how to buy phone for 11 year old (1 Viewer)

[tonydead]

Link

 

[El Floppo]

Lol.

10yo son will be getting a phone for when he starts middle school and commuting on his own- probably for his bday this summer. He thinks he's getting the latest Pixel. Funny kid.

Wife picked up a Galaxy J7 for the kids bday this weekend. Loaded "family link" as well- provides a lot of parental control over thing remotely from our phones... location, locking, use limitations, shutdown/sleep....looks good so far.

 

[Mr. Ected]

My 11 year old will be getting one for her bday in 3 weeks. She wants the 8 or X. No way that is happening. Ill see how much the 6 and 7 are. I dont care about the OS being out of date. 

iPhone 6 will still take most recent iOS, in fact I think iPhone 5 (maybe 5s) will also. One nice thing about Apple products.

We didn't get phones for our boys until HS. That was the first time they really needed communication with us about timing of pickups and stuff like that (mostly Marching Band). Before thy have been regular timed, (practice goes from 5-6, etc.) so we haven't needed communication. They also have had BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) at their schools, so they have brought iPads and iPods.

We are 90% Apple in my family, so it we have stayed with iPhones. They were hand-me-downs from me, so cheep!

iOS has 2 different ways to locate people built in, 'Locate Your Phone' and 'Find Friends.' 'Locate' works automatically with iPhones that are connected within the same iCloud family. 'Find Friends' allows you to connect with iPhones outside of your iCloud. 'Find Family' also allows you to get a notice when a phone leaves a place or returns to a place. Nice for alerting you when they leave school or return home!!!

 

[bucksoh]

My 8 year old keeps wantinga a phone, my brothers kids got a phone at 5 years old now 16  where the parents just bought him a new Cadillac SUV, kid is incapable of having a conversation.  Oldest son was 15 before I let him have a phone and he been fine.

So I'm thinking 14 I might let him get a phone, seems like a good age.  Hell I work with alot of millenials and they're incapable of carrying  on a conversation.

 

[facook]

Wife picked up a Galaxy J7 for the kids bday this weekend. Loaded "family link" as well- provides a lot of parental control over thing remotely from our phones... location, locking, use limitations, shutdown/sleep....looks good so far.

  Going through this with my son this summer as he's going to be on his own more and need to be able to get a hold of me and his mom.  Was thinking about giving him a hand me down 6s.  Can't I just lock the #### out of it so no browser and a parent has to approve (via password) any apps installed?  That was our plan.

iphone se has been purchased. now how do i monitor the heck out of this thing? 

Son needs a phone at this point, heading to NYC for a week with class soon.  Would love to hear input on coyote5 and snit's questions.

 

[El Floppo]

Son needs a phone at this point, heading to NYC for a week with class soon.  Would love to hear input on coyote5 and snit's questions.

Family link appears to be a Google app, but might be available for iPhones. Syncs well with our pixels. I'll know more after we give the kid his phone on Sunday.

 

[belljr]

Family link appears to be a Google app, but might be available for iPhones. Syncs well with our pixels. I'll know more after we give the kid his phone on Sunday.

Family link is Google. It's mandatory for under 13 years of age. Once they turn 13 they can turn it off without your permission

 

[El Floppo]

Family link is Google. It's mandatory for under 13 years of age. Once they turn 13 they can turn it off without your permission

Interesting. How can they make it mandatory? Guess I'll have to read about this thing.

 

[Lehigh98]

Yeah, this has been a tough one.

My wife and I have always been consistent with the kids that they will not play games that depict people shooting other people. We've also extended this to TV shows, movies, etc. The longer I can keep my kids from getting desensitized to violence and killing the better.

BUT, it's been hard to make the kids understand this isn't a punishment. And that not every kid that plays fortnite, or call of duty, or whatever turns into bad kids. This has been a hard one to try and explain to a kid who just wants to play online with his friends. 

How old are they?  I guess no Marvel movies yet? 

 

[Long Ball Larry]

iOS child monitoring software pretty much blows in my experience.  Apple doesn't let apps get to certain areas of the operating system.

iOS 12 just released has Screen Time app which looks like it will give all kinds of reporting on usage and most importantly, allow you to control "Down Time" when they can't use apps or anything on the phone (whatever you set).  I also found all the monitoring software frustrating, particularly because I couldn't control texting.  This allows you to block Message app easily. Pretty excited about this.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

also, i feel like i posted this somewhere, but seems to not be in this thread, but Qustodio is the best monitoring app that I have found, and looks like it is the bomb for android (apple only here).  also probably the most reasonably priced.

 

[El Floppo]

We used Family Link to set up controls for his samsung phone (app limitations, shut down at a specific time) and have been using Life 360 for location monitoring. 

He commutes to school and back by himself via 3 different subways. Life 360 allows you to program locations in and then alerts you when he gets there. Also shows real time location when he's on the move. Also show where the wife and I are, so he can know that if we're meeting him somewhere, were on the move or not. Surprising how useful it's been.

 

[Foosball God]

also, i feel like i posted this somewhere, but seems to not be in this thread, but Qustodio is the best monitoring app that I have found, and looks like it is the bomb for android (apple only here).  also probably the most reasonably priced.

Qustodio was what I used and I agree that it was awesome for my son's Android phone.  My daughter's iPhone it was not as effective due to Apple's restrictions on what apps can control.  Maybe the new iOS 12 features will help.

 

[belljr]

We used Family Link to set up controls for his samsung phone (app limitations, shut down at a specific time) and have been using Life 360 for location monitoring. 

He commutes to school and back by himself via 3 different subways. Life 360 allows you to program locations in and then alerts you when he gets there. Also shows real time location when he's on the move. Also show where the wife and I are, so he can know that if we're meeting him somewhere, were on the move or not. Surprising how useful it's been.

Family link should have live data tracking alos.  Just not alerts

 

[notoriousbill]

I didnt give my kids a smartphoen until they are at least 12 and I gave them an older model becasue they will break them.  I older 2 went through many phones as kids.  My youngest was very good with his, always kept it in a otterbox. 

Sidenote, I used Find my iPhone to track my kids whereabouts.  You just need their email login and password to use.