Pinwheel Kids PhonesReviews of pinwheel.com

I rarely write reviews, but I feel a responsibility to share this given the seriousness of the issue. We bought a Pinwheel phone for our 11-year-old son in December specifically because it is marketed as a safe, locked-down device for children. Unfortunately, our experience has been the complete opposite. On two separate occasions, my son has managed to bypass the restrictions and access the open internet. Most concerningly, he was able to access YouTube and view inappropriate adult content while the phone was set to “Nothing mode”, which is supposed to be fully restricted. This was not a simple case of accessing something through an approved app. He found a back-end route using a school email account, which allowed him to get into settings and from there reach the wider internet. He has demonstrated the full process, and we have it recorded. The fact that an 11-year-old can do this, more than once, raises serious concerns about how secure this system actually is. A device designed to protect children should not have loopholes that lead directly to unrestricted internet access, particularly in its most locked-down mode. This is the second time I have had to contact Pinwheel about this, and as a result I have completely lost confidence in the product. We will no longer be using it and have requested a full refund. I would strongly urge other parents to be cautious and not assume that this device guarantees a safe, closed environment. In our experience, it does not.

Chen B was friendly and helpful. He made me feel like all of my questions were welcome and that he was happy to provide me with assistance. His use of a screenshot to help me find a link I needed to complete my order was especially helpful. I would recommend this chat agent to others in need of assistance.

I called Pinwheel support today to ask for help with their Location alert functionality on my kiddo's account. Aldrin, tech support, was extremely knowledgeable in walking me through the steps I needed to follow. Solved - with ease! Aldrin then answered my question whether Pinwheel has parameters to limit my (teenaged) kiddo's access to texts - at night and during school hours. I learned this can be accomplished via Settings, and by using specific Schedule Modes. All in all, I am impressed with the scalability and customization Pinwheel makes available to me, the parent. Having tried other tools similar to Pinwheel in the past, I am pleased to have the additional level of functionality and customer support Pinwheel provides.

I was frustrated and upset after two days of trying to solve a connection issue. Chen was patient and kind. They supported me through every step and made me wish I reached out sooner. Thank you for the great support.

Chen of customer support was so helpful in helping me learn some of the more complicated settings of the phone.

Rizza was brilliant, patient and talked me through every step. Thank you!

Joshua was so kind and helpful- thank you. Please note- set up whatsapp with a back up copy for your child or face understandable upset. Do NOT uninstall their whatsapp via the caregiver portal when trying to update the app. Instead ask to speak with pinwheel first for advice. I wish I had called them first

Nightmare! We decided after seeing the watch we didn’t want it and decided on going with Bark phone much better deal on their new watch and the monthly service charge. We painstaking went through Un imaginary hoops to return the phone! CS was horrid! But we finally got it sent off in early January. I was supposed to get a refund in about a month. It is now the end of February! Today I called them over and over just got continuous no answers and left my phone number to no avail! I will update and give them a higher rating if this is resolved by tomorrow. Otherwise it’s off to the bank and Knoxville TV complaint dept!