Pinwheel Caregiver User Reviews

Firepit Inc

Top reviews

Most RecentHighest RatedLowest Rated

Location hardly ever works

I love the idea of having a phone that grows with my kids. That’s why I have two. However, the location hardly ever works and that is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to use pinwheel. We’ve reached out to customer service multiple times with these issues, and while they do answer through email, the problem doesn’t improve. I’m frustrated and reconsidering my choice in pinwheel. I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone right now.

Show less

tdg09

20 days ago

Response from developer

Hi there, I'm so sorry to hear about your poor experience with our location feature. I'm sure you've been told this already, but this may be due to various reasons like your area's infrastructure, cell service, etc. However, our Tech Team would love to check on whether there's anything else we've missed for your case. If you can find time, do reach out to our Support Team one more time and let them know you're coming from this review. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Bad design

I like that I can remotely manage the phone. But the methods are pretty terrible. It’s hard to discover how to block or unblock apps, and the main issue is that you have to make permanent changes (unless you remember to undo changes); i.e. no adding 5 minutes or anything. The schedule has been in beta forever, and for some reason doesn’t allow you a custom time limit; only presets, and no 0 mins/disable when setting times limits on individual days. Additionally it does not give enough information about app usage. No way to check individual app usage, no way to dig into app usage details. It’s a great idea, but poorly executed.

Edit:
The schedule is a bit more flexible as I have dug into it. It does allow for “override”; which I really like. There are also more options for scheduling. Still not super intuitive, but enough to bump my rating a star.

Show less

Taysoren

3 months ago

Response from developer

Hi there, thank you so much for leaving a very detailed review! I'll make sure this gets to the team that needs to hear it. I'm glad you were able to get more insight on the Schedules feature but should you encounter more issues, don't hesitate to reach out to our Customer Care Team; they for sure can help answer other questions you might have! https://support.pinwheel.com/hc/en-us

Tons of issues with app and software

5 stars for concept
2 stars for execution and reliability
1 star for customer service

The idea of pinwheel is great, but the execution is elementary. Constant issues with apps not downloading even though your app will say it’s downloaded. It doesn’t show up on phone. I’ve already had to hard reset and my child lost their text - no way of fixing that yet.

constant update from pinwheel alert that will annoy your kid. Their solution is mute but it still pops up constantly.

Customer service response has gone downhill. Nothing like taking hours to reply and you replying immediately to have them leave you on read when you really needed help and contact well within business hours.
Incredibly disappointing for what was promised.

Show less

Bensonsmommy

4 months ago

Response from developer

Hi there! I'm so sorry to hear about your recent experience with Pinwheel, particularly our Customer Care Team. We take pride in making sure we address concerns like yours in a timely fashion so hearing about your dissatisfaction is regretful. Do you think you can reach out once more so our management team can take a look at your case? I'm sure we'll be able to help you settle your issues. You can look for Toya, Gabby, or Ralph (our Customer Care Team Leads) and mention you were redirected from your AppStore review. Looking forward to hearing more about this!

Needs serious work

App not working. It works once and then crashes with a blank white screen. I’ve had to delete it and re-install every time I want to use it. The premise of this entire Pinwheel phone is to be able to manage your child’s phone. This is impossible with this app. You pay $15 a month for the pinwheel software so this needs to be addressed.

Update: over a year later and it still has the same issues. The phone crashes all the time, text messages don’t go through and it took them a year to respond to my request to download our local library app on the phone only to be told no. Seriously?? They have banking apps to download and airline apps but the local library app is a no??
We got rid of the phone and pinwheel and just got a regular iPhone. There are so many ways to manage/lockdown the regular phones now and they work much better than this.
Don’t waste your money.

Show less

kellyrunsfar

4 months ago

Response from developer

Hello there, I'm incredibly sorry to hear about your frustrations with the app. If you haven't yet, please send us an email via support@pinwheel.com so we can see what we can do for you!

Glitchy and Poor Customer Service

Pinwheel has a cool concept and competitive price, but the poor quality the of software, hardware, and customer service undermine it.

When authorizing apps through the caregiver app, those apps would not always appear on the kid’s phone.

The Pinwheel phone itself was glitchy with the camera often freezing and the home screen being blank.

The process of trying to retun the glitchy phone after having it for only a few days was very painful. I had to send about a dozen photos proving It was still in good condition, had a lengthy thread trying to talk with a supervisor (never did), and then multiple email instructions of how to get the phone ready to ship back to them.

Show less

stevenaroberts

6 months ago

Overall Poor Experience

Each part of the product has been poor, especially for the price. I paid $300+ for the phone and 12 months of Pinwheel service. The phone, the app and the caregiver dashboard have each had problems and been buggy. Settings on the parent/caregiver dashboard don’t update the phone, apps wouldn’t load, the phone often crashes after unlocking the screen. Tech support and customer service aren’t helpful. I regret making this purchase.

Show less

Clear Stream

8 months ago

So inhibiting it’s useless

If your goal is to get your kid a phone that has the abilities of the old brick phones, you won’t be far off. The first 3-6 months of our ownership of these phones it couldn’t even do that! Frequently the phones would randomly enter into “nothing mode” by themselves! That’s just what you want when you’re kids are home alone, they won’t even have the ability to call their emergency contacts. I also can’t even get basic apps on their phones especially one that helps my daughter manage her diabetes. After several unanswered phone calls to pinwheel and app requests were no better off. So if you want a “phone” that can sometimes call/text and not much else. Here ya go.

Show less

pastorcarlkincaid

8 months ago

Service and app does not work half the time

The service doesn’t work half the time. Text messages I send as an emergency contact don’t go through to him half the time. It seems as if he has to text me first then my texts start working. Same with phone calls. Also the location history doesn’t always update. There can be a gap of 10hrs between location pings which is not very helpful if there is an emergency. The app doesn’t work half the time either. As I am typing this now the app has not worked in 2 days. Every time I click on the app it just opens a blank white background.

Show less

Jobo5362

9 months ago

Response from developer

We genuinely appreciate your feedback and apologize for the inconvenience you've encountered with the Caregiver App. Ensuring reliable communication and accurate location tracking, especially during emergencies, is of utmost importance to us. I encourage you to reach out to our Customer Care team so that we can promptly address the issues you're facing. (https://www.pinwheel.com/support) Thank you for your patience and looking forward to hearing back!

Please fix the bugs. It’s not even accessible

I want so badly for this app to be better. I love the phone and its capabilities. The app is so glitchy. Most of the time it won’t even open. All I get is a white screen. It’s infuriating because…what’s the point of having this phone without this parent app being functional. I’ve updated it and it still does the same thing. Just a white screen.

Please fix!

Show less

Mc320