This modified Samsung smartphone for kids blocks social media apps and web browsing

If you’re on the hunt for one of the best smartphones for kids, we feel for you. It’s no easy task.

On one hand, no teen wants to carry around something that looks like a pensioner’s emergency handset from 2007. Parents, meanwhile, still want GPS tracking, messaging, and the ability to contact their child – and all without accidentally giving them unrestricted access to brain-rotting TikTok doomscrolling.

Enter Sayph – a new UK startup aiming to crack the formula.

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Rather than building a deliberately limited dumb phone, Sayph has taken a standard Samsung Galaxy A16 and rebuilt the software around a much more locked-down experience. The company describes it as a smartphone “designed specifically for children aged 8–16”.

The core idea is simple – there’s no app store, no social media apps, and no open web browser unless a parent explicitly enables one. Contacts also need parental approval before they can be added.

Instead of layering parental controls on top of a normal Android phone – something that tech-savvy teenagers are famously good at bypassing – Sayph says these restrictions are baked directly into the operating system itself.

Kids still get the important bits for calls, one-to-one messaging, and location tracking. But the endless algorithm-driven distraction machine is largely removed from the equation.

There’s also a parental web portal that offers oversight tools and AI-generated activity summaries, saving curious parents from manually combing through everything.

“We created Sayph to solve a very real and current parental dilemma,” said co-founder Ben Humphrey in the launch announcement. “Parents want their children to have independence… but they don’t want to expose them to the pressures and risks of social media and open internet access.”

It’s a timely launch. Debate around smartphones for kids has intensified across the UK over the past couple of years, with the Department for Education tightening guidance around phones in schools and lawmakers continuing to push for stricter limits on under-16 smartphone access.

If that sounds good to you, then you’ll be pleased to hear that Sayph’s smartphone for kids is available in the UK now, for £189 plus a £4.99 monthly subscription for the parental platform.

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Esat Dedezade Contributor

About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.