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

No legal age. No single right answer. The most useful way to think about it is to separate two questions. A first phone (calls and texts) is reasonable for many UK children around the start of secondary school, when they begin travelling on their own. A first smartphone, with internet and social media, is a bigger step that UK adults tend to put later. Ipsos polling in September 2024 found a majority naming 11 or 12 as the right age for a first smartphone, alongside support for keeping under-16s off social media.

The honest framing: a basic phone earlier, a smartphone later, the two decisions kept apart.

What UK adults actually think

In September 2024, Ipsos polled 2,175 GB adults. Majorities backed banning phones in schools, supported restricting under-16s on social media, and pointed to 11 or 12 as the appropriate age for a first smartphone. A useful anchor: holding off is squarely the mainstream view, not an eccentric one. If you’re worried your child will be the only one waiting, the national picture says otherwise.

What children actually own

The reality on the ground is earlier than many parents expect. Ofcom’s 2025 Children and Parents Media Use report found 30% of UK six- and seven-year-olds already own a smartphone, and 67% of 13- to 15-year-olds are active on social media. Ownership often runs ahead of what adults say they think is wise. That gap, between what we believe and what we do, is exactly the gap the school-gate pressure opens up.

Phone or smartphone? The distinction that does the work

Most of the worry attaches to the smartphone, not the phone. The internet in the pocket. The app store. The social feeds designed to be hard to put down. A basic phone has none of it. Calls. Texts. A way for a child to say “I’ve missed the bus” on the walk home.

That distinction lets you say yes and not yet in the same breath. Yes to a phone, when your child genuinely needs to be contactable. Not yet to a smartphone, until they’re older. For most families that lands as a simple phone around the start of Year 7, with the smartphone conversation revisited a few years later.

How to decide for your child

Age is a guide, not a trigger. The better questions are practical.

• Is your child starting to travel independently, to school or to clubs? The strongest reason for a first phone. It argues for calls and texts, not a smartphone.
• Can they look after a physical object without losing it weekly? If not, an inexpensive basic phone is the forgiving choice.
• Is the request actually about the phone, or about social media and games? If the latter, a basic phone meets the stated need without the part you’re wary of.
• Have you spoken to other parents? A couple of families waiting together makes any age the right age. See how to talk to other parents.

If you’d rather just answer five quick questions and be pointed at a specific handset, our ninety-second picker does that.

Signs your child is ready for a first phone

Since age is only a guide, here are the readiness signs that matter more than the number on the candles. Your child is starting to be in places without you (walking to school, going to clubs or friends’ houses alone), so being reachable is a real need. They can look after a physical object without losing it most weeks. They can follow a simple agreement, like handing the phone in at night, without it becoming a nightly fight. They can hear “this phone is for calls and texts, not the internet” without it being a dealbreaker.

If most of those are true, your child is probably ready, and the age is almost incidental. If several aren’t, it’s reasonable to wait, whatever their friends have. A phone given before a child can look after it or live within its limits creates more problems than it solves. Readiness is about the child in front of you, not the calendar. You’re the best judge.

And when you’ve decided

The choosing is the easy part. The conversation is the part parents find hard. So we wrote a script for it, free, in seven moments. Built for the moment you tell a hopeful child that the phone is real but the smartphone is waiting.

Common questions

What’s the average age a UK child gets a smartphone? Ownership is common well before secondary school. Ofcom’s 2025 report found 30% of six- and seven-year-olds already own a smartphone, even though adults polled by Ipsos in 2024 more often named 11 or 12 as the right age.

Is there a legal minimum age for a child to have a phone? No. No legal age to own a phone in the UK. Social media platforms set their own minimum of 13 for an account, and that’s a separate matter from owning a basic phone.

Should a first phone be a smartphone? Not necessarily, and often better not. A basic phone meets the real need (being contactable) without the internet and social media that most of the concern attaches to.

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Sources: Ipsos polling, September 2024 (2,175 GB adults); Ofcom, Children and Parents Media Use and Attitudes Report, 2025. Full sources on the research.