The Pinwheel Home is a retro-inspired landline phone that will keep your kids safe from doomscrolling

The Pinwheel Home is aimed at kids aged 5-10 years
It only makes phone calls to approved contacts
There’s an optional subscription for calling real numbers

The question of how much time young people should spend on their smartphones and social media has dominated the headlines in recent months, and a new retro-styled phone from Pinwheel is the latest device looking to give parents easier choices.

When we say retro-styled, we don’t mean a classic Nokia or a BlackBerry — we mean a landline. The Pinwheel Home (via TechCrunch) just does calls, and that’s it, so there’s no chance of your kid getting sucked into Snapchat, Roblox, or YouTube.

It works over Wi-Fi, there are full parental controls built in — so all contacts are pre-approved, and the device can only be used at certain times — and there are absolutely no screens to act as a distraction.

Just the basics

The Pinwheel Home is pitched at kids aged 5-10, so while they may be disappointed they can’t start Instagramming, it might be enough to delay the need for a smartphone until they’re a little bit older.

Being able to chat to friends, grandparents, and other trusted contacts in a safe space is likely to appeal to many kids and their parents, and it might even encourage real-world meet-ups and activities to get youngsters outdoors.

Pre-orders are open in the US right now, with shipping expected later this year: the Pinwheel Home starts at $68 in a choice of two designs and four colors, with subscriptions beginning at $6.99 a month (international pricing is yet to be announced). You can use the devices without a subscription, but only to call other Pinwheel Homes, not mobiles or landlines.

Pinwheel has been around since 2019 and has previously sold Android phones with child-safe software running on them. With increasing restrictions on what kids can do online anyway, the Pinwheel Home could be the ideal first phone for younger children.