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Comment by technotarek | Hacker News Reader

I’ve always imagined that an iPod-something would be my child’s first camera/media device. We’re not ready for that leap yet (at only 3 1/2 yo), but I’m curious — what are others opting for in this use case?

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My kids get our old phones, without cellular capabilities. That's basically what an iPod touch is anyway.

Kidless adult asking - why not make the device cellularly capable, just limiting calls (if not data-only)? Most of the time they won't need it, but I can see the benefit of having a cellular-capable device in my kid's possession if they ever found themselves in an emergency situation. I would assume cell carriers could limit the device from doing for-cost things, and there are unlimited data plans again.

Because you don't want kids having access to the internet unsupervised for obvious reasons.

My little cousins (under 12 years old) get a cellular Apple Watch. That allows their parent to always know where they are and can contact them, but prevents the kids from being able to use the internet.

Young kids (3 years old) have a knack for finding naughty things.

My mom's bf's 6 year old loves sonic and loves playing sonic video on youtube. We were having dinner and it had autoplayed into some naughty sonic furry stuff and we had to change it also while trying to maintain his innocence and not explain things he might not be ready for. lol. This was last year which I think is after youtube really tried to improve video for children but it still happened somehow.

I remember being 9-10 years old and accidentally clicking a popup and learning about genitals. It's not the best way to learn as a kid. It's better coming from their parents.

> I remember being 9-10 years old and accidentally clicking a popup and learning about genitals.

X10 popup ads claim another victim ;)

those things were everywhere back in the day!

They were! And we didn't have popup blockers. lol. I remember you could mess up and accidentally open 1000s of windows (we didn't even have tabs then. lol)

For my older child, 10, she has a Gabb watch, with very limited cellular capabilities and low monthly cost. My other kid, 7, is unlikely to be in a situation where he's without adult supervision, so not really worth it. Besides, I don't really want my kids to have unfettered internet access, especially when unsupervised.

Pretty sure Cell Phones in the US are still able to call 911 even without a sim card or an active plan.

So a sim-less phone would still allow for an emergency call in that sense.

Our daughter first had two generations of iPod Touch. However, one big downside is that the screen is tiny compared with other devices. About a year ago or so, she switched to an old iPhone 6s without a SIM card and it's fine for Facetiming/messaging with her grandparents and photos.

How did you get iPhone to enable iMessage without a phone number?

iCloud messaging?

iMessage doesn't require a phone number, it can use email addresses as well.

how about an iPad? mini if the size is a concern for you guys, but the camera is pretty solid, performance means it’ll last your kid years, and there are so many edu-tainment titles on the App Store. i think especially the Pencil (or the child-oriented Logitech alternative) would be great to encourage a growing child’s creativity, as well as apps like iMovie, GarageBand…

I'm assuming just a smartphone without a SIM. That's essentially what the iPod touch was.

Sure, but then you have that background concern about them accidentally dialing 911.

Having the ability to dial 911 if needed is probably a good thing.

Ehhhh I distinctly remember being around 10 years old, getting a miniature landline phone [1], and dialing 911. Then my parents had to explain to the operator that there was no emergency and how sorry they were. Kids do dumb things.

[1] this kind of thing - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1891964717.html

Can you uninstall the phone app, or whatever Apple calls it? I'm using LineageOS and it looks like I can disable it, though I don't care to try right now.

Plus, it's arguably worth risking accidental 911 calls to allow necessary ones. And landlines have had the same risk for decades.

You can't uninstall it, but you can hide it from the home screen

> Can you uninstall the phone app

You can't uninstall the dialer. As far as I know you can't even lock the dialer down.

> Plus, it's arguably worth risking accidental 911 calls to allow necessary ones

One of my friends kids (about 5) went through a phase where she was fascinated with calling 911. The iPod Touch became the way to handle this, you could hand her the iPod and know she couldn't dial out. Sure an iPad could work, but this girl had siblings and the parents didn't want to have to buy everybody an ipad.

> Sure, but then you have that background concern about them accidentally dialing 911.

Kids should be taught about 911 at a very young age anyway. IMO, if they're old enough for an iPod Touch, they're old enough to be taught about 911.

The iPad works great for young kids. There's a lot of great iPad cases for kids too.

iPad has been my kids only device, media, games, school, etc. They are getting to the age where they want phones but we are holding off.

Also they sometimes need to use laptop/desktop for school but that is rare now that most everything works in Safari or there is an app. Even printing etc works great and they love the pencil. They also have mouse and keyboard for them usually for schoolwork.

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