Pinwheel has a cool concept and competitive price, but the poor quality the of software, hardware, and customer service undermine it. When authorizing apps through the caregiver app, those apps would not always appear on the kid’s phone. The Pinwheel phone itself was glitchy with the camera often freezing and the home screen being blank. The process of trying to retun the glitchy phone after having it for only a few days was very painful. I had to send about a dozen photos proving It was still in good condition, had a lengthy thread trying to talk with a supervisor (never did), and then multiple email instructions of how to get the phone ready to ship back to them.

Each part of the product has been poor, especially for the price. I paid $300+ for the phone and 12 months of Pinwheel service. The phone, the app and the caregiver dashboard have each had problems and been buggy. Settings on the parent/caregiver dashboard don’t update the phone, apps wouldn’t load, the phone often crashes after unlocking the screen. Tech support and customer service aren’t helpful. I regret making this purchase.

If your goal is to get your kid a phone that has the abilities of the old brick phones, you won’t be far off. The first 3-6 months of our ownership of these phones it couldn’t even do that! Frequently the phones would randomly enter into “nothing mode” by themselves! That’s just what you want when you’re kids are home alone, they won’t even have the ability to call their emergency contacts. I also can’t even get basic apps on their phones especially one that helps my daughter manage her diabetes. After several unanswered phone calls to pinwheel and app requests were no better off. So if you want a “phone” that can sometimes call/text and not much else. Here ya go.

The service doesn’t work half the time. Text messages I send as an emergency contact don’t go through to him half the time. It seems as if he has to text me first then my texts start working. Same with phone calls. Also the location history doesn’t always update. There can be a gap of 10hrs between location pings which is not very helpful if there is an emergency. The app doesn’t work half the time either. As I am typing this now the app has not worked in 2 days. Every time I click on the app it just opens a blank white background.

The Pinwheel phone and companion software is the best family friendly phone available, hands down. Great features that bring sanity to the use of what has become an otherwise addictive feature of modern life… the smartphone. Worth every penny to help protect your children.

So few apps actually work on this. Then I have to submit a request to get an App approved by pinwheel. I’m the parent, I approve it. Why do we need to gather votes on whether or not to approve Ascension Bible app on my kid’s phone?

I have recommended pinwheel to countless parents; 2 of our 4 children have a pinwheel so far! The app does have its bugs, but pinwheel responds very quickly to fix them. I love how easy it is to set restrictions or grant privileges with just a few clicks. I love how you can set schedules for any time of day for any length of time AND allow and disallow any/all apps PLUS set time restrictions within that. Toggling between different children is very smooth and easy. Parents can see ALL texts, even deleted ones!! There’s so many different options within the texting app-parent OR child approve contacts, image texting or not for individual contacts or all contacts, emergency contacts (contacts allowed during nothing mode), allow or disallow group texting and more!!!! The phone is so customizable that the restrictions can be released as the child demonstrates maturity. The customer support is unparalleled! I would love to be on the pinwheel team in app testing or customer service, that’s how much we have loved our experience!

We’ve been using Pinwheel to help our 16-year-old son learn responsible use of a smart phone for two years now. It is a fantastic tool for this training period! Highly recommended!

I called to find out what type of Samsung device my daughter has- after a ton of unnecessary questions, including the last 4 digits of my credit card I used to purchase???? I was finally told its a Samsung a14- why isn’t this information easily accessed on the app or website.

Not all the text comes in on the app. The location service doesn’t work. It’s a good idea in theory, but the execution and the app need a lot of work.