4 Steps To Take Before Giving Your Old Smartphone To Your Child

Kids are so much better with tech than their parents and they will start asking for a smartphone of their own from a young age. But as a parent, it’s important that you wait until they are old enough and you know how to protect them when they are online. 

 

 

However, you also need to think about the price of a phone, especially if you have more than one child. Smartphones aren’t cheap and you might struggle to find space in your budget for a new one. That’s why it’s a good idea to give them your old one when you get an upgrade. That way, you save yourself a lot of money and it doesn’t matter quite as much if they drop it and break it. But before you give it to them, you need to set it up properly so it is safe for them to use and it works properly. 

Clear Some Storage Space 

Phones tend to slow down after a few years of use, so you need to take steps to speed your phone up and make it usable for your child. If you give them a slow phone, you’ll get a lot of complaints and they won’t be able to use it for things like taking photos, for example. 

 

The good news is, you should notice a big difference if you clear out some storage space, and photos are always a good place to start. You’ll probably be surprised just how many photos you have saved on your phone because it’s so easy to take them and we end up doing it all the time. You’ll also have photos that other people have sent you on there as well. You can follow this tutorial to help you delete any unwanted photos and videos and move the ones that you want to keep into a computer or another device. This should free up a lot of space and speed the phone up quite a lot. 

 

Take a look through all of your apps and delete anything that they won’t use as well. Apps take up a lot of space and it’s unlikely that your child will be interested in the same things that you are. 

Delete Your Passwords 

This is a step that a lot of people forget, but it’s so important. It’s handy having your passwords saved on your phone, but you need to delete them before giving the phone to your child. If you don’t, they will be able to access your social media profiles or even use your credit card online. The last thing you want is them accidentally going on a spending spree on the app store, so make sure to log out of all of your accounts and then delete your stored passwords. Check out this page for a step by step guide. 

Put Parental Controls On The Phone

Putting parental controls on the phone is one of the most important steps because you need to make sure that your child is protected. If they have unregulated access to the internet, there is a lot of harmful content out there that they could stumble across. You can create a restricted profile for them and block certain content, so they are only able to access things that are suitable for them. There are also some great apps you can download that allow you to put further protections on. They can also be used to monitor your child’s screen time and ensure that they have a healthy relationship with their phone. 

Put Emergency Numbers In Their Phonebook 

Safety is the biggest benefit of giving your child a phone. As they get older and they start playing outside on their own, having a phone becomes more important. It gives them a way to contact you or even the emergency services if something bad happens, and it’s important that they understand this is the main function of their phone. Hopefully, you already have a list of important numbers in your own phonebook, but the numbers that your child needs are different. Obviously,  they need your phone number and they need to know how to contact the emergency services. However, you should also put numbers for other family members or even neighbors that can be contacted in an emergency if you are unavailable for some reason. 

 

You should always think carefully before giving your child their smartphone, and it’s important that you prepare it in the right way. Once you have taken these important steps, you can give your phone to your child knowing that they will use it safely and it will work properly.