What age should a child get a phone in the UK?

Short answer. Basic phone (calls, texts, no apps): around Year 5 (ages 9 to 10). Smartphone: not before Year 9 (ages 13 to 14), preferably later. We’ve read the research so you don’t have to.

It’s two questions. A basic phone and a smartphone are different devices with different evidence behind them.

The basic phone answer

From around Year 5 (ages 9 to 10) for most UK families. Earlier if circumstances call for it: working parents, after-school clubs, the walk home. Where the published UK and US tech reviews and the public position of campaigns like Smartphone Free Childhood and Wait Until 8th land.

The smartphone answer

Not before Year 9 (ages 13 to 14). Preferably later. The published evidence from The Anxious Generation, the 2024 Lancet Psychiatry adolescent mental-health review and the Royal Society for Public Health’s Status of Mind report converges on 14 as the lower defensible bound for a smartphone, with 16 as the lower defensible bound for social media.

What the public polling says

Two pieces of UK polling are routinely cited on this. Worth reading in their original.

Ipsos UK polling, September 2024. Names 11 to 12 as the age UK adults consider the right point for a first smartphone, with the modal answer in the 25-49 parent demographic landing on 11. The figure most often quoted in the press.

Parentkind National Parent Survey 2025 (YouGov-fielded). Reports that 84 per cent of UK parents whose child doesn’t yet have a smartphone back a school-day phone ban, and that the same group’s preferred age for a first smartphone is consistently older than the parents whose child already has one. The polling separates parents into “decision still live” and “decision already made.” The two groups answer the question differently.

The polling is a useful starting point. The published evidence (see /the-risks) is more reliable than polling for setting the personal answer.

What the published evidence says

The strongest correlations are around 11 to 14. Adolescent depression, anxiety and sleep problems began their sharp rise around 2012, after smartphones reached most UK 11 to 13 year olds. The strongest signal is for girls in early adolescence (the 2024 Lancet Psychiatry review). The mechanism is debated. The direction is widely accepted.

The evidence is correlational, not fully causal. The direction and magnitude are consistent enough that the defensible position for a UK parent in 2026 is:

• A basic phone from around 9 to 10, for the walk home, the after-school club, and your peace of mind.
• A smartphone no earlier than 14, and only with Apple Screen Time, Communication Limits and a household rule that the phone doesn’t sleep in the bedroom.
• Social media no earlier than 16, particularly TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, particularly for girls.

The plain-English read of the wider evidence is at /the-risks.

How the answer differs by family

The defensible answer above is the editorial line. The right answer for your family depends on three things the polling and the evidence can’t capture.

Who walks the child home. If both parents work and a 9 year old walks to and from school, the basic phone arrives a year earlier. If a parent is at the school gate every day, the same phone arrives a year later.

Whether the friendship group is going through the same transition. Three families in your child’s friend group choosing simple phones at the same time, the social cost is small. Your family first on the road, the social cost is real (see /notes/12-child-left-out-whatsapp-group).

Whether the school requires a smartphone-shaped device. A small but growing number of UK secondaries require apps that only run on a smartphone. In those cases the Pinwheel Plus, or a refurbished iPhone SE with Apple Screen Time set up properly, is the considered fallback. Full ranked list with this case noted at /best-simple-phones.

The age-specific guides

Direct answer for a specific year:

• Best phone for an 8 year old, Nokia 235 4G or Nokia 105 4G, Year 4.
• Best phone for a 9 year old, Nokia 235 4G or Nokia 2660 Flip, Year 5.
• Best phone for a 10 year old, Nokia 3210 (2024), Year 6.
• Best phone for an 11 year old, Nokia 3210 for Year 7 start.
• Best phone for a 12 year old, Nokia 3210 still leads, Year 8.
• Best phone for a 13 year old, three routes, Year 9.
• Best phone for a 14 year old, Light Phone III in front, Year 10.

What not to do

Don’t give a smartphone before Year 7 unless the school genuinely requires it. Don’t give social media before 14. Don’t put the phone in the bedroom at any age. Don’t buy a “kids’ smartphone” with garish branding from a sub-£100 high-street listing because the parental controls are reliably a step behind the workarounds.

A note on the case for “earlier” you sometimes hear

You’ll hear the case for a smartphone as early as 9 or 10, often from parents whose child has one. Published UK coverage of those families splits into three groups. It’s gone fine (a minority). It’s going fine for now (the largest group, with no follow-up data). It hasn’t gone fine, and they wish they’d waited (a minority who tend to publish more visibly). Don’t assume any single family’s experience generalises. The published evidence on adolescent mental health is more reliable than parent satisfaction reported at 9 to 10.

Next steps

• The kitchen-table conversation script, if you’ve decided to wait: /switching-kit.
• The ranked list of seven simple phones: /best-simple-phones.
• The published evidence summary: /the-risks.
• For a conversation about your specific situation: hello@knockphone.co.uk.