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What's The Youngest Age a Child Should Be With an iPhone?

HappyDude20

HappyDude20

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
3,688
1,479
Los Angeles, Ca
Just curious considering it's somewhat of a common occurrence where somewhere behind me at most public places i'll see a kid with an iOS device. Obviously not walking with them and making calls, but like at restaurant tables and such. Obviously just observing isn't enough to deduce if those iOS devices were specifically purchased just for the kid in mind, or indeed belong to the parents/adults that surrender them at certain moments in need of a well behaved kid.

The real reason that led me to wonder all this and ask the question listed in the title is because I would imagine many people, like myself, have certain important apps that we make want kids to access to. Perhaps primarily due to not wanting to kids to get into our Numbers spreadsheet and accidentally messing something up, or one of the million other things i've seen kids do with their folks iOS devices.. like changing all the contact info by mistake, or email, or something you know?

Maybe I wouldn't be bringing this up if iPad had multiple account login.
 
I don't know if you could really ask a blanket question like that which spans all children. I'd say it really depends on the individual child since none of them are the same personality / maturity.
 
11 she got an iPad, 13 she gets an iPhone, 16 she gets a car, 18 she gets out.

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HappyDude20 said:
Maybe I wouldn't be bringing this up if iPad had multiple account login.
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iPad was created for a single user, but if you REALLY want you could sign out of your iCloud and sign into an iCloud account created for your child.

Send an 'idea' into Apple. I requested to move the iCloud login to the front lockscreen for a supervised device via a settings toggle about two years ago. This would be best for enterprise, education, libraries and many other places. The device would still be owned via the supervisory profile, but could be used by anyone.
 
nnacrumors said:
I don't know if you could really ask a blanket question like that which spans all children. I'd say it really depends on the individual child since none of them are the same personality / maturity.
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That's true and I wonder this because of the fact a child is holding such a powerful device. Obviously different parents will restrict access to somethings so I'm sitting here imagining a parent letting them have a go for the Netflix and YouTube app, perhaps. Kid searches Spongebob but in the related videos theres a Spongbob spoof or something not quite meant for kids. Like, do we just expect the kids to eventually discover what the internet truly is, in the same (somewhat desensitized way as adults do?) I get it, this is a huge generalization and the only reason I ask it is cause I don't have kids so I feel i'm coming from a place of indifference as to how parents present the internet and their access to it.

I've met a ton of kids from different ages that have iPhones in their cubbies at school just for emergencies. That's cool... and i've also seen kids with iPhones or iPads just fixated watching nothing but Hulu cartoons. Mainly, I see kids playing games with their iOS devices. Not that thats totally bad of course.

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960design said:
11 she got an iPad, 13 she gets an iPhone.

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iPad was created for a single user, but if you REALLY want you could sign out of your iCloud and sign into an iCloud account created for your child.
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Those are good ages. I was expecting people to say iPad at 6 and iPhone at 9.
 
My son was about five when he first got an iBook G3. But the airport antenna was bad and so he was limited to small games on the Mac itself. He got his PowerBook G4 which has an Airport card when he was 8. I trust him.

He has no phone, no need for a phone and he will only get a phone when he has a need for one.

My daughter was four when I started allowing her to play on an old iPhone 3GS that was wireless only and not being used by anyone. It had nothing important on it. I locked it down and she and her brother were only allowed to play the apps installed. Any new apps installed required me to enter passcodes and passwords.

My daughter is now soon to be six and she has her own iBook G4, which I control. She has no need for a phone and like her brother will only get one when she needs one.

The 3GS is gone, given to a friend who needed a phone. Thus, neither of my kids has their own phone. But they do have their own Macs in a controlled environment.
 
I see tons of little kids with iPads. Mostly iPad mini. (Most of the time they don't update to iOS 7) But It always is just amazing to see how many little kids have them. It makes me think "Damn I should have been born today" any way probably around 5 years 6 months old is good.
 
My kids have been playing on my iDevices from day one. Both my kids, 11 and 8, received iPad minis for christmas last year. We have a 4s that is used as an iPod touch at this point but when the new phones come out the hand me down will go... My 5s to my wife, her 5 to my son, 4s to my daughter. We have a phone that the kids take with them when they play (go phone flip phone cheapy) but the time is coming soon where we will all have an iPhone that we use as phones as well.
 
I think parents really just need to play it by year. When I three I was given an older Packard Bell running Windows 95, and that was in 2001. I was limited to local games that were appropriate for my age. Then, later that year, the hard drive crashed and it was replaced with an HP Pavilion that was formerly my parents running Windows Me. I used that for a few years and mainly played computer games and DOS games. In 2004 (Almost Age 7) I was given my first new computer, a Dell Dimension 4600 running Windows XP. It was connected to the Internet, but did have basic blocking on the web to prevent pop-ups and what not. Three months after I got it, I saved all my birthday money and upgraded the RAM. I kept that PC until it died in flames (CPU literally burned through itself) in 2010.

As a teenager now (age 16) I do not have any restrictions. I have a PowerMac G5 as my workstation and an iPhone. Anything computer related I pay for and my parents do not have any issues with that aside from blaming me for the electric bill. That being said, when I was 13 my father did install Norton Safety Minder on my PC which degraded performance greatly to the point where I removed it. After he realized whatever sort of restrictions that were on there I could circumvent he just stopped trying.

Now my little brother (age 11) does have full web restrictions and also has his iPad monitored. I think it is just how each child is.
 
These kind of threads make me sick to be honest. Children's maturity is needed to handle this kind of tech. I got a 3G when I was 10 though, that was deactivated. 3GS was activated, but then dad broke that, got a 4 in September last year, and I got a 4s this February.
 
Minimum 13. No teenager, no iPhone :D. Unless they are a responsible tech wizard in which case I don't want to hold them back. If it's it to post on social media then at 12 they get taught everything there is to know and if they pass the tests, they get the phone at 13.
 
What's The Youngest Age a Child Should Be With an iPhone?

I got my first cell phone (one of the old nokias with the green screen and snake game) when I was 21 and married lol. I'm 33 now.. So it seems really outlandish and silly to me to let a child use such expensive and high tech devices. My first computer was a Commodore 64 when I was in 6th grade and it was only given to me because it was obtained super cheap. Was not until I was well into high school that my parents started buying me more expensive things to call my own... And even in my last year of high school I had to work and pay for tha kind of stuff on my own. I can't imagine being in high school having that much.... Raw technology, high valued item, and freedom to do whatever with it. I know its 2014 but I know how I turned out vs a lot of kids now days. My children will be on a similar tech/upgrade path as I was no doubts.
 
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I don't think you can say by age because children have all different levels of maturity at different ages. Personally I don't really want my daughter having a phone until she is 12 or 13 because I don't like the thought of her being exposed to unnecessary radiation before her skull is fully developed. I'm sure I'll give in to pressure if all her friends start getting them. My niece is 15 now and has had an iPhone for 3 years. She is responsible and looks after it so I see no issues. all her friends apparently have iPhone's and they seem to be a fashionable device to own amongst teens who can afford the of course.

I see a lot of kids around these ages with iPhone 5C's, probably due to the affordability and colour options.
 
Lol I didn't get my first phone until I was 18 and it was a basic nokia Cingular prepaid phone, with no camera. That thing was durable as hell though. I was happy with it too. I didn't start getting fancy phones until I started paying my own bill and had my own account with Verizon. The way I look at it now is the way I was raised...a kid really doesn't have room to complain and fuss about not having the latest expensive smartphone until they start paying the bill. When it's your money, you can do whatever you want to do. If it's somebody else that's footing the cost of bill and phones, you really don't have room to complain.

And tbh (and this is just my opinion) it's annoying as hell to see parents spoil their kids the way some do. IMO a 12yr old should not have an iPhone 5S or HTC One. 9yr olds should not have MacBooks or 500 dollar Galaxy Tabs. 13yr olds should not have 600 dollar iPad Airs. It's just ridiculous but hey maybe it's me. But again, it's my opinion. I'm sure some feel differently but it's all good. As far what age a kid should be to get an iPhone? IMO when they can afford the phone and bill themself.

I'm not saying I'm gonna be some mean tyrant of a parent, but there will be boundaries. And I don't mind showing my kid that hey if you want something, it's ok to work hard..:save up up your money and buy it yourself
 
JayIsAwesome said:
And tbh (and this is just my opinion) it's annoying as hell to see parents spoil their kids the way some do. IMO a 12yr old should not have an iPhone 5S or HTC One. 9yr olds should not have MacBooks or 500 dollar Galaxy Tabs. 13yr olds should not have 600 dollar iPad Airs. It's just ridiculous but hey maybe it's me. But again, it's my opinion. I'm sure some feel differently but it's all good. As far what age a kid should be to get an iPhone? IMO when they can afford the phone and bill themself.
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I think it is worth pointing out that not all children and teenagers complain and are ungrateful. It might appear silly to give them such expensive gadgets, but as long as they appreciate them and look after them, I see no problem at all. They would of course have to prove responsible use too IMO.

When I was a kid I had expensive games consoles like the Nintendo NES, SNES, Megadrive etc etc and these all cost similar amounts of money for the time. I think in 1992 my Sega Gamegear was £400 and I took it everywhere! That was quite an expensive gadget and I dread to think what the price would be relative to today's prices, probably iPhone territory.

Kids are expensive creatures and trends come up and parents try their best to accommodate, as long as the child is deserving and I hope I bring my daughter up to appreciate what she's got. If she doesn't, no iPhone will be in her Christmas stocking I can tell you. :)
 
And tbh (and this is just my opinion) it's annoying as hell to see parents spoil their kids the way some do. IMO a 12yr old should not have an iPhone 5S or HTC One. 9yr olds should not have MacBooks or 500 dollar Galaxy Tabs. 13yr olds should not have 600 dollar iPad Airs. It's just ridiculous but hey maybe it's me. But again, it's my opinion. I'm sure some feel differently but it's all good. As far what age a kid should be to get an iPhone? IMO when they can afford the phone and bill themself.



I'm not saying I'm gonna be some mean tyrant of a parent, but there will be boundaries. And I don't mind showing my kid that hey if you want something, it's ok to work hard..:save up up your money and buy it yourself[/QUOTE]


this times a BILLION!!!!! I don't care if it IS in style and all their other friends have one. That's CERTAINLY not reason enough. What ever happened to working for what you get? Besides we never had that kind of money when I was a kid.
 
I agree that it definitely does depend on the child, as well as how well-versed parents are with the technology that they are letting their child use.

I've had a personal computer since I was around six or seven, and my little sister since she was nine. This might've been mostly because our dad was a Microsoft programmer, though. Even to this day we have more computers around our house than we know what to do with. However, I got one of those firefly kids cell phones (the ones with no internet access and 20 pre-programmed phone numbers) when I was ten, and by my eleventh birthday I had an actual flip phone. I didn't get a smartphone until I had a job and could pay for it myself.

I think that tablets and iPods are one thing; those are like the portable TVs and discmans of my day, but giving kids a smartphone is another. I get that some parents might be trying to cut cost corners by giving their child an mp3 player and a phone all in one, but smartphones are expensive. Not only are the phones themselves pricey, but so are the plans that go with them! Especially when the kid is in elementary school, it just isn't worth it if the phone gets smashed up on the playground or something of the likes.
 
I never had anything as expensive as a game gear buy boy did I want one! I think I'm better off now not being able to have all those things I wanted when I was a kid. I grew up learning NOT to just follow the trends. Following trends is not exactly a good thing.
 
My niece, who's 11, has the following: 2x iPod touch, iPad, Laptop, 2x iPhone (including iPhone 5s). She's had the iPod touches since she was 6 or so, at least, the iPad for about a year, and the laptop for about 18 months. The iPhone 5s was a birthday present this month. Just to be clear, these items are hers, not family items.

I've asked her whether her friends at school have the iPods/Pads etc. Apparently she's the only one!

I think it's pretty disgusting that she has all these items. I think the rationale her father uses to buy them for her is...well....irrational. Still, other people and their kids and all that.....
 
Jstuts5797 said:
I never had anything as expensive as a game gear buy boy did I want one! I think I'm better off now not being able to have all those things I wanted when I was a kid. I grew up learning NOT to just follow the trends. Following trends is not exactly a good thing.
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I certainly wasn't spoilt or a problem for my parents and its not like I grew up expecting my folks to buy me everything. They made me work when I became a teen, whether it was earning my pocket money or a part time job.

I think it's easy to say following trends is not necessarily a good thing, but it obvious depends on the context. When you are at high school you tend to do things to try and fit in. In my day the trends were Nike Air trainers, baggy jeans, and Walkman's. It just so happened I liked these trends whether they were cool or not. As you get older its seen as cool not to follow trends and to be different. I did that when I went off to university and there you get respect for being yourself and finding yourself. That philosophy doesn't always work when you are younger and kids can be very fickle about who they choose for friends sadly.

When my children are older and if iPhone's and Androids are still around, I will buy them what I can afford within reason. I wouldn't get into debt to give my kids something I didn't think they deserve.
 
Attonine said:
My niece, who's 11, has the following: 2x iPod touch, iPad, Laptop, 2x iPhone (including iPhone 5s). She's had the iPod touches since she was 6 or so, at least, the iPad for about a year, and the laptop for about 18 months. The iPhone 5s was a birthday present this month. Just to be clear, these items are hers, not family items..
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My 12 year old cousin is just like that, she got an iPhone (4S) at 10, countless iPads that her dad buys for her as he is always away. She got a 5s last week as a random present for some reason!!! While I bought my 5 and my iPad Air last year (I'm 15) I paid for them myself. Funny thing is she's a real bi*** and has the worst work ethic of anyone I know.
 
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