Best mobile phones for kids in Australia (2024)

There’s no point fighting it. Sooner or later, your kid is going to want a phone. Starting out, you can get away with a feature phone (read: “dumb phone”) that doesn’t have internet connectivity but does have great durability and battery life. Alternatively, opt for a kids' smartwatch or wearable tracker.

And when they reach smartphone age, the Opel SmartKids phone is our pick thanks to a great mix of affordable price, dependable battery life, and parental supervision capabilities. It also has an SOS button feature that allows up to five contacts to be alerted in the case of an emergency.

While the SmartKids Phone does still allow internet and social access, your child's safety is easy to monitor, with a pre-downloaded proprietary owned parental control app. From here, you can whitelist certain numbers, create a virtual safe zone for your child, and view call, text, and app history.

While it's not the speediest or most powerful phone, it gives parents or guardians a new level of peace of mind. The SOS feature sends an SMS to up to five contacts of your choosing in the case of an emergency.  You can access your child's real-time location through GPS, and be alerted when your child leaves a set safe zone, such as home or school. 

The whitelist feature prevents unsaved and unapproved numbers from contacting your child, so you can rest easy knowing your child will not receive unsolicited calls and text messages.

Sitting at a decent 2000mAh, the SmartKids Phone's battery does its job. You can expect it to last between one to two days between charges, especially if your child forgets to charge it of a night. You can also see their battery status and location from your end, so if something happens and their phone dies, you know exactly where they last were located. 

Performance-wise, the Opel SmartKids Phone isn’t the speediest, but it’s fast enough for a first smartphone user who isn’t into multitasking. To read more about what we think, check out our full Opel SmartKids Phone review.

You can buy the Opel SmartKids Phone outright for under $180, then pair it with a cheap prepaid phone plan (like one of the popular picks below).

While there are some great parental control apps out there, another way to not have to worry about them at all is to get a kid-friendly phone that minimises the smart functionality. The Nokia 110 does have a Facebook app and a web browser, but given the small screen size and finicky buttons, your kid probably won't have much interest in using them.

It’s best treated as a good choice for a first phone, alongside the Optus X Lite 4 below, intended for calls and texts only. The 1.77-inch screen and physical buttons are a good match for young eyes and smaller digits, plus it boasts up to 22 days of standby battery life.

For homes with multiple kids, the Nokia 110 4G has a replaceable battery, which means it can be paid forward to younger siblings (assuming it’s unlocked). It’s a lightweight handset that’s easy to use, too.

Given the minimal data connectivity, you can pair it with a cheaper prepaid mobile plan. Check out some popular picks below.

We don’t particularly mind that the Optus X Lite 4 is locked to the Optus network by default, given the network’s reach (wider than Vodafone) and competitive pricing (compared to Telstra). The fact it’s a 4G handset also means there’s future-proofing, given that 3G is being phased out in Australia.

As you’d expect from entry-level pricing, the Optus X Lite 4 does have limited functionality, but the physical buttons and 2.4-inch display are a great starting place for kids.

You’ll need to pair the Optus X Lite 4 with an Optus plan, and you can see some of the popular prepaid options below.

We like the Nokia G22 because its an excellent middle of the range phone. Its battery life is solid, and its storage (128GB) is extensive. Despite this, its slightly pricey in comparison to the other phones in our list.

Its basic features make it an excellent choice for your tween’s first foray into the land of smartphones. Expect decent performance except for busy multitaskers, and a generously sized 6.52-inch display.

The three-day battery life means the Nokia G22 can leave home at around half capacity and make it through the day, especially if your child forgets to charge it overnight. While the camera struggles to compete with more expensive competitors, it does the job. Not a bad one at that, with super resolution zoom and a triple rear camera. 

We also like that it comes with a three year warranty and built-in QuickFix repairability, meaning the battery and display can be replaced easily (and cheaply) and the phone can last years. Your kid shouldn’t expect the best performance from the Nokia G22, but that might not be the worst thing. 

Consider pairing it with one of the popular prepaid plans below.

With a 48MP main camera, 8MP ultrawide camera and a 5MP macro camera, its hard to deny how excellent the camera is on the Galaxy A34.

Plus, thanks to the blazing fast 120Hz refresh rate, you can also experience seamless, fluid scrolling.

The two-day battery life could be better, but it's still more than enough to power your teen throughout the day (and beyond).

Although it's the priciest pick on our list, it out-performs the rest and will definitely keep your kid happy.

Pair the Galaxy A34 with a prepaid plan, like one of the popular picks below.

According to ACMA research, just under half of kids aged 6 to 13 use phones and a third have their own phone. When your child gets to the age that you determine they can have a phone, it’s good to know there are affordable feature phones to start that journey and stay in touch.

As kids grow up and it becomes more appropriate for them to have a smartphone, you don’t have to opt for a flagship Android or iPhone smartphone to give them access to dependable battery life, parental supervision and a range of apps. The Opel SmartKids Phone is a good mix of all of those elements, but you can just as easily opt for the other options on this page instead.

We make our picks based on our extensive experience with feature phones and smart phones, research, as well as deep knowledge of Australian prepaid plans. While it would be easy to just recommend cheap smartphones, we appreciate that feature phones have a place for younger mobile phone users.

To make our picks, we draw on our own hands-on experience or analyse reviews from reputable Australian sites, as well as feedback from user reviews. First and foremost, a mobile phone for kids has to have great battery life, and we treat up to two days of battery life as the minimum.

Price is absolutely important, especially because the cost of a mobile phone has to then be paired with the ongoing cost of a phone plan, so we keep our recommendations under $300 (and under $500 for the big kids) to buy a handset outright. While feature phones are a great way to keep your kids safe from the wild World Wide Web, these phones also tend to lack handy components like GPS tracking, Wi-Fi and apps for managing parental controls.