Buying your teen's first phone? Here’s how to keep them safe

It’s a modern rite of passage. No, not adolescent acne. Your teen’s first smartphone.

In this digital age, if your kid doesn’t already have one, they’re probably asking for it. In fact, according to The Guardian, by age 11, 91% of children in the UK own a smartphone, while a study of 19 European countries found 80% of children aged nine to 16 used one to go online daily.

For them, it’s a portal to text their mates or scroll away on TikTok, but for you, the idea might be daunting. And understandably so. But your child’s first phone doesn’t have to mean free-for-all unsupervised web usage, even when handing them the keys to the wild world of the Internet.

Below, we’ve put together tips for keeping your teens safe online, as well as our recommendations for the best refurbished device. That way, it doesn’t cost you a fortune, and they can start their journey into tech sustainably. 

Set up parental controls for smartphones

Before you even hand over the phone, do some instant safeguarding. Built-in OS tools on iPhones allow you to input content & privacy restrictions to manage what they see for an extra layer of protection. You can also tailor apps, purchases, and downloads to control what they can and can’t add to their phones. Explicit music? 18+ rated apps? A no-go.

Other teen smartphone safety tips include using third-party apps for extra precaution. A popular one is OurPact. This app can manage screen time, block other apps, filter web content, track location, and create healthy digital habits. Another one we’d recommend is Family Time. Here, the safety aspect works both ways – you can get alerts if your teen sends an SOS message or is driving over the speed limit. But it’s also great for setting a healthy relationship with phones, giving you direct reports on specific app usage and excessive screen time.

Schedule in screen-free time

An underrated teen smartphone safety tip? Encouraging time offline. It’s easy for our kids to be pulled into a digital rabbit hole, resulting in constant emoji usage, webspeak, and talking about “rizz” all the time. In all honesty, excessive phone usage can be an issue for all of us, so establishing balance early is a good thing.

Think of what works well for your family schedule – no phones at dinner, phone-free weekends, or putting devices in another room before bedtime to avoid waking up to scroll.

Even better if downtime can be replaced with offline activities that help your teen unwind. Encourage your teen to engage in hobbies that require mindfulness, like pottery, sports, board games, etc. You get the gist. 

Have open conversations

Digital well-being starts with dialogue. Talk to your child about the risks, stuff they might see, and the importance of being kind, aware, and secure. And if you see or hear something alarming, take a more measured approach. UK Children’s charity NSPCC encourages neutral conversation to keep the line of communication open and to approach tricky topics calmly.

Pick up a parent-approved (and teen-friendly) phone

When it comes to picking a device, we recommend the iPhone 12. Why? Refurbished iPhone 12 devices are some of our most popular for a reason — they’re reliable, price accessible, and have great performance. Plus, when you buy refurbished, you buy sustainably, which is a huge win for the planet.

This month (May 2025), you can get your hands on our exclusive smartphone bundle for teens. It’s loaded with the iPhone 12, a case to protect from clumsy hands, advice for safe use, and our limited-edition emoji-laden gift box.

Keep your eyes peeled on our social channels too, because we’ll be doing a bundle competition giveaway in France, the UK, Germany, and Spain.

Best of luck!