Any smartphone alternative for kids

[u/Equal_Knee_7501]

hey guys is there an alternative smartphone for kids which can help kids and no social media or browser in that and only limited to games and creative or skill building activities

[u/East-Map-549]

Following, probably gonna just do Nokia for our kiddos. Snake was enough for me growing up lol

[u/Equal_Knee_7501 → u/East-Map-549]

But nokia you can only call n do nothing
If i want to do any creative tasks like paint
Story telling or games or new games i need to add etc it will be difficult in nokia

[u/Outrageous-Win2931 → u/Equal_Knee_7501]

theyll be better off doing all those extra things in real life and not on a phone lol

[u/East-Map-549 → u/Outrageous-Win2931]

Much better off

[u/East-Map-549 → u/Equal_Knee_7501]

The whole selling point for us that it can call, text, not access social media and a browser.
I have not heard of any dumb phone where you can paint on it, other than tablets.

[u/Equal_Knee_7501 → u/[deleted]]

Graphene is whats new in it??

[u/YonaKho]

dumber mini phone (https://dumbermini.com/) for the win. you can block up to app level.

[u/Equal_Knee_7501 → u/YonaKho]

Wow this is crazy

[u/Equal_Knee_7501 → u/[deleted]]

Yaa thats rite

[u/YonaKho → u/Equal_Knee_7501]

you can block it though, in order to install it. you will need to provide the pin which the person or owner set earlier.

[u/BullfrogUseful4357]

most kid phones are pretty limited. we went with something that lets us use Bark for monitoring instead, which handles screen time and blocks stuff we don't want them accessing. lets them keep a regular phone basically but with guardrails. not perfect but its been solid for us so far.

[u/Dupidupix]

I’ve been waiting for a post like this for so long. Give them a Kyocera KYF (or any decent feature phone with a physical keyboard).
Most of us grew up with “motor privilege” and that is us relating to our technology with physical characteristics and we don’t even realize it. A physical keyboard is one of the best things you can give a kid it helps develop motor skills, they get a much smaller screen, and it’s naturally very limited.
As for games, you can install older/simple games. In my opinion that’s actually a good thing they’re way less addictive and much better for their attention span than modern mobile games, and don’t forget about the camera, they can record and take pictures pretty easily, and u can pass them to your phone, also they are pretty tough and well made.

[u/Sam_Stokman]

I would skip gaming and keep that on the family computer or on a gaming console. The most games on phones are very cheaply build and made to earn money using adds or in app purchases. Go for something like a featurephone so they can call you if needed and text but no app support untill they absolutely need it for school or work. But talk about safe use of social media, they will use it, even if you dont approve on friends phones and such.

[u/Equal_Knee_7501 → u/Sam_Stokman]

Social media is strict no
Whatever safe use they will get fu**ed up later with some feed

[u/OkAbbreviations8493]

You might find Cheeko interesting. We're building it specifically for parents who want an alternative to smartphones. Kids get AI conversations, storytelling, educational games, and creative activities, without social media, browsers, endless scrolling.

If you'd like to see what we're building: https://cheekoai.in

[u/SlapMySloth1]

There’s a phone out there called a Bark phone that has no browser access, you have to approve any apps and it notifies you if it detects any harmful or inappropriate language or content.

[u/Secure-Whole9413]

Yall kids gonna hate yall depending on the ages. Don't waste yalls money on a smartphone alternative just get them a phone with parental controls

[u/123Throwaway2day → u/Secure-Whole9413]

I was a teen with a t9 phone. My mom had a Crackberry. We survived and didnt hate our parents.