How to set up our son’s first phone

The choice of the first phone to give to our son is always very important, given that in his eyes, having his first “real” phone (without having to use his parents’ phone due to his age) is a very important achievement, which in fact it will change his perception of this device forever.

To be on the safe side and avoid any type of danger in the following guide we have collected the best tips on how to set up our son’s first phoneso you can always keep it under control, know where it goes, limit its use during study or nighttime rest times, visit only safe sites and only use approved apps (always within the imposed time limits).

READ ALSO -> Best phones to give to your children, children or teenagers

1) Position monitoring

The first thing to do on a phone to give to our minor child is to set up a location tracking system. On Android we can use Find your phone as a safe and effective integrated system to always find a phone connected to the Internet.

To activate monitoring of the Google account (associated with our child) all we have to do is add this account on the phone, make sure that the location services are active, install the app Google Maps o Google Family Link and, opening one of these two apps, start sharing your location in real timeas already seen in ours dedicated guide.

On iPhone we can share the location by taking us along the route Settings -> Apple ID -> Find My and activating the switch next to the item Share my location. Your phone’s location will be visible to all your family and friends from the app Messages or fromApple Family Sharing account.

We can read our guides on position monitoring integrated into Android and iPhone how to use “Find my Android” app to find your cell phone come on All Ways to Track Phone (Android, iPhone).

2) Monitoring of hours of activity, sites and apps

On Android devices we can use Google Family Link to set a study time, a rest time or a time slot in which the phone will not be usable and will only be able to receive messages or notifications from selected numbers or accounts (i.e. parents’ accounts).

On the iPhone however we can configure Usage time to properly configure a phone to give to our son; for this purpose let’s take the path Settings -> Screen timewe activate the mode by clicking on Turn on Screen Time and, in the screen that appears, press down on the item This iPhone belongs to a minorso as to be able to properly configure each time limitation, which apps he will have to use and which sites he will be able to visit.

After configuring Uptime on your phone of the minor (complete with blocking code), it will be enough to also associate our iPhone with theFamily account and act as supervisors, so as to be able to authorize any temporary unlocking of apps or grant exemptions to the rule.

For further information we can read our article on how to set parental controls on your children’s cell phone with Google Family Link.

3) Best apps for monitoring children

In addition to the monitoring and parental control systems included in modern smartphones, we can rely on other apps to monitor the location, control the time of use and spy on what our child is doing:

• Telegram: The app has a function to send real-time location to selected contacts;
• WhatsApp: the WhatsApp app also has the function to send the location in real time in a private chat or in a group;
• Prey AntiTheft: another valid app that works as an anti-theft device for the phone but is also able to provide the real-time location of the device to any account authorized for monitoring;
• Life360 Family Locator: App that uses a private circle system to send your real-time location securely.

We can read our article about these apps how to monitor children’s movements via app.

4) Best security apps

In addition to monitoring and parental control we must also think about security apps; children are not as savvy as us and could open malicious links, receive phishing and open dangerous apps on their phone, even under close supervision.

It is therefore worth installing a good antivirus on both Android phones and iPhones; the best security apps that we can install for the purpose are:

• Avast Mobile Security: Complete security app that can protect your phone from viruses and applications that steal your personal data and login credentials.
• Avira Security: another famous antivirus designed to protect any smartphone from viruses, malware and spyware, complete with integrated VPN.
• Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus: the power of the best antivirus at the service of mobile devices, thanks to the scanning engine capable of intercepting any virus or any harmful link.
• Bitdefender Antivirus: completely free and simple to use antivirus, excellent for those who want maximum protection without configuring anything.
• Malwarebytes: the famous anti-malware program capable of intercepting links, spyware, phishing and other threats on the web.

On these apps we can read our guides on best antivirus and antimalware apps for android and on best android security apps to protect your phone.

Still on the topic of safety, we invite you to read our article on Android safety precautions to always activate.

Conclusions

Whatever phone we give to our child, we follow all the advice proposed in this guide, so as to be safe be able to constantly monitor it and prevent it from using the device too much during study, during class hours and during night hours.

To learn more we can read our guides how to activate Parental Control on PC, smartphone and modem come on how to activate parental controls and parental controls on PC and internet.

If, however, the problem is the PC browser we can continue reading in the guide above how to set up web browser for kids.