iPhone SE (2022) Replacing iPod Touch potentially with SE for child

[ajm222]

My son who is almost 10 is using an iPod Touch that is broken - cameras no longer work and flashlight is also dead. I want to replace it with a cheap-ish iPhone but don't really trust most of the companies that have used iPhones for sale. Seems like it's a bit of a crapshoot in terms of what you get, and you still pay a couple hundred at least. A new SE looks like it would run me about $450 after taxes, but I have some credits where I can get an Apple Gift card essentially for "free" to cover all of that.

Just wondering, before I spring for that, if there are any other options I should consider. I could also just get another Touch for less than half the cost, but I like that he'd have a larger screen to view with the SE, and a more durable device with more capacity (his touch would often completely shut down when he dropped it, and I am guessing the thinness may have played a part in it's durability). We aren't planning on activating the phone on this one as we weren't plan on giving him an actual phone for a couple more years at least.

I also assume that no new SE will come out before next year, so the prices are probably going to stay about the same until then?

Thanks

 

[eyoungren]

My son who is almost 10 is using an iPod Touch that is broken - cameras no longer work and flashlight is also dead. I want to replace it with a cheap-ish iPhone but don't really trust most of the companies that have used iPhones for sale. Seems like it's a bit of a crapshoot in terms of what you get, and you still pay a couple hundred at least. A new SE looks like it would run me about $450 after taxes, but I have some credits where I can get an Apple Gift card essentially for "free" to cover all of that.

Just wondering, before I spring for that, if there are any other options I should consider. I could also just get another Touch for less than half the cost, but I like that he'd have a larger screen to view with the SE, and a more durable device with more capacity (his touch would often completely shut down when he dropped it, and I am guessing the thinness may have played a part in it's durability). We aren't planning on activating the phone on this one as we weren't plan on giving him an actual phone for a couple more years at least.

I also assume that no new SE will come out before next year, so the prices are probably going to stay about the same until then?

Thanks

If you are not going to activate it, is it strictly necessary that it be new? Or a current model?

There are plenty of older iPhones on eBay you could get much less expensively. I don't normally recommend eBay, but if the device is not going to be activated then it doesn't matter which network the device comes locked to.

 

[izzy0242mr]

My son who is almost 10 is using an iPod Touch that is broken - cameras no longer work and flashlight is also dead. I want to replace it with a cheap-ish iPhone but don't really trust most of the companies that have used iPhones for sale. Seems like it's a bit of a crapshoot in terms of what you get, and you still pay a couple hundred at least. A new SE looks like it would run me about $450 after taxes, but I have some credits where I can get an Apple Gift card essentially for "free" to cover all of that.

Just wondering, before I spring for that, if there are any other options I should consider. I could also just get another Touch for less than half the cost, but I like that he'd have a larger screen to view with the SE, and a more durable device with more capacity (his touch would often completely shut down when he dropped it, and I am guessing the thinness may have played a part in it's durability). We aren't planning on activating the phone on this one as we weren't plan on giving him an actual phone for a couple more years at least.

I also assume that no new SE will come out before next year, so the prices are probably going to stay about the same until then?

Thanks

Look on Swappa.com. Tons of great deals on used iphones that will still get the latest iOS updates and will work fine

 

[Andeddu]

I wouldn’t throw away money on a current up-to-date iPhone which will never be activated for a 10 year old child. There are better options which are more suitably priced in the second hand market if you are looking for an iPod substitute.

A cheap iPhone 8 would do the job handsomely.

 

[ajm222]

Thanks. I’m just worried about quality. All the reviews from these places seem hit or miss. One person is happy, and two more say they got a dud with scratches all over it and a battery that lasts one hour. Is any particular site better than another in your opinions? I’ll check swappa again.

 

[ssledoux]

My opinion is if you’re considering activating it with an actual number in the next couple years, go with the current SE because it’ll still be a great, fairly up-to-date phone when it gets activated. If you have no interest in activating it, maybe look for a used or refurbished SE 2020.

My 11yo grandson has the SE2020, and it’s a great little phone. It is activated, but screen time has some very strict limits on it. We are often dealing with sketchy wifi in our area of the world, and my daughter really wanted one of the kids to have cellular service on a device in case of an emergency situation.

 

[Mark Stone]

My opinion is if you’re considering activating it with an actual number in the next couple years, go with the current SE because it’ll still be a great, fairly up-to-date phone when it gets activated. If you have no interest in activating it, maybe look for a used or refurbished SE 2020.

My 11yo grandson has the SE2020, and it’s a great little phone. It is activated, but screen time has some very strict limits on it. We are often dealing with sketchy wifi in our area of the world, and my daughter really wanted one of the kids to have cellular service on a device in case of an emergency situation.

This. It may be wise to get a modern, new SE as the iPod replacement - then when he is old enough for his first phone, activate it. Less expensive in the long run, killed two birds with one stone, etc etc. Good idea @ssledoux

 

[ajm222]

My opinion is if you’re considering activating it with an actual number in the next couple years, go with the current SE because it’ll still be a great, fairly up-to-date phone when it gets activated. If you have no interest in activating it, maybe look for a used or refurbished SE 2020.

My 11yo grandson has the SE2020, and it’s a great little phone. It is activated, but screen time has some very strict limits on it. We are often dealing with sketchy wifi in our area of the world, and my daughter really wanted one of the kids to have cellular service on a device in case of an emergency situation.

Agreed, I think this makes sense. We can activate at any time, and then likely trade it in down the road as well for a nice credit with our carrier. It would be different if I was paying close to $500 out of pocket, but I’m essentially getting it at no cost through some perks thing at work. I’ll just have to make sure he takes good care of it. Will likely splurge on a hefty otterbox or something. May delay purchase until the holidays and make it a big gift.

Mainly just making sure there weren’t any other better options that maybe I was missing. Swappa seems like a good alternative, but reviews suggest that even mint devices aren’t always as described, and sometimes have after market screens and other replacement parts, horrible batteries, and issues locking up with errors on activation, etc etc. Would rather get something brand new from apple with warranty.

 

[eyoungren]

My opinion is if you’re considering activating it with an actual number in the next couple years, go with the current SE because it’ll still be a great, fairly up-to-date phone when it gets activated. If you have no interest in activating it, maybe look for a used or refurbished SE 2020.

My 11yo grandson has the SE2020, and it’s a great little phone. It is activated, but screen time has some very strict limits on it. We are often dealing with sketchy wifi in our area of the world, and my daughter really wanted one of the kids to have cellular service on a device in case of an emergency situation.

This. It may be wise to get a modern, new SE as the iPod replacement - then when he is old enough for his first phone, activate it. Less expensive in the long run, killed two birds with one stone, etc etc. Good idea @ssledoux

My son got his first iPhone when he was 13. I gave him an 8GB iPhone 4s with a 2GB plan. That was 2016. He was responsible to use it for both himself and his sister who were at the same school.

My daughter got her first iPhone when she was 10. I gave her my wife's old iPhone 5 64GB with a 2GB plan. That was 2018 and only because her brother went to a new school and she was by herself at her own school. She promptly lost that iPhone on the first day she had it. I was able to get it back, but I had to replace the SIM card.

My son got an iPhone SE1 64GB in 2017 when he turned 15. A reward for doing so well. My daughter got my wife's old iPhone 6s 128GB in 2019 because the battery on the 5 was swelling. She has cracked and broken the screen multiple times because she keeps dropping it. The phone was undamaged when I gave it to her.

In 2021 I upgraded my son to a iPhone SE 2020 128GB. He was 17. This is his current iPhone. My daughter continued to use the iPhone 6s.

I finally upgraded my daughter just a week ago to an iPhone SE 2020. 64GB. A downgrade in capacity from a 128GB iPhone 6s. She is 14 now.

All this to say that it's interesting what parents will give their children. My wife and I have a rule - our kids do not get better phones than we do, unless they want to buy those phones themselves.

Since we don't upgrade much (every 3.5 to 5 years) our kids are carrying the iPhone 4s and the iPhone 5 when they're 13 and 10.

 

[bluespark]

We sprang for an activated phone for a child about that age, in part because it was occasionally useful to call/text him ("Which door of the school are you at? We're parked over by the side!") and because we could imagine scenarios where we would want to be able to find him in the FindMy app.

That said, if you really don't want to activate anything but you are looking for an iPod touch upgrade, one possibility would be an inexpensive iPad mini. Just a thought.

 

[ajm222]

we have all iphone 12 minis (wife, me, my mom, and my 16 year old daughter). i got a great deal through verizon and we all upgraded together about a year and a half ago. so nicer than the SE. but i still like the idea of getting something new with a warranty and then maybe he holds onto that for quite some time. he's actually pretty good with his devices. he just drops them a lot in the house. the ipod didn't handle that well, and i've heard from others that noticed the same thing. they're just too thin. i think he'll be ok with an SE and a solid case. by the time we activate it as a phone, the rest of us will probably be upgrading to a 16 or 17 or whatever.

again, if I actually had to pay out of pocket for this, i probably wouldn't do it. but i'm starting to think that not only can we get this without actually forking over any hard cash, it may also provide a couple hundred dollars in credits at some point in the future. so seems like a good deal, especially given how much he uses it. and it's not all youtube videos and such. he communicates with family, and we can track his whereabouts occasionally with it, and he even has some school and reading related activities he uses it for. and he loves taking photos and videos and sharing. he's outgrown the ipod to some degree, and that tiny little screen is tough on the eyes. the SE isn't an enormous difference, but definitely better. and it's supposedly a great little device overall.

 

[ajm222]

We sprang for an activated phone for a child about that age, in part because it was occasionally useful to call/text him ("Which door of the school are you at? We're parked over by the side!") and because we could imagine scenarios where we would want to be able to find him in the FindMy app.

That said, if you really don't want to activate anything but you are looking for an iPod touch upgrade, one possibility would be an inexpensive iPad mini. Just a thought.

I actually thought about that, but he likes to haul it around all over the place with him and the mini is just a bit too big for that. really needs to be portable.

 

[ssledoux]

we have all iphone 12 minis (wife, me, my mom, and my 16 year old daughter). i got a great deal through verizon and we all upgraded together about a year and a half ago. so nicer than the SE. but i still like the idea of getting something new with a warranty and then maybe he holds onto that for quite some time. he's actually pretty good with his devices. he just drops them a lot in the house. the ipod didn't handle that well, and i've heard from others that noticed the same thing. they're just too thin. i think he'll be ok with an SE and a solid case. by the time we activate it as a phone, the rest of us will probably be upgrading to a 16 or 17 or whatever.

again, if I actually had to pay out of pocket for this, i probably wouldn't do it. but i'm starting to think that not only can we get this without actually forking over any hard cash, it may also provide a couple hundred dollars in credits at some point in the future. so seems like a good deal, especially given how much he uses it. and it's not all youtube videos and such. he communicates with family, and we can track his whereabouts occasionally with it, and he even has some school and reading related activities he uses it for. and he loves taking photos and videos and sharing. he's outgrown the ipod to some degree, and that tiny little screen is tough on the eyes. the SE isn't an enormous difference, but definitely better. and it's supposedly a great little device overall.

I actually used the SE2020 myself between phones when it was released, and it was a solid device. The SE2022 should be even better.

 

[N69AP]

You can save a bit of cash by buying a prepaid phone. Walmart sells the iPhone SE 2020 in new condition for $199 and these can be used without carrier activation, just like an iPod. The catch is that they're locked to the prepaid carrier and can only be unlocked after 12 months of service. So if you do activate it later on, you'd have to do it with that carrier.

 

[ajm222]

You can save a bit of cash by buying a prepaid phone. Walmart sells the iPhone SE 2020 in new condition for $199 and these can be used without carrier activation, just like an iPod. The catch is that they're locked to the prepaid carrier and can only be unlocked after 12 months of service. So if you do activate it later on, you'd have to do it with that carrier.

I had considered this but had thought maybe I’d have to pay for the service and it would be more expensive in the long run. Didn’t realize you could simply buy the phone and not have to activate at all? Is it locked down in any other way? I think Walmart is currently showing totally out of stock though.

 

[N69AP]

I had considered this but had thought maybe I’d have to pay for the service and it would be more expensive in the long run. Didn’t realize you could simply buy the phone and not have to activate at all? Is it locked down in any other way? I think Walmart is currently showing totally out of stock though.

No, there are no other restrictions. It will come with a SIM and it might ask you to insert it during initial setup, but it does not need to be activated. I've purchased a few prepaid iPhones and I've never had any issues using them unactivated.

 

[sublunar]

If Cellular service wasn't important what about a base model iPad? If you go on the Apple refurb store you don't even need to get the latest and greatest and you're spending less than an iPhone because you're not going to use the cellular bit. The 9th gen iPad uses the same CPU as the 2020 iPhone SE.

 

[ajm222]

awesome thank you. i'll look again online for that.

as for the ipad option, per earlier comment, that's a no-go just because this is meant to be his portable device, after getting used to having an ipod all these years for little games and videos and facetime and photos and music and such. we have an ipad at home he uses occasionally (but not often at all), but he loves carrying around his ipod all over the place and I want to replace that with something only slightly larger but still entirely portable for a kid. something pocketable.

 

[lostPod]

I've had really good results with swappa

 

[lostPod]

awesome thank you. i'll look again online for that.

as for the ipad option, per earlier comment, that's a no-go just because this is meant to be his portable device, after getting used to having an ipod all these years for little games and videos and facetime and photos and music and such. we have an ipad at home he uses occasionally (but not often at all), but he loves carrying around his ipod all over the place and I want to replace that with something only slightly larger but still entirely portable for a kid. something pocketable.

ipad mini 4th or 5th gen ?

 

[Andeddu]

we have all iphone 12 minis (wife, me, my mom, and my 16 year old daughter). i got a great deal through verizon and we all upgraded together about a year and a half ago. so nicer than the SE. but i still like the idea of getting something new with a warranty and then maybe he holds onto that for quite some time. he's actually pretty good with his devices. he just drops them a lot in the house. the ipod didn't handle that well, and i've heard from others that noticed the same thing. they're just too thin. i think he'll be ok with an SE and a solid case. by the time we activate it as a phone, the rest of us will probably be upgrading to a 16 or 17 or whatever.

again, if I actually had to pay out of pocket for this, i probably wouldn't do it. but i'm starting to think that not only can we get this without actually forking over any hard cash, it may also provide a couple hundred dollars in credits at some point in the future. so seems like a good deal, especially given how much he uses it. and it's not all youtube videos and such. he communicates with family, and we can track his whereabouts occasionally with it, and he even has some school and reading related activities he uses it for. and he loves taking photos and videos and sharing. he's outgrown the ipod to some degree, and that tiny little screen is tough on the eyes. the SE isn't an enormous difference, but definitely better. and it's supposedly a great little device overall.

Definitely look into an Otterbox Defender case for the SE3 if a kid is using it. I previously used an Otterbox Defender on my 12 Mini and it survived multiple devastating drops onto solid concrete resulting in zero marks or damage on the device. The poor phone would be dead by now if I had chosen not to use a case. I can vouch for Otterbox being one the best in the business and worth every penny despite being fairly pricey.

 

[sublunar]

awesome thank you. i'll look again online for that.

as for the ipad option, per earlier comment, that's a no-go just because this is meant to be his portable device, after getting used to having an ipod all these years for little games and videos and facetime and photos and music and such. we have an ipad at home he uses occasionally (but not often at all), but he loves carrying around his ipod all over the place and I want to replace that with something only slightly larger but still entirely portable for a kid. something pocketable.

Used iPhones seem to be the best option then, perhaps an iPad mini 5th gen (with A12 CPU) but that might not be as pocketable at 7.9 inch.

In the UK if you're looking for new then third party retailers sometimes clear out outdated phone stock. Something of the age of the iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2020, for example.

 

[Zyon22]

se 2020 would probably do the job just fine. when your kid starts complaining that it's 1% slower than the a15 bionic then you can upgrade lol

 

[ACG12]

Best option if you aren’t going to activate the phone and it’s new.

Cricket Wireless Apple iPhone SE (2nd Generation - 2020), 64GB, White -Prepaid Smartphone [Locked to Cricket Wireless]
https://www.walmart.com/ip/584284401