The support staff has been awesome, personal, and very prompt. While I never found any phone support option, there seemed to always be somebody available for a quick (typically within seconds) and knowledgeable response. The product itself (the Pinwheel platform to regulate and guide your child's use of technology) is still in the earlier stages and is evolving. In the 5 months that we used their platform (if that is the right technological term), there were some frustrations with some of the growing pains associated with any new and growing company. Ultimately, we decided to move away from the platform as we didn't feel that our child needed the amount of restriction required through the platform in it's current state. If that need is there for your child, Pinwheel's platform is great. Would recommend for anybody cautious about guiding their child into a respectful use of technology.

We joined the Pinwheel family in October 2020. I am so happy to have found a safe option for my very impulsive 14 yr old. We did have some hiccups, but the customer service is unlike anything my husband and I have ever experienced. They are so responsive, available, and friendly! We ended up getting pinwheel phones for our 10 and 12 yr olds in December, We like that Pinwheel offers the ability to communicate safely with friends and family, listen to music, explore a few kid friendly sites. Thank you for creating a safe step towards independence.

Was not able to solve the issue, but they did explain why it was unsolvable, and what the issue was. Very fast communication, and very friendly.

Had questions about the Days & Modes feature. Sam M. quickly and concisely explained what I needed to know.

Great phone for my child. Helps him gain some independence but with great limits that help him learn digital citizenship and self-control. I'm so happy we did this for him - I was dreading the start of 'phone life' but this has been an all positive experience. And great customer service.

I ordered a phone for my 14-year-old daughter to replace her "calculator" as she calls it. My experience with Pinwheel has been somewhat unique but I will outline the highlights: - The Caregiver Admin portal, where one manages the child's phone, is easy to use and understand. - Customer service is unmatched. Replies are speedy and always helpful. - The phone is a great way to introduce your children to smartphones without having unfettered access to the internet. - The routines allow children to structure their day and are highly customizable. The only issue I have had is trying to get her service through our current provider, Google Fi. Through Pinwheel's strict app testing, the Fi app is not yet available as it allows for too much freedom for the child to potentially access the internet, so they have blocked it for the time being. Thus I have to set her up on another new service, which is fine as I was already using a separate one (Twigby - which, by the way, is NOT compatible). Overall I am happy with the service Pinwheel provides and will be using it for my son when he is old enough for his own phone.

I have several issues with Pinwheel. 1- There is no way to disable the wifi hotspot on the phone. 2-The password management on the caregiver portal is very poor. I changed what I thought was the caregiver password, but when I tried to login, it tells me I am using the phones credentials . What a screwy experience! Now I am locked out of the caregiver portal. 3- there is no way to delete modes or days. Pinwheel had an issue where they created 10 to 20 duplicates of every day and mode in the data base. Now I cant delete the duplicates. This is adding stress to a very tense situation at home. Updated after response from Pinwheel: 4. We did not know we were beta-testers. That was not mentioned or advertised on your website nor mentioned on any calls. That is shady and deceitful. Regarding issue #2, I literally changed the caregiver password and when I tried to login using the caregiver password it told me I was logging in with the phone credentials. I need you to trust me that you had a bug. Regarding issue 3, how can I clean up the modes and days you duplicated? And back to issue #1. You sold me a "Pinwheel phone" not a Tmobile or Verizon phone, nor an Android phone. You have the ability to disable apps and functions, but do not acknowledge that you can disable the wifi hotspot with your sdk. Do a google search and you will see multiple solutions how you do this via code. On a positive note, customer service did call to help us resolve the password issue. Dont beta test with my kids life on the line.

We got our daughter the Pinwheel for Christmas and will be saving up to buy her an iPhone. We'll just utilize the parental controls that come with iPhones. The Pinwheel has not worked well at all. It seems like when one issue is resolved another one shortly follows.

I wanted to really like this product, but I am returning the phone for a refund. The good - 1. Shipped Fast 2. Very polite and responsive Customer Service The not so good- 1. Incomplete disclosure about the service required (phone is locked to new service only) - Some of this is on me for assuming that "Verizon" meant using the Verizon CDMA network. This phone is locked for new service only on Verizon. You can forget using your existing SIM card from a Verizon MVNO. 2. Incomplete disclosure about the phone - the slim is a Samsung Galaxy A01. I assume that I could have figured this out from the pictures, but it is always nice to know what equipment you are buying. Understand that you are getting a subsidized and locked basic phone, and that the price you are paying is essentially for the work done by Pinwheel, not really for the hardware itself. 3. OS was jerky and laggy - This may have been because the phone was not connected to a wireless carrier, only wifi. The operation of the phone did not seem as smooth or a seamless as a standard android, but almost like it had to think about what to do next. In summary, perhaps I ordered this phone and service too quickly without asking probing questions to Pinwheel, but their product will not work for my needs. I am thankful that their CS seems very responsive and they are willing to refund my $.

Had an issue with my daughters phone, it just randomly died and wouldn't turn on again. The company immediately got back to me and resolved the issue and is sending me a replacement overnight! Very happy with the results of this phone my daughter loves it and I love how easy the phone is to control from a parent's point of view. I know my daughter is safe while she isn't home and that I can count on a great customer service team from pinwheel. American based and great communication. I was in customer service for years and I can tell that they truly love their product and love to make everyone happy and put parent's minds at ease! Thank you Nick I really appreciate all you did for me and I will recommend pinwheel for years to come! Give them a chance I promise you won't be disappointed! Happy mom!

Numerous glitches and several chats with IT and customer service. So why the 5 stars? In the 1800s, a pioneer on the Oregon trail described what it was like to head West into uncharted territory. He wrote, “A man must be able to endure heat like a salamander, mud and water like a muskrat, dust like a toad, and labor like a workhorse. He must learn to eat with his unwashed fingers, drink out of the same vessel as his mules, sleep on the ground when it rains, share his blanket with vermin, and have patience with mosquitos…It is hardship without glory.” I think of this quote when I think of how hard it must be for all of those at Pinwheel who are pioneering a new movement in safe technology for our children. It is “hardship without glory,” and yet in every interaction I’ve had with them, I have been treated with nothing but kindness, graciousness, and an authentic desire to help and get to the bottom of whatever issue I was having with my son’s phone. And they did. Every single one of the glitches has been fixed and my child’s phone is working perfectly. But that’s not why the 5 stars. If you just look at their responses to negative reviews, you can see the care, kindness, and desire to do good that is the heartbeat of this company. Nobody else is doing what Pinwheel is doing. There may be competitors out there who market a phone for kids, but from what I can tell, these other phones do not offer the same level of care or safeguards that Pinwheel does. The three that I value the most: - A safelist/contact list that allows me to select who can call and text my child. I can also enable photo texting or disable it if needed. - A Live Status/GPS feature: YAY for being able to locate my son through his phone. - A caregiver portal that, among other things, allows me to set routines and reminders for my child and customize the apps that he has access to on the phone. While Pinwheel is designed to be a “tool and not a toy”, it still has plenty of well-researched apps (REAL apps) that make the phone educational and fun. I might tell people it was the Safe List or Live Status that sold me on Pinwheel, but really, it was because you can get Spotify. But still, Spotify is not why the 5 stars. Sure, there were glitches, and periods of time when I wasn’t able to access much on the phone. But, like every good pioneer, the people at Pinwheel endured the heat like salamanders, had patience with mosquitoes, and labored like workhorses to ensure that we would all reach our destination, and give our children a better world to live in. And for that, 5 stars isn’t nearly enough.

We bought this phone thinking it was an answer to our prayers. We bought it in October.... I can count on one hand the amount of days it has actually worked. The company is saying the reason the phones are not working is because of the influx from Christmas. But we had it months before Christmas and it never worked before then either. It's nearly impossible to get a response from the customer service team, and when you do get a response they just tell you "this is a problem that just popped up today and they are working on it." Even though you have had the problem for weeks. So here we are months later and nothing has changed. So unless you have hours a week to devote to talking to customer service, in hopes of getting your phone to successfully work, I would advise you to stay as far away as you can from buying this phone. Its been nothing but super frustrating for us and listening to my son whine constantly that his phone is not working is the cherry on top. All we have is a brick for a phone.

Update: Pinwheel staff has been very responsive to our concerns. We gave our children the phones on December 17th and as of this morning, January 11th, I was able to do all of the things I needed to do on the parent portal. I originally gave 1* review, but given the communication and help from the company staff and their effort and hard work to resolve the issues, I have increased the rating to 3*. Original Post: We purchased phones for all of our children. Pinwheel over-promised and under-delivered. They were not prepared for the influx on their server (for all of the phones they sold). They are I.T. people, wouldn't that have been resolved BEFORE selling all of those phones at Christmas? The caregiver app only works part of the time and sporadically. It's always a guess at whether or not you can go into the app to make changes. It's pointless NEED a portal to make mode adjustments, approve phone numbers and apps, when in reality, you CAN'T do it from the portal because it is only partially working. Do busy parents really have time to keep logging into the portal over and over again only to be disappointed that changes cannot be made over and over again. I keep hearing back from Pinwheel that they are working on the fixes. They have offered credit for a month of Pinwheel service (for partially operable phones) BUT I am still paying T-Mobile for monthly service for essentially nothing. I am so very frustrated with Pinwheel.

I feel like I'm being generous with 3 stars at the moment, but I'm hopeful for some quick changes. Pinwheel is sitting on a great idea. We chose them over Gabb and others because they allowed helpful apps instead of simply talk/text and had a great looking Portal providing extensive control over schedules, contacts, texting, and apps. If this all worked, it would be great! It's been 2 weeks since we activated and started using the phone. For most of those 2 weeks, the portal has not worked. I can deal with a few bugs here and there on the phone's software, but the Caregiver Portal is a majority of the reason we went with Pinwheel. For weeks now we haven't been able to view and approve Contacts, view text message history, or manage the routines and schedule of the phone. The website simply "spins" when you click on these menu items. The phone software has largely been good. There are certainly some bugs that are being worked out regarding access to unwanted applications and such. Honestly, I can deal with these. I know it's incredibly hard to create software that closes ALL loopholes; it's a process. They continue to roll out updates for these bugs and new features, which is fantastic. One big oversight is the lack of a Parent App. Everything has to be done through the website. If Pinwheel had a companion app for parents, they would be WAY ahead of the competition. It feels like Pinwheel launched a bit early. They missed quite a bit of stuff and they are reeling to get control after unexpected growth. It's a great platform and I hope to stick with them, but they need to get things buttoned up pretty quickly.

The idea is amazing and so desperately needed. But having to log into a website instead of an app is cumbersome. Then when that website is constantly spinning and won’t connect it causes so much frustration and lack of trust for both me and my son. Very disappointed. I hope they can get it together.

Well, this is sort of like... you’ve got to be smarter than the dog to train him. I think Pinwheel has something good, but it’s not good enough. I’ve found a few flaws... 1. If you have your phone set to not allow certain apps at specific times, if the app is left open when a new time is set, you can apparently still access that app. Sort of defeats the purpose. 2. And when you’re on an app like Spotify for example, you can still access beyond Spotify. For example... click on the image and links and it will actually take you to Facebook. Two BIG loopholes and I’m disappointed. HOWEVER, I appreciate all the efforts of Pinwheel's team and know they're working on these loopholes. I'm looking forward to the improved product.

I'm so thankful for pinwheel. There customer service is spot on. Are there issues? Yes. Do they address them and work to make it right? YES!!! Do I feel good about giving my daughter a pinwheel phone? YES!! Would I recommend them to friends and family? YES!!!!!!!!!!! This is a great device for kids. I'm able to keep my daughter protected from all the crap she doesn't need to be exposed to! She just gets an awesome phone that gives her a measure of responsibility and freedom.

I love it! It is the only way I would feel safe with him having a phone. Other teens might be able to have a bit more autonomy, but my kid needs the limits. I love that I can limit contact during school time. I like that I can prevent calls or texts with people he shouldn't have access to. It is wonderful. I am a Pinwheel evangelist. The customer service is top notch.

I felt it was easy to navigate. I am not tech savvy in the least, but I was grateful I didn't need an IT degree to work the site.

My daughter needed a phone after her father and I got divorced, to be able to keep in contact more easily. I chose Pinwheel after a ton of research because — well, a lot of reasons! — but the big ones: 1) The phone cannot call or text with anyone I have not approved. All the other phones come with spam calls and the ability to talk to strangers, neither of which felt ok for my daughter. and 2) It has useful apps, but I don't have to agonize about whether it's one that ok for her to have or not — they have all been vetted and curated to not be addictive, no social media, no website access, etc. and 3) All the configuration of the phone happens through a web-based control panel I access on MY computer. So I can make changes to it, check on her location, read her text history, and more — without having to have the phone in my presence! Convenient for me, and gives me peace of mind: she can't 'hack' controls that aren't there. But the biggest thing she loves, was a detail to me, and now it's my favorite feature: routines! You can set the phone to do different things at different times of day, so when she's at school, all it CAN do is call me or her dad. No apps, no friend calls, nothing. I knew that. But tied to modes is "routines" — it's like a checklist you set up of things they are supposed to do during that time. Like, we have a "Getting Ready for School" mode, where she can listen to music, but none of her other apps are on. And with that, she has a "routine" — a checklist of - Check the weather - Get dressed - Brush teeth - Brush hair - Wash face - Feed the dog - Eat breakfast etc. Everything she does, she taps on and gets a little gold star. When she finishes the whole list, it has a confetti effect. The routines and modes are 100% customizable — and my daughter LOVES them. It's such a thoughtful feature.