Emergency cell phone for child?

Buy the simplest phone that can call you: a feature phone or a kids' smartwatch on a prepaid line. You want three things — a physical keypad or two-button call, a battery that lasts days, and no app store. Everything else is a liability for a first phone.

Concrete picks and why:

• Nokia 105 / 110 (4G) — calls and SMS, week-long battery, ~$30 unlocked. The default answer for ages 7–11.
• A kids' GPS watch (Xplora, TickTalk) — one button to call a parent, geofence alerts, no internet. Better than a phone for the youngest children.
• An old smartphone with Family Link or Screen Time — free, and you can lock it to calls plus one messaging app, but it needs supervision configured before you hand it over.
• Any phone + a prepaid plan — $10–15/month, no contract. Do not add data for a first phone; it just creates a browser to police.

Set these before you hand it over: your number on speed dial, an ICE contact in the phone, emergency calling taught (911/112 works from the lock screen), SIM PIN on, and location sharing on if the phone supports it.

Where our app fits. Ultimate Phone Spy runs on Android 4.0+ (supported devices) — a feature phone cannot run it, and it would be overkill for a first phone anyway. It fits a later stage, when the child has an Android smartphone and you want message-level visibility.