number not already in her contacts is blocked, and I control what she accesses and how long she gets to use her device for, with different limits for different types of activities and timed settings eg nothing before breakfast in order to discourage immediately picking it up on waking. She also had a Chromebook with similar settings, and I can lock that remotely/give bonus time remotely.

(She still calls and texts using FaceTime/iMessage, she uses an old phone of mine which is why no SIM, we sort of fell into it)

DD is a similar age and I’ve just got her a phone. It can be fully controlled - can’t ring or text people that aren’t in her contacts, screen time settings on so she’s only allowed on certain times of the day, I have to approve apps she wants so she can’t get on things that aren’t age appropriate and she has settings that block mature content. I got her one because her dad and I aren’t together and I like being able to contact her if she’s away or at grandparents who aren’t great at keeping phones with them. If your DD has a tablet or similar I don’t really see a difference.

Yes my DD has one.

You can either "kiosk" it where it only has one app or if you want more you can set it to the apps you want and then lock it. So no google, Youtube etc she just has Spotify for music and FaceTime so she can speak to her dad and her emails. Works great.

Ow, that's a new one on me. So would she only be able to access Internet when connected to the house WiFi (or elsewhere). Surely Internet access is the biggest risk or is it the idea of her giving out her number. She'd be able to use eg FB/messenger Snapchat, TikTok, etc
Wouldnt you like to be able to contact her when she's out or for her yo contact you?

I think it's really odd to give her a phone without a SIM

My ds8 has got my old phone with no SIM in it. For playing games and stuff. I took off any apps I don’t want him to use. Set it up with controls etc

Any he only really uses it in my sight

For those with heavily locked down phones, is it an overriding app or a particular phone?

My kids had ipads from age 4 which is no idfferent from iphone with no sim.
Iv found the best devices to get your kids are same brand parent has for using parental controls. So if your apple user get apple devices etc

DD (nearly 9) has my old phone with no SIM. I made her a FB account, added me, DH, DM and MIL as friends, then installed the Messenger app and disabled the FB app. She can use it to message us, take photos and play a few games (she has a tablet as well). She's happy with it for now!

I guess a phone without a sim is the same as a tablet. Why not do that which is better for playing games?

Mine have had ipads since they were 2. Get her a tablet, better than a phone without a sim.

My 8 year old has a phone with no SIM. She has Spotify on it and some games. It's the Android equivalent of the iPod touch. I took off the apps I didn't want her to use. She uses it as a music player in the car.

On an iPhone it's called screen time. You remove all the apps you don't want and then choose a passcode on the phone which locks the phone to those few apps. So they can have a phone with no general internet access, even on WiFi but could still use Spotify for example. It works really well. My DD is a bit older now and I know she has spent a lot of time trying to do work around.... she hasn't managed it !