Buying a cellphone for your child? Android vs. iPhone

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This is the 1st installment of a three part series related to choosing a smartphone for your child.

Are you feeling like the holiday season has completely snuck up on you? Didn’t we just finished cleaning out Thanksgiving leftovers from the fridge and now we are in a panic trying to get the perfect gifts for our children?

Many kids are either asking for their first mobile device or looking for a replacement for their current device. Most of the kids are fairly specific in which phone they want…iPhone, hands down. If you ask why it needs to be an iPhone, the reasons get rather vague.  I know this first hand as I just went through it with my 16 year old a month ago. He was insistent that it was iPhone or nothing. When I asked him why it could not be a state of the art Android, the response I received was ‘just because’. For most kids, the main reason that they want an iPhone is the same reason they need a Northface jacket….it’s popular, trendy, and what they know.

Before you go out and buy that iPhone 6, I challenge you to consider an Android device. You might feel like you don’t have a minute to spare researching the differences, but the work has been done for you. Take 5 minutes to read this comparison of iPhone vs. Android. It is a fair and easy to follow breakdown of the differences between the two types of devices: Android vs. iPhone for kids.

This article does a nice job of discussing the pros and cons of the two types of devices. In my opinion, the #1 reason to go Android over iPhone is because the Android provides the ability to use parental monitoring software. While the article mentions some specific software, I have found My Mobile Watchdog to be outstanding. I use this on my own my kids’ devices.

I have been asked many, many times about options for monitoring an iPhone. Some parents use the iCloud to see the texts that their children send. Other parents have tried to use ‘Jailbreak’ software to monitor the phone. Both of these options have so many limitations that they just aren’t worth it. At the end of the day nothing beats the functionality of software like My Mobile Watchdog if you are truly interested in keeping your child safe online.

Next installment will look at the functionality of My Mobile Watchdog in greater detail.