The Pinwheel Home is a retro-inspired landline phone that will protect your children from doomscrolling

The Pinwheel Home is aimed at children aged 5 to 10 years old
It only calls approved contacts
There is an optional subscription to call real numbers

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

When we talk about retro style, we’re not talking about a classic Nokia or a BlackBerry, we’re talking about a landline phone. The Pinwheel Home (via TechCrunch) just makes calls and that’s it, so there’s no chance your kid will get sucked into Snapchat, Roblox, or YouTube.

It works over Wi-Fi, full parental controls are 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 serve as a distraction.

Just the basics

Home Reel

You can get the phone in different colors (Image credit: Pinwheel)

The Pinwheel Home is aimed at children aged 5 to 10 years old. While they may be disappointed that they can’t start using Instagram, it might be enough to delay the need for a smartphone until they’re a little older.

Being able to chat with friends, grandparents and other trusted contacts in a safe space will likely appeal to many children and their parents, and might even encourage real-world meetups and activities to get young people 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 models and four colors, with subscriptions starting at $6.99 per month (international pricing has not yet been 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 already sold Android phones with child safety software. With increasing restrictions on what children can do online, the Pinwheel Home could be the ideal first phone for young children.

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