One knock against smartphones with built-in parental controls is that while they may give mom and dad a measure of comfort, they’re just too uncool for kids. Human Mobile Devices (HMD), a Finland-based phone maker, believes it can address that problem with its new HMD X1 phone announced on Sunday.

“At HMD, we believe kids shouldn’t have to choose between safety and having a smartphone they love,” Global Chief Marketing Officer Lars Silberbauer said in a statement.

“Parents have been asking for a solution that balances protection with freedom, and the HMD X1 delivers just that,” he continued. “We’ve worked closely with families on our Better Phone Project to gain insight into how we can create a device that looks and feels like a premium smartphone while offering the safety guardrails parents need.”

“This is a big step in redefining what a first phone should be — one that gives kids a safe start in the digital world without feeling left out,” he added.

HMD launched The Better Phone Project in July 2024 to tackle the impact of smartphone use on the well-being of children and young people worldwide.

In its first global survey of 10,000 parents, HMD found that 75% fear smartphones expose their children to internet dangers, while 65% worry about the impact of phone use on their child’s mental health. In addition, more than half of parents surveyed regret giving their child a smartphone too soon.

Parental Controls in a Phone That Slays

The new HMD X1 gives parents complete control over their child’s smartphone experience. It features a customizable app and internet access, allowing parents to limit social media, browsing, and screen time. It also includes location tracking with safe zones, emergency SOS calling, low battery alerts, and remote device access for parents.

What’s more, there’s a School Mode function that locks specific apps and features to minimize distractions during school hours. All settings can be managed remotely through an app by Xplora Technologies on a parent’s device, enabling them to adjust controls in real time based on their child’s needs and environment. Oslo, Norway-based Xplora specializes in smartwatches and wearable devices for children.

As for the hardware, the X1 has a 108MP AI-powered camera, a 5000mAh battery, facial and fingerprint recognition unlock technology, and IP54-rated splash resistance. It also includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, which seems to be making a comeback with the younger set.

The phone has a modular design, which can be customized with add-on “Outfits.” For example, the Gaming Outfit turns the X1 into a gaming console, the Flashy Outfit adds a built-in ring light for selfies, and the Power Outfit provides extra battery life for extended use.

“It’s a solution that checks all the boxes, but in real life, you have to look at what kids want to have,” observed John Strand of Strand Consulting, a consulting firm with a focus on telecom, in Denmark. “They don’t want to go around with a phone that’s not cool. They want an iPhone or an Android phone.”

“It’s like when I say I want to go to a nice burger bar and get a really good burger, but my kids say they want to go to McDonald’s,” he told TechNewsWorld. “I think the day you can convince your kids to use a phone like this is probably the day you can convince them not to go to McDonald’s.”

Content Monitoring Matters in Kids’ Phones

“Kids aren’t just little adults, and their brains don’t work the same way,” explained Titania Jordan, chief parent officer at Bark Technologies, a parental control and monitoring solutions company in Atlanta, and author of “Parental Control: A Guide to Raising Balanced Kids in the Digital Era.”

“Exposure to social media, violent content, bullying, online predators, and other serious things can drastically affect a child’s well-being,” she told TechNewsWorld. “Because of this, parents need to be super involved in their child’s digital world. Unfortunately, phones built for adults — your regular iPhones and Androids — don’t have robust parental controls that actually work.”

“Phones built for kids, on the other hand, should have specific tools to help protect children and put parents in the driver’s seat — from approving every new contact to managing screen time and blocking inappropriate websites to content analysis,” she said.

While the HMD X1 is better for a child than an iPhone, it doesn’t contain content monitoring to alert parents to the very real dangers that children encounter online, Jordan noted. “Unless a parent is going through every text, DM, comment, Google search, and countless other digital activities — and that’s highly unlikely — they are going to miss potential issues and dangers their child encounters,” she maintained.

“Many parents also don’t know how to decipher teen slang terms or truly understand the different types of apps they may be allowing for their kids,” she continued. “One of the largest dangers facing children is the predatory and manipulative nature of chats in games, and content monitoring alerts parents to inappropriate conversations that could lead to grooming.”

“Content monitoring is the defining feature of a thoughtful and safer kid’s phone because it gives families a digital safety net that’s essential in the digital age,” she added.

Praise for HMD X1 On-Device Control

Alex Ambrose, a policy analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a research and public policy organization in Washington, D.C., cautioned that as the HMD X1 rolls out, it is crucial to consider the privacy implications of some of its features, like parental tracking and remote access.

“While these tools offer parents valuable oversight, regulations must ensure that privacy protections are built in from the start,” she told TechNewsWorld.

“A child’s understanding of privacy evolves as they get older, making it essential that safeguards grow alongside them and do not overburden them as they mature and are able to handle less parental oversight,” she continued. “Ensuring users are aware of these implications will be key to fostering responsible and informed use of the device.”

Ambrose praised the use of on-device controls by HMD. “Device-level parental controls make it easier for parents and children alike to have a more seamless experience, making sure both apps and websites accessed on a device are child-appropriate — a feature app store level verification lacks.”

Jennifer Huddleston, a technology policy research fellow at the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank, contends that the market has generally responded to parents’ concerns over their kids’ use of smartphones.

“We have seen the market respond with various companies offering kid-safe devices that feature significant parental controls, as well as various levels of the tech ecosystem from ISPs and app stores to social media platforms offering a range of solutions to fit parents’ needs,” she told TechNewsWorld.

“This shows that the market continues to respond to demands for more options for parents and young people, but also that such choices are not a one-size-fits-all approach,” she said. “In this way, having a variety of options for parents to find what best fits their needs for each child is preferable to many of the restrictive policy approaches that would also impact the speech and privacy rights of users of all ages.”