What Age Should a Kid Get a Phone?

Ask ten parents what age a kid should get a phone and you'll get ten different answers, usually followed by a story about someone's nephew who got one at seven and hasn't looked up since. It's one of those questions that feels like it should have a clean answer. It doesn't.

Here's the thing most of those conversations miss. There's the age your child is ready for a phone, and there's the age they're ready for a smartphone. Those two things can be years apart, and treating them as the same question is how a lot of families end up handing a distraction machine to a kid who only ever needed to call home.

The short answer

There's no single right age for a first phone. A child who walks to school at eight has a real reason to carry one. A child who's driven everywhere at eleven might not need one yet. Readiness has more to do with independence and responsibility than a number on a birthday cake.

What most guidance agrees on is this: the age for a basic phone that makes calls is much younger than the age for a full smartphone. So before you settle on a number, it helps to separate the two.

The better question: what does your child actually need it for?

Most younger kids need a phone for two reasons. They need to reach you, and you need to reach them. That's it. A seven-year-old walking to a friend's house doesn't need a browser, a group chat, or a camera roll. They need a way to say "I'm here" and a way for you to call if plans change.

Some family situations make that need clear-cut. Kids splitting their week between two homes need an easy, direct way to reach both parents, and a phone locked to approved contacts means they can call mum or dad themselves without going through anyone else. The same goes for any household living with a medical condition, where a child being able to call a parent or another trusted adult quickly is worth real peace of mind.

Once you frame it that way, the question changes. You're not asking "should my kid have a phone." You're asking "does my kid need to make and take calls when I'm not with them." For a lot of families, the honest answer to that arrives well before high school.

Why a smartphone might be the wrong first phone

When people say they're worried about giving a young kid a phone, they're almost never worried about phone calls. They're worried about everything else the phone brings with it.

They're expensive and they break. A modern smartphone costs many hundreds of dollars, and you're putting it in the hands of a child who loses a jumper most weeks. Cracked screens, phones left on the bus, phones dropped down the loo. It's a lot of money to hand to someone still learning to keep track of their own shoes.

The apps are built to hook them. Games, feeds and video apps are designed by people whose whole job is to keep your child scrolling. That's not an accident, and it's not something a seven-year-old can be expected to resist. Give a young kid a smartphone and you haven't given them a phone, you've given them a full-time job managing their own attention.

The internet is one tap away. A smartphone is an open door to the entire web, including plenty your child isn't ready to see. Filters and parental controls help, but they leak, and no setting removes the pressure of a device that can show them anything.

Social media adds a whole new set of problems. This one has become clearer than ever in Australia. Since the under-16 social media ban came into effect on 10 December 2025, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and YouTube are required to stop under-16s from holding accounts. The law exists because comparison, cyberbullying and contact from strangers were doing real harm to kids. A smartphone is the device that carries all of that, so handing one over early puts you straight into managing it.

So what age should a kid get a smartphone?

This is where most parents land somewhere in the early high school years rather than primary school. The reasoning is simple. By around thirteen or fourteen, kids have more genuine independence, more homework that lives online, and more of the maturity it takes to handle a device that can do everything. It also lines up with when the social media rules start to ease, which is roughly when a full phone starts to make sense.

Before that, a smartphone tends to solve a problem your child doesn't have yet while creating several they aren't ready for. Which is exactly why the middle ground has become so popular.

The middle ground: a phone that just makes calls

You don't have to choose between "no phone" and "a smartphone." There's a whole category of phones for kids built to do the one job younger children actually need, which is calling, and nothing else. No apps. No camera. No internet. No screen to scroll.

This is what Waffle makes. There are two devices, and between them they cover most families.

Waffle Go is the one for out and about. It has a built-in eSIM, so it works anywhere on the go without needing WiFi, and it has GPS so you can see where your child is. It's the phone for the walk to school, the ride to the park, the after-school activity you're not at.

“Go's been on every bike ride, every park trip, every after-school walk. He calls when he gets there and again when he's heading home. He hasn't asked for a phone in three months. That's the headline for me.”

Waffle Home is the one for the house. It runs on your home WiFi with no SIM, sits on the bench, and rings like a real phone. It's how the kids call grandma, and how grandma calls them back, without anyone installing an app or learning new software.

“Home replaced the family iPad in two weeks. Two of three kids don't ask for it anymore. Best thing we've bought the kids this year.”

Both are locked to approved contacts, so the only people who can reach your child are the ones you've added. No spam, no unknown numbers, no random group invites.

“Approved contacts only means no spam, no unknown numbers, no random group invites. My 8yo answered her first call and didn't have to wonder if it was a scammer.”

Parents weighing up a kids smartwatch instead often land here for the same reason.

“Go does what I needed and nothing more. Voice, location, no apps, no screen to scroll. We almost got him a smartwatch last Christmas and I'm glad we waited. The Go feels purpose built.”

A rough age guide for a first phone

Every child is different, so treat this as a starting point rather than a rulebook.

• Ages 5 to 7. First taste of independence. Staying with grandparents, playing at a neighbour's, spending the weekend at the other parent's place. A simple call-only phone gives them a lifeline without a screen. A phone for kids like the Waffle Home suits this age because it lives in one spot and is impossible to lose.
• Ages 8 to 10. The walking and cycling years. School runs on their own, sport and catching up with friends. This is where a portable option like the Waffle Go earns its keep, because you get calls plus location without opening the door to apps and the internet.
• Ages 11 to 13. More independence, but still not the age most experts suggest for social media or a full smartphone. Plenty of families keep a simple phone going right through these years and only revisit the smartphone question later.
• Ages 14 and up. This is usually where the smartphone conversation genuinely begins, ideally with clear boundaries around apps, screen time and social media rather than a device handed over with no rules.

Frequently asked questions

More parent questions are answered on our FAQ page.