"There were glitches, BUT..."

Numerous glitches and several chats with IT and customer service.

So why the 5 stars?

In the 1800s, a pioneer on the Oregon trail described what it was like to head West into uncharted territory. He wrote, “A man must be able to endure heat like a salamander, mud and water like a muskrat, dust like a toad, and labor like a workhorse. He must learn to eat with his unwashed fingers, drink out of the same vessel as his mules, sleep on the ground when it rains, share his blanket with vermin, and have patience with mosquitos…It is hardship without glory.”

I think of this quote when I think of how hard it must be for all of those at Pinwheel who are pioneering a new movement in safe technology for our children. It is “hardship without glory,” and yet in every interaction I’ve had with them, I have been treated with nothing but kindness, graciousness, and an authentic desire to help and get to the bottom of whatever issue I was having with my son’s phone. And they did. Every single one of the glitches has been fixed and my child’s phone is working perfectly.

But that’s not why the 5 stars.

If you just look at their responses to negative reviews, you can see the care, kindness, and desire to do good that is the heartbeat of this company.

Nobody else is doing what Pinwheel is doing. There may be competitors out there who market a phone for kids, but from what I can tell, these other phones do not offer the same level of care or safeguards that Pinwheel does. The three that I value the most:
- A safelist/contact list that allows me to select who can call and text my child. I can also enable photo texting or disable it if needed.
- A Live Status/GPS feature: YAY for being able to locate my son through his phone.
- A caregiver portal that, among other things, allows me to set routines and reminders for my child and customize the apps that he has access to on the phone.

While Pinwheel is designed to be a “tool and not a toy”, it still has plenty of well-researched apps (REAL apps) that make the phone educational and fun. I might tell people it was the Safe List or Live Status that sold me on Pinwheel, but really, it was because you can get Spotify.

But still, Spotify is not why the 5 stars.

Sure, there were glitches, and periods of time when I wasn’t able to access much on the phone. But, like every good pioneer, the people at Pinwheel endured the heat like salamanders, had patience with mosquitoes, and labored like workhorses to ensure that we would all reach our destination, and give our children a better world to live in.

And for that, 5 stars isn’t nearly enough.

"This Phone NEVER works."

We bought this phone thinking it was an answer to our prayers. We bought it in October.... I can count on one hand the amount of days it has actually worked. The company is saying the reason the phones are not working is because of the influx from Christmas. But we had it months before Christmas and it never worked before then either. It's nearly impossible to get a response from the customer service team, and when you do get a response they just tell you "this is a problem that just popped up today and they are working on it." Even though you have had the problem for weeks. So here we are months later and nothing has changed. So unless you have hours a week to devote to talking to customer service, in hopes of getting your phone to successfully work, I would advise you to stay as far away as you can from buying this phone. Its been nothing but super frustrating for us and listening to my son whine constantly that his phone is not working is the cherry on top. All we have is a brick for a phone.

"We purchased phones for all of our…"

Update: Pinwheel staff has been very responsive to our concerns. We gave our children the phones on December 17th and as of this morning, January 11th, I was able to do all of the things I needed to do on the parent portal. I originally gave 1* review, but given the communication and help from the company staff and their effort and hard work to resolve the issues, I have increased the rating to 3*.

Original Post: We purchased phones for all of our children. Pinwheel over-promised and under-delivered. They were not prepared for the influx on their server (for all of the phones they sold). They are I.T. people, wouldn't that have been resolved BEFORE selling all of those phones at Christmas? The caregiver app only works part of the time and sporadically. It's always a guess at whether or not you can go into the app to make changes. It's pointless NEED a portal to make mode adjustments, approve phone numbers and apps, when in reality, you CAN'T do it from the portal because it is only partially working. Do busy parents really have time to keep logging into the portal over and over again only to be disappointed that changes cannot be made over and over again. I keep hearing back from Pinwheel that they are working on the fixes. They have offered credit for a month of Pinwheel service (for partially operable phones) BUT I am still paying T-Mobile for monthly service for essentially nothing. I am so very frustrated with Pinwheel.

"Good when working."

I feel like I'm being generous with 3 stars at the moment, but I'm hopeful for some quick changes. Pinwheel is sitting on a great idea. We chose them over Gabb and others because they allowed helpful apps instead of simply talk/text and had a great looking Portal providing extensive control over schedules, contacts, texting, and apps. If this all worked, it would be great!

It's been 2 weeks since we activated and started using the phone. For most of those 2 weeks, the portal has not worked. I can deal with a few bugs here and there on the phone's software, but the Caregiver Portal is a majority of the reason we went with Pinwheel. For weeks now we haven't been able to view and approve Contacts, view text message history, or manage the routines and schedule of the phone. The website simply "spins" when you click on these menu items.

The phone software has largely been good. There are certainly some bugs that are being worked out regarding access to unwanted applications and such. Honestly, I can deal with these. I know it's incredibly hard to create software that closes ALL loopholes; it's a process. They continue to roll out updates for these bugs and new features, which is fantastic.

One big oversight is the lack of a Parent App. Everything has to be done through the website. If Pinwheel had a companion app for parents, they would be WAY ahead of the competition.

It feels like Pinwheel launched a bit early. They missed quite a bit of stuff and they are reeling to get control after unexpected growth. It's a great platform and I hope to stick with them, but they need to get things buttoned up pretty quickly.

"This could be great if it worked"

The idea is amazing and so desperately needed. But having to log into a website instead of an app is cumbersome. Then when that website is constantly spinning and won’t connect it causes so much frustration and lack of trust for both me and my son. Very disappointed. I hope they can get it together.

"Loopholes are not cool!"

Well, this is sort of like... you’ve got to be smarter than the dog to train him. I think Pinwheel has something good, but it’s not good enough. I’ve found a few flaws... 1. If you have your phone set to not allow certain apps at specific times, if the app is left open when a new time is set, you can apparently still access that app. Sort of defeats the purpose. 2. And when you’re on an app like Spotify for example, you can still access beyond Spotify. For example... click on the image and links and it will actually take you to Facebook. Two BIG loopholes and I’m disappointed. HOWEVER, I appreciate all the efforts of Pinwheel's team and know they're working on these loopholes. I'm looking forward to the improved product.

"I'm so thankful for pinwheel"

I'm so thankful for pinwheel. There customer service is spot on. Are there issues? Yes. Do they address them and work to make it right? YES!!! Do I feel good about giving my daughter a pinwheel phone? YES!! Would I recommend them to friends and family? YES!!!!!!!!!!! This is a great device for kids. I'm able to keep my daughter protected from all the crap she doesn't need to be exposed to! She just gets an awesome phone that gives her a measure of responsibility and freedom.

"I love it!"

I love it! It is the only way I would feel safe with him having a phone. Other teens might be able to have a bit more autonomy, but my kid needs the limits. I love that I can limit contact during school time. I like that I can prevent calls or texts with people he shouldn't have access to. It is wonderful. I am a Pinwheel evangelist.

The customer service is top notch.

"Easy Peasy"

I felt it was easy to navigate. I am not tech savvy in the least, but I was grateful I didn't need an IT degree to work the site.

"Thoughtfully-designed starter phone!"

My daughter needed a phone after her father and I got divorced, to be able to keep in contact more easily. I chose Pinwheel after a ton of research because — well, a lot of reasons! — but the big ones:
1) The phone cannot call or text with anyone I have not approved. All the other phones come with spam calls and the ability to talk to strangers, neither of which felt ok for my daughter.
and
2) It has useful apps, but I don't have to agonize about whether it's one that ok for her to have or not — they have all been vetted and curated to not be addictive, no social media, no website access, etc.
and
3) All the configuration of the phone happens through a web-based control panel I access on MY computer. So I can make changes to it, check on her location, read her text history, and more — without having to have the phone in my presence! Convenient for me, and gives me peace of mind: she can't 'hack' controls that aren't there.

But the biggest thing she loves, was a detail to me, and now it's my favorite feature: routines! You can set the phone to do different things at different times of day, so when she's at school, all it CAN do is call me or her dad. No apps, no friend calls, nothing. I knew that. But tied to modes is "routines" — it's like a checklist you set up of things they are supposed to do during that time. Like, we have a "Getting Ready for School" mode, where she can listen to music, but none of her other apps are on. And with that, she has a "routine" — a checklist of
- Check the weather
- Get dressed
- Brush teeth
- Brush hair
- Wash face
- Feed the dog
- Eat breakfast
etc.

Everything she does, she taps on and gets a little gold star. When she finishes the whole list, it has a confetti effect. The routines and modes are 100% customizable — and my daughter LOVES them. It's such a thoughtful feature.