At more than double the price of a typical two-year iPhone contract, Sage Mobile, an iPhone 16 handset loaded with custom software, will be a pricey way to avoid online harms
A neutered iPhone, stripped of web browsers and social media apps, is going on sale to parents worried about their children’s phone use, but the “peace and freedom” its creators promise will come at a steep price.
The pared-back version of the top-selling handset, which will not allow internet searches, gaming or downloads of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other social media, is being offered in the UK for £99 a month by a US company that wants children to “reconnect with real life, not just reduce screen time”.
At more than double the price of a typical two-year iPhone contract, Sage Mobile, an iPhone 16 handset loaded with custom software, will be a pricey way to avoid online harms. But it reflects growing parental dilemmas over the best way to start their children’s digital lives.
The launch of the device has been timed to coincide with the enforcement of strict new UK rules requiring robust age verification to access online pornography, starting on Friday next week.
Chris Kaspar, founder of Techless, the US company launching the phone, said the default settings on most smartphones, which allow widespread access to apps and the internet, were “dark”. Right now they are selling cars without seatbelts, he said. We want the defaults to be safe and healthy.
The devices will include an app store that is curated by Sage Mobile and will only allow users access to apps for tasks like banking, public transport, schooling, calendars and weather.
Until now, this is still a niche market and people, especially parents, are not ready to pay a significant premium for a dumb phone, said Thomas Husson, principal analyst at Forrester, a market research company.
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