Leading Child-Safe Smartphone Pinwheel Launches in Australia

AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, April 15, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As the debate on banning children from social media continues and the Online Safety Act progresses through Parliament, Australian parents now have the option of a smartphone designed specifically for safe use by children and teens aged 8-15.

Pinwheel - one of the world’s top-rated and best-selling ‘child-safe’ connected smartphones in the US and the UK – is now available for sale in Australia. Unlike so-called ‘dumb phones’ with limited functionality, Pinwheel is a connected Android smartphone that includes built-in parental management tools and blocks access to social media and open Internet browsing, while still offering access to the fun features young users enjoy.

Children using the Pinwheel phone can make video calls, send texts, share photos and use age-appropriate apps. Through the Pinwheel Caregiver Portal, parents can customise the settings to meet their child’s current needs, then unlock features and apps as they grow into adulthood and learn how to safely manage technology. To guide parents, Pinwheel provides detailed safety ratings on thousands of popular apps.

Pinwheel’s safety features and parental controls include:
- Remote monitoring of text and call history – Parents can remotely view a child’s text messages through a portal without having to take the Pinwheel phone from them. This reduces conflict with parents monitoring in the background.
- A contact safe list – Only contacts on the parent-designated safe list can call or text the device, eliminating the need to worry about spam or stranger communication.
- A children-safe app library – Pinwheel offers a library of more than 1,200 popular apps with safety ratings, informing parents when an app allows communication with strangers, has explicit content etc. The app library does not include any social media apps or web browsers.
- Schedules for apps and contacts – Parents can set up schedules for when apps and contacts are available on the phone and when they are not such as during school time and overnight.

Available for purchase at https://www.pinwheel.com/en-au, Pinwheel is offering two models – the Pinwheel Plus 5 (Samsung A16) for A$449 and the Slim 6 (Motorola G05) at $A249. As both models work on all the major Australian mobile networks, parents can add their children to an existing family plan or choose a different network. A subscription is required to access the parental controls and Caregiver Portal for A$25.99/ month or A$279.99/year.

“Since we launched our first phone five years ago, the buzz and the feedback we’ve had from around the world – including Australia – has been incredibly positive,” said Dane Witbeck, CEO and Founder of Pinwheel. “We’re excited to give Australian parents access to a tool which will give them peace of mind, knowing their child won't see anything or chat to anyone that they shouldn't.”

“The fact that Australia is considering introducing the world’s strictest laws on social media reflects the importance of digitally protecting children. The Pinwheel phone can play a key role in the process by empowering parents to help their child build solid and healthy online habits.”

“Pinwheel gives families a way to stay connected and enjoy the benefits and fun of a smartphone - from sharing photos, texting friends, playing games and more – but with the right level of restrictions and monitoring that keeps everyone safe and reduces family conflict.”

About Pinwheel
Pinwheel offers smartphones providing children with the features and functions they want, like texting and fun apps, along with age-appropriate guardrails (no browser or social media) and parental monitoring tools that encourage healthy technology habits from the start.
Unlike adult phones that connect kids to the open internet with confusing and thin parental controls, or other kid phones with very limited functionality and apps, Pinwheel allows parents to customize the settings to meet their child’s current needs, then unlock features and more than 1,200 apps as their child grows into an independent young adult who manages technology well. Launched in 2020 by a father of four, Pinwheel’s sales have grown by more than 2,000% in the past three years and it was ranked 212 in Inc.’s annual list of the 5000 fastest-growing private companies. The New York Times described Pinwheel as one of “the best first phones for kids” while USA Today said the Pinwheel phone was “the one I recommend most to my friends and family.” For more information, visit https://www.pinwheel.com/en-au/.

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For additional information, please contact:

Kevin Maxwell
Maxwell Communications
(e) [email protected]
(m) +44 (0)7985 351 797

Aimee Grove
Pinwheel
+ +1 415-706-1906
email us here
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