# Pinwheel Caregiver — user reviews > 105 indexed App Store user reviews of Pinwheel Caregiver by Pinwheel, rated 4.70/5 from 163 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pinwheel-caregiver/id1552380890/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pinwheel-caregiver/id1552380890.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 137 · 4★ 18 · 3★ 3 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 2 ## Newest reviews (18 of 105) ### 4/5 — Needs to expand to Canada! *2026-07-08, version 1.7.1* Love the Phone app. But the option to upgrade my son‘s Pinwheel GPT 2 PRO is only offered in the states. Too bad! Hopefully they expand soon so that I can give them my money lol ### 2/5 — So slow *2026-03-22* The app works. It’s way better than attempting to give your kid an iPhone and expecting it to keep them safe. But that said, it often doesn’t update with the changes I make. For example, if I allow more time on an app, I have to change it, then click around in the settings to make sure it “took.” Also, the automatic time zone setting does not work. We are traveling and it did not change. I manually changed it. It’s supposed to go off at 9. It’s almost 10 and it’s still working. It is also super slow. It takes forever to load. The idea is amazing. The execution needs work. **Developer response:** Hi there, thanks for taking the time to share this, we really appreciate the thoughtful feedback. We’re glad the overall concept has been helpful, but we’re sorry you’ve run into these issues. What you’re describing with the Caregiver Portal and phone settings isn't normal and not the experience we aim to provide. Changes should apply reliably without extra steps as long as the device is properly connected to the internet. We’d really like to look into this and help get things working smoothly for you. When you can, please reach out to us at support@pinwheel.com so we can investigate further! ### 5/5 — Great phone to grow with your kiddo *2026-03-12* Love that I am in control of my kiddos phone. She only has access to what I add to her phone and I can turn anything on and off at any time. Love the time limits and schedule. Only thing I’d like to improve is the location services (little slow) and the schedule is confusing to make but the rest is too good not to give 5 stars. ### 5/5 — 5 stars *2026-03-11, version 1.6.2* Awesome phone for kids, great app for parents and BEST customer service with easy steps to follow. Make the purchase. You won’t regret it! ### 5/5 — Amazing unbelievable the best *2026-03-11, version 1.6.2* When your teenager hates it that’s when you know you’re doing the right thing. ### 5/5 — Mind at ease *2026-02-17, version 1.6.2* Having a pinwheel phone has brought so much peace to my mind as we ease into our teenager having a phone. I can’t speak enough about it! ### 5/5 — Pure peace of mind *2026-02-13, version 1.6.2* Love Pinwheel because it allows me to let my 9yo daughter have a phone without worrying about her being negatively impacted by social media too young or unrestricted internet access. The ability to limit who can contact her, what apps she can use and what times she can use the phone feels like training wheels and we both love the app. Thank you Pinwheel! ### 5/5 — Perfect first phone for kids *2026-02-13* I was nervous about getting my daughter her first phone however Pinwheel has been the perfect middle ground. I love that I can control contacts, monitor activity and still let her feel independent. The setup was easy and it gives me real peace of mind. Highly recommend for parents who want connection without chaos. ### 3/5 — Best Phone Option Laggy App *2026-02-09* We LOVE the pinwheel phone. It is the best phone option on the market for kids and teens. Allows you to keep the kids safe and allow them to grow into phone privileges. The only problem is the app is slow and cumbersome. The location tracker is slow to load or doesn’t load at all and the app itself sometimes doesn’t load at all. We’ve come to just expect it as part of the trade off with this phone but if there was ever an emergency it would be scary or frustrating. The app itself really needs work. ### 3/5 — Decent *2026-01-22, version 1.6.2* The app can be a bit buggy at times. Pinwheel support has not been able to successfully address items related to the functionality of the pinwheel device I have paired with this app. ### 4/5 — Some connectivity challenges *2026-01-04, version 1.6.2* Overall a good program for kids starting on phones. Some connectivity challenges in communicating with Apple devices tho. ### 5/5 — Love It! *2026-01-01, version 1.6.2* I really like the Pinwheel app because it doesn’t allow access to social media, which gives me peace of mind. I also appreciate being able to see who my child is texting and what’s being said. It’s easy to use and helps keep my child safe while still staying connected. ### 4/5 — Good parental app *2025-12-31, version 1.6.2* Overall it is a good app, but it sometimes is slow, and often the location tracker is not updated. The customer service has always been very helpful though! ### 5/5 — Our experience with Pinwheel *2025-12-26, version 1.6.2* My daughter is 6yrs old. We’ve had her Pinwheel watch since October and she loves it and so do we. It gives her a sense of responsibility and it gives us a peace of mind when she’s not with us. It’s definitely a safe tech for children and we highly recommend. ### 5/5 — We LOVE Pinwheel *2025-12-22, version 1.6.2* Pinwheel has been a great way to allow our 7 year old son to have some freedom to play with friends in the neighborhood while also giving me as his mom the safety of knowing where he is and what he’s doing on the phone! I HIGHLY recommend Pinwheel as a first phone for young kids ### 5/5 — Pinwheel vs smartphone *2025-12-11* We have been using pinwheel for our tween/teen for the last several years and I do recommend it over smart phone. It’s much safer and not as hard to lock down at all. The pinwheel comes without an App Store or browser so parents are really in control of how much freedom the child has! Text convos can be monitored. If you want a porn free home where predators don’t have access to your children and you can monitor their activity overall, I highly recommend pinwheel over smart phone any day! ### 5/5 — Safe and Effective Tool for Parents and Young Teens *2025-12-10, version 1.6.2* Studies are clear that social media is damaging. But in a world where active teens may need tools and connections for clubs, sports, school, first jobs, this is a wonderful tool to carefully introducing your young person to the smartphone world. ### 4/5 — Watch for 9 year old *2025-12-07* We have been using the Pinwheel watch for my daughter for a couple of months. We get to use the Caregiver Portal to control when she is able to utilize certain apps on it, which we like. There are a few fun games on the watch and she enjoys being able to text us after school or from practice when needed. The only downside to the watch is the battery life. By 6pm, the battery is just about dead and we can no longer use it. If we dont remember to charge it everyday, then she doesn't get to wear it for school the next day. Otherwise, for daily use and for being able to locate her via GPS tracking and texting, it is a good and safe watch that she likes being able to see the time on and track her steps. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Careful parents *2026-07-21, version 1.7.4* There are many things I like about the concept of this software and device, but having used it for my 12 (now 13) year old it has a glaring fatal flaw. If your child finds out the parental password and uses it to bypass controls on their phone it does not notify the parent account nor does it log what they do once that control has been bypassed. This had real world consequences for us as our daughter discovered our password and accessed online forums and was being groomed before we discovered the issue. In my opinion this is a fatal flaw and makes me unable to recommend this service. ### 1/5 — This app is horrible *2025-12-24* The app doesn’t let YOU the parent choose what is ok to have on YOUR child’s phone. The location tracker is absolutely garbage. It never changes. And now that I stopped paying for the app ALL OF A SUDDEN I’m getting notifications of my child’s location that I never got before. Mind you. It’s FALSE notifications. I don’t pay for the app and my child is 10… what do you mean they left at one in the morning and a second later they arrived home. I’ve been getting multiple notifications like this. This is just a tactic to get me to pay for the app and it’s disgusting. What if I had a teenager and I’m getting false notifications of them “leaving” at three in the morning?! I should sue for them doing such a disgusting tactic to get me to pay for the parent app again. There’s multiple reviews about how bad this app is yet they have such a high rating. Most likely are fake reviews it’s frustrating for other parents as well getting this kid safe phone. ### 1/5 — Total Rip Off *2025-10-10, version 1.6.1* I bought one of the phones. Then asked to return it in June they waited months, after emails, texts and calls to return and cancel the automatic plan that you have to find buried in the legal print. 6 months later- no refund, hundreds wasted. Total scam. 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼 ### 1/5 — Lacking very important features/false advertising. *2025-08-13, version 1.6.0* They advertise in multiple places on the web site that you can add saved location/geofencing but then make an excuse that it cant be done for the watch. Makes the watch pretty useless when GPS is a major reason I bought it. ### 1/5 — Buggy App *2025-07-25, version 1.6.0* Since the last Apple update this app has been nothing but slow and buggy. It is ridiculous! It wasn't fantastic before but unfortunately it is almost not usable at this point. Which defeats the purpose of paying for the app!!! ### 1/5 — My child with a defective phone ISN’T SAFE *2025-05-13, version 1.5.0* Why aren’t we getting what we pay for? As of today, 2/5/25, this app hasn’t been updated in 11 months. ELEVEN MONTHS. We PAY for the software every month, yet we only receive clunky, buggy service for our child’s phone. Answer that please. And please don’t suggest I contact customer service. Be TRANSPARENT Pinwheel, answer this straightforward question right here. EDIT on 5/13/25: the review someone left on 4/18/25 speaks true. The app does not update GPS info like it is supposed to. I’m sure this is the case for most users so not sure why Pinwheel’s response is that it’s surprising. Also, there are 3 versions of text info to juggle: what’s on your phone, what’s on your kid’s phone, and what shows in the app. All 3 are DIFFERENT, people should know this coming in. It is NOT real time like cellphones usually are and it is not accurate. This is commonplace, I know it can’t be just me, so the surprised response should be saved. Like I originally said, the app not being updated for a year is disappointing. Still think it’s unimportant to update it, Pinwheel? ### 1/5 — My child with a defective phone ISN’T SAFE *2025-02-10* Why aren’t we getting what we pay for? As of today, 2/5/25, this app hasn’t been updated in 11 months. ELEVEN MONTHS. We PAY for the software every month, yet we only receive clunky, buggy service for our child’s phone. Answer that please. And please don’t suggest I contact customer service. Be TRANSPARENT Pinwheel, answer this straightforward question right here. **Developer response:** We're so sorry for any trouble you have had with the software! That is certainly frustrating. We release updates to our app about every 2 weeks, which we can do without resubmitting the whole app to the app store. Is there a certain feature or bug you would like to report? We would love to know about that so we can improve the product for you! Email us at support@pinwheel.com ### 1/5 — Kid with a defective phone *2025-02-06* Why aren’t we getting what we pay for? As of today, 2/5/25, this app hasn’t been updated in 11 months. ELEVEN MONTHS. We PAY for the software every month, yet we only receive clunky, buggy service for our child’s phone. Answer that please. And please don’t suggest I contact customer service. Be TRANSPARENT Pinwheel, answer this straightforward question right here. ### 1/5 — Tons of issues with app and software *2024-07-19, version 1.5.0* 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. ### 1/5 — Needs serious work *2024-07-18, version 1.5.0* 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. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — The best decision for us! *2026-08-13* I honestly can’t say enough good things about pinwheel! The phone and parent caregiver portal & service have all worked so seamlessly, we get immediate updates on his gps(unlike some of the competitors), we can monitor all his texts and calls, we control app downloads and the phone can’t just access Google searches or social media. It’s great for kids who aren’t quite ready for full access on a regular phone, which is great for our 13 year old! ### 5/5 — My Son is 12 *2026-06-27, version 1.7.0* My son has been begging for a phone but we just weren’t ready to hand him the whole internet. He was super excited about the pinwheel phone and we love that we can monitor his texts, limit apps and turn it off at bedtime by using the parent app! Great starter phone! ### 5/5 — Highly recommend for your tween/teen! *2026-05-20, version 1.6.2* I highly recommend the pinwheel phone to any parent! We feel much safer with our teen being able to connect with friends, get in touch with us while being safe from the dangers of social media and endless scrolling! ### 5/5 — Easy 5 Stars *2026-04-23* I switched from Gabb and this is the easiest 5 star review I’ve given. The app is great and the customization per kid and per device is exactly what I needed. The app updates the kids’ devices instantly and is easy to use and reliable. I needed to leave Gabb because of the many issues I had the whole time I used them and Pinwheel has been the best moved I could have made! It’s better for me AND the kids!! I actually told them we were going back to Gabb and they were very unhappy with me lol ### 5/5 — No addiction! Useful tech :) *2026-04-22* Pinwheel is great for my 4 kids. The older ones (14 and 12) have phones. No social media. I love the “nothing mode” which gives me the ability at any moment to shut off digital access entirely except for calling/texting family. My younger two (7 and 8) have Pinwheel watches. They love to ask the AI app about animals. They my youngest loves taking pics of bugs. I can see every text, even the rejected ones, on my own phone. That makes it easy to add somebody that was intended and to see the garbage that they’re protected from. **Developer response:** Awesome! We're thrilled that our service has been helpful for your family. We take pride in the recent revamp of our App Library so it's great to hear that the information provided have been useful for you!. Feel free to reach out to us anytime if you have any other feedback or suggestions! ### 5/5 — Parent of an 11 year old daughter *2026-04-21* As I have learned, one is not giving internet access to your child, your giving the internet access to your child. With this program and phone you have given the safety and control back into the hands of the parents and for this I am grateful! I appreciate all who created and supports Pinwheel! ### 5/5 — Amazing— best thing I ever did as a parent *2026-04-10, version 1.6.2* Pinwheel makes parenting teens better. The initial buy in is hard but it pays of over and over and over. My favorite part is the conversations I have with my kids as their needs change. It gives me the opportunity to explain my concerns and why I think things can be risky. But, it also lets them tell me how they are thinking about their friends, and school, and activities. I tell them that childhood is short and precious. Thank you, Pinwheel for helping me give my children a childhood. ### 5/5 — Best We’ve Used So Far *2026-03-28, version 1.6.2* After going through several iterations of parental controls, there is no doubt that Pinwheel has both global and granular controls to be simple to use yet flexible enough easily adapt to changing schedules evolving needs. The ease of use and pertinent options included in the Override functionality truly makes this a standout suite of tools. Keep up the good work. In ### 5/5 — Best cell phone for kids *2026-03-19* I’m incredibly thankful there’s an option to introduce my kids to cell phones in a way that is safe and manageable. Pinwheel has so many great features that let parents be in control of what their kids can access. They continue to provide new features and listen to customer feedback to make sure the experience is what parents and kids are looking for. The AI feature is a great way for kids to ask the questions they have rather than asking Google and have the whole internet available for an answer. The contact controls and image sharing options are also a great way to help keep kids safe and gradually give them more freedom. ### 5/5 — Works so well! *2026-03-16* We’ve been using Pinwheel phones for our kids for the last three years and it’s been going so well. We love the fact that they are flexible and we can change the settings, depending on the age of the kids. And it’s super easy to go and adjust things on my phone on the app whenever I need to give one of my children access to something. I have the kids text me and ask for access to things all the time and I can give them instant access through the app. I’m really glad we went with Pinwheel when we were trying to decide what phones to use for our kids. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-27.*