Kids and mobile phones – it’s a tricky one. If your child has started secondary school or hit double digits, you’ve probably weighed up whether or not to give them a phone. It’s wise to give them a sense of independence and gain peace of mind that they can contact you in an emergency, but smartphones bring plenty of problems.
Whether it’s harmful content on social media or hours spent mindlessly scrolling, smartphones can be more trouble than they’re worth. These issues don’t just affect kids, either. Adults are also impacted by attention-grabbing apps that can suck up hours of your time.
Whatever the problem, opting for one of the best dumbphones could be the answer. Dumbphones are basic handsets that allow you to keep in touch with friends and family without all the digital distractions that come with a smartphone. Like a ‘brick phone’, they can be used to call and text but not much else. So, while they may not look as fancy as a sparkling new smartphone, they do the job – and usually at a fraction of the cost.
Whether you’re after a first phone for young kids, a social-media-free phone for a teen, or simply want an affordable and fuss-free alternative to a smartphone, I’ve picked out the best dumbphones and non-smartphones to help keep you connected.
How I tested
I tested a variety of dumbphones with the help of some mini testers to work out the best options for children, from the most basic brick phones to restricted-content smartphones. During the test, I considered the following criteria:
- Set-up and accessibility: With our group of young testers (ranging in age from eight to 12) at hand, we looked at how easy the devices were to set up, how user-friendly they were to navigate and
- Features: I noted whether they offered any additional kid-appropriate features, such as games.
- Value for money and satisfaction: We also looked at how much value for money the devices offered, as well as whether they could impress our hard-to-please tweens when it came to design and style.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Sarah Dawson is a writer with a great deal of experience when it comes to recommending the best parenting buys and products for kids, having tested everything from kids school shoes to children’s bikes. As with all IndyBest reviews, Sarah's testing process involves assessing how the products fare under real-world use, factoring in their quality, and any potential pitfalls. By calling in assistance from younger testers when writing this article, she was able to see how different dumbphones went down with kids.
The best dumbphones for kids in 2025 are:
- Best overall – HMD Nokia 3210: £74.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget buy – Maxcom MM135L phone: £15.98, Amazon.co.uk
- Best flip phone – HMD Nokia 2660 flip: £64.99, Currys.co.uk
- Best features – Balance Phone: £249, Thebalancephone.com
- Best touchscreen dumbphone – The phone: £86, Thephone.fr
HMD Nokia 3210
Best: Best dumbphone overall
Wifi: No
Camera: 2MP
Size: 5.2cm x 12.2cm x 1.3cm
Bluetooth: 5.0
Max network speed: 4G
Internal storage: 128 MB
Why we love it
- Easy to use
- Choice of three colours
- Great battery life
Take note
- Poor camera quality
The Nokia 3210 is the OG of brick phones and offers a real sense of Y2K nostalgia. Relaunched in 2024, this classic still stands up. It’s good-looking and easy to use for kids and adults alike. It’s simple to set up: just unclip the back and add the removable battery, then charge with the included USB-C cable.
It has an easy-to-navigate menu and making calls is as simple as scrolling through your contacts and hitting call. While it doesn’t support messaging apps such as WhatsApp, you can send standard texts, although the multiple click letter selection took some getting used to for our tween and teen testers. In fairness, the same was true for most of the phones in our round-up.
You can’t connect to wifi on the 3210, however, you are able to access the internet using your own data. To be honest, this is such a faff and so hard to find your way around that our testers didn’t even bother, especially as the tiny 2.4in screen makes viewing web pages an annoying experience.
Unlike some other dumbphones, the 3210 comes with a built-in 2MP rear camera. While this felt like the height of sophistication in the early 2000s, the camera quality here is lacking compared to 2020s smartphones. Our testers still loved that they had their own camera to mess around with, although they were a bit disappointed they couldn’t take selfies, as there’s no front camera.
However, the choice of games was still a hit. Snake was especially popular and proved just as addictive as it was 25 years ago. There are extra features, too. You’ll find a built-in torch, calculator, and FM radio player, and it has an impressive battery life (up to about 10 hours of calls if your data allowance can stretch). Overall, it does everything you need a dumbphone to do, all at a reasonable price.
Buy now £74.99, Amazon.co.uk
Maxcom MM135L phone
Best: Budget dumbphone
Wifi: No
Camera: No
Size: 11.5 x 4.9 x 1.28
Bluetooth: No
Maximum network speed: 4G
Internal storage: 32GB
Why we love it
- Great value
- Simple design
Take note
- Small screen
- Not the most stylish
If you want to start with the very basics, this Maxcom dumbphone is a great choice at less than £17. It’s as simple as they come, allowing you to call, text, and not a lot else. There is FM radio, a torch and a calculator, but no internet access at all.
The buttons are a good size, and our testers found it easy to find their way around the phone. While it may not pass muster with image-conscious teens, it’s ideal as a very first mobile for tweens who are still won over by the novelty of having their own phone. It’s a perfect choice for adults looking for a completely-stripped-back phone, though the lack of a camera, navigation apps and messaging services is very limiting.
It’s small, lightweight and feels pretty durable for such a cheap device. We think this a great choice for kids going away on their first residential or sleepovers with friends, who simply need a way to contact you when they need to.
Buy now £15.98, Amazon.co.uk
Nokia 2660 flip
Best: Flip dumbphone
Wifi: No
Camera: Yes
Size: 5.5cm x 10.8cm x 1.89cm (closed); 5.5cm x 20.5cm (open)
Bluetooth: 4.2
Maximum network speed: 4G
Internal storage: 128GB
Why we love it
- Cool, flip design
- Large buttons are good for kids
- Quiet buttons when texting
Take note
- Poor camera quality
Unused to the wonders of flip phones, this phone proved an instant hit with our younger testers. The flip design alone made it a popular choice for all ages but there were plenty of other features that made it a favourite. The large buttons are very easy to navigate, making this phone easy to use for even the youngest tester. A small but helpful feature is that the buttons are incredibly quiet, making this phone much less annoying than some of the noisier devices we tested.
Much like the Nokia 3210, the 2660 flip can’t connect to wifi, relying instead on data use. Similarly, it can connect to the internet but the small screen, fiddly controls and slow loading instantly put off our testers from using this function.
There’s a choice of ringtones – a mix of retro and jazzy – which our testers loved. The fact the phone has a camera also got the thumbs up but, like the 3210’s, it’s very poor quality. You’re going to need very good light to take a decent photo.
Like the 3210, the 2660 flip comes with snake and FM radio. At its heart, it’s a simple dumbphone with the added bonus of a classic flip design.
Buy now £60.59, Amazon.co.uk
Balance Phone
Best: Best dumbphone for special features
Wifi: Yes
Camera: 50MP (13MP front camera)
Size: 7.79cm x 16.4cm x 0.79cm
Bluetooth: No
Maximum network speed: 4G
Internal storage: 128GB
Why we love it
- Touchscreen operation
- Very stylish
- Smartphone appearance
Take note
- Expensive
- If ordering from the UK, you must pay duty taxes
This phone is unlike anything else we’ve tested. While the device itself is a Samsung smartphone, it’s configured to block all addictive apps and websites. Social media, streaming services, games, gambling apps and websites will not show up on the Balance Phone. The brand claims that this will “help your child learn healthy digital habits from day one”.
Unboxing feels like you’re opening up a premium smartphone, with a charger and SIM PIN included in the sleek white box. Once you turn on the phone and go through the relevant Samsung onboarding, the Balance OS onboarding automatically launches. All you need to do is agree to the blocking of addictive content, and it’s all in place. Heads up: this is irreversible, so, there’s no way your kids can get around this once it’s in place.
The phone can access wifi but the only browser you can run is Ecosia – a sustainable browser that claims to reinvest in reforestation. You are also able to add any essential apps (from the Google Play Store) that are not blocked through the Balance Phone OS. So, while Instagram won’t work, you can add helpful apps like maps, Spotify, and weather.
Our testers loved the look and feel of this phone – it’s stylish, contemporary and feels very ‘grown up’, which obviously is a big plus when you’re at secondary school. It’s good for adults, too - the UI is designed to be boring, a black drop-down menu offering the different features without attention-grabbing colourful app icons.
Best of all, the camera is far better than any of the others in our round-up, but don’t expect smartphone levels of crispness.
Just bear in mind that there could still be some distractions with this phone. While you can’t access social media, you can still access messenger apps like WhatsApp. On top of that, you can still browse, so you might find yourself going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole rather than getting lost in Instagram Reels.
However, the biggest downside is that this is easily the most expensive dumbphone we tried. It feels a little galling to spend hundreds of pounds on a smartphone with half the functionality. However, if you’re trying to reach a compromise with your teen about smartphones, this could be worth every penny.
Buy now £269.00, Thebalancephone.com
The Phone
Best: Touchscreen dumbphone
Wifi: No
Camera: No
Size: 14.5cm x 6.7cm x 1cm
Bluetooth: No
Maximum network speed: 3G
Why we love it
- Easy to use touchscreen
- Simple menu
- Looks like a smartphone
- Comes with accessories
Take note
- Can only be ordered from France
- Set-up instructions are in French
Offering all the benefits of a dumbphone with the usability and design of a smartphone, this phone offers the best of both. Designed with a modern look that will appeal to image-conscious teens, this clever French import offers a sleek smartphone with no internet access.
You get the phone, a choice of two phone cases (clear and matte black), headphones, a charger and a screen protector. This is a much better value option than many of the other phones in this list, which usually just come with a charger. Though it can be delivered to the UK, the instructions were all in French. However, with some basic knowledge of the language, the illustrations and a helping hand from Google Translate, the phone was easy enough to set up.
The beauty of this phone is in its simplicity. It has four features, arranged on a simple touchscreen. You can call, message, access contacts, or access settings. That’s it – no internet, no social media, no camera, no games.
The lack of a camera and games may not appeal to younger users but it’s the perfect choice for adults looking to reduce their screen time. The keyboard is easy to use, too – it uses a QWERTY keyboard, unlike the clumsy button navigation of most of the other phones we tried. We absolutely love it: it’s just a shame it’s only available to order from France.
Buy now £86.00, thephone.fr
HMD Barbie flip phone
Best: Stylish dumbphone
Wifi: No
Camera: 0.3MP
Size: 5.5cm x 10.5cm (closed); 5.5cm x 20.5cm (open)
Bluetooth: 5.0
Maximum network speed: 4G
Internal storage: 128MB
Why we love it
- Great colourful design
- Lots of accessories included SOS button
- Easy to use
Take note
- Camera quality is lacking
- Pink may not be to everyone’s taste
Calling all Barbie fans: this one’s for you. We love this OTT Barbie-themed flip phone by Nokia. Turn on the phone and you’re greeted with a friendly “Hi Barbie!” before you can access the very pink, very Barbie menu.
Like the other HMD Nokia phones, there’s no wifi access, and accessing the internet using your data is slow and clunky. However, there’s so much more to explore on this phone that our testers weren’t bothered in the slightest by the lack of online access. As well as the camera (again, not the highest quality, but good enough), there’s FM radio (with surprisingly good sound quality), and all the usual call and text features. There’s even a basic calendar function.
“Meditate with Barbie” is a cute feature that enables you to set a timer for a meditation session, rounded off with a gentle gong sound. Meanwhile, the digital balance tips suggest ways of working screen-free time into your life. As with all the Nokia dumbphones we tried, it has Snake - Malibu beach-themed, of course.
Everything from the mirrored front screen to the accessories included – we’re talking beaded phone chain, choice of three covers, gems and stickers for customisation – won over our testers. The feature adults loved most of all was the SOS button on the side of the phone, which your child can press to call a trusted contact immediately.
However, it almost goes without saying that this may not be the best choice for over-stimulated adults. The camera, meditation and games are all nice distractions, but “distraction” defeats the point of a dumbphone.
Buy now £43.47, Amazon.co.uk
Sxhlseller mini flip phone
Best: Mini dumbphone
Wifi: No
Camera: Yes
Size: 6.3cm x 6.3cm (folded); 6.3cm x 12.6cm (open)
Bluetooth: Yes
Maximum network speed: 2G
Internal storage: 32MB
Why we love it
- Comes in a choice of four colours
- Compact design
Take note
- Poor quality camera
- Loud buttons
The unique square design of this flip phone seemed to appeal to our younger testers, who declared the mini gold device ‘very cool’. It’s a simple dumbphone with no wifi access. While you can access the internet via mobile data, like the Nokias above, the screen on this phone is so small and the speed so slow that few will attempt to go online.
It handles basic calls and texts. As well as the basics, the phone has a torch, the Snake game, a calculator, an alarm and an FM radio. It also has a built-in camera, which, although very poor quality, appealed to our younger testers.
Despite its affordable price tag, the flip phone felt quite durable, and the battery life is seriously impressive.
However, the buttons on this phone are particularly loud, which was more annoying for parents than it was for young testers.
Buy now £22.19, Amazon.co.uk
What is the best dumbphone?
If you’re looking for a great all-rounder dumbphone, we love the HMD Nokia 3210. With a menu that’s easy to navigate, an appealing style and the added bonus of a camera and Snake, it’s the perfect first phone for kids. Special shoutouts go to the Barbie HMD flip phone (which won us over with its fun design, usability and cute accessories) and The Phone, which provides dumbphone features wrapped up in a smartphone package.
For affordable phones the whole family are sure to enjoy, check out our expert’s picks for the best cheap phones
