AT&T Debuts AmiGO Jr., a Smartphone for Youngsters That is Actually for Mother and father

AT&T is hoping to entice dad and mom involved about screentime with a smartphone designed for youngsters. Whether or not kids will likely be enticed is one other query.

The telecommunications firm debuted the amiGO Jr. Telephone on Friday. The corporate says it’s going to give dad and mom better management over how their kids work together with smartphones. The rollout additionally featured the brand new amiGO Jr. Watch 2.

“Placing prospects on the middle of our enterprise means anticipating what comes subsequent — not simply responding to what already exists,” Erin Scarborough, the senior vice chairman of Income Administration & Commercialization at AT&T, stated in a press launch. “As smartphones turn into a every day necessity, dad and mom have made it clear they want higher instruments to assist their kids navigate the digital world safely.”

After buying the smartphone, dad and mom can obtain an app that permits them to set a number of security options. They embrace location monitoring, as much as 30 pre-approved contacts, established secure zones, customizable controls for every system, and “schedules to restrict distractions throughout faculty hours.”

The app can even implement security options on AT&T’s amiGO Jr pill, which the corporate launched in 2024.

AT&T collaborated with Samsung to construct the smartphone’s {hardware}. The smartphone prices $209.99.

Mother and father vs. smartphones

Within the age of smartphones, dad and mom have raised issues over the tech’s affect on kids’s and teenagers’ psychological well being.

A 2025 research from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention discovered that youngsters who had larger non-schoolwork-related screentime have been extra more likely to have “hostile well being outcomes,” together with irregular sleep routines, despair signs, anxiousness signs, and inadequate peer assist.

Entry to social media on smartphones can also be a priority. Over a dozen attorneys basic filed lawsuits towards TikTok in 2024, accusing the social media platform of concentrating on younger customers with addictive algorithms and options. Meta, which owns Fb, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has additionally confronted authorized motion over the platform’s probably dangerous affect on younger customers.

In consequence, dad and mom have sought alternative ways to navigate the advanced know-how panorama. Some dad and mom have invested in merchandise like Gabb, a kid-friendly smartphone, whereas others have bought landline telephones created for youngsters. Dumb telephones, which haven’t got social media and different superior app features, have emerged as an alternative choice.

A rising variety of younger of us are additionally ditching good gadgets as a part of a motion embracing real-life connections and a wholesome relationship with know-how.

“I really feel like I’ve spent a lot of my adolescence glued to a display screen. I discover it significantly addicting and extremely harmful,” a Gen Z girl instructed Enterprise Insider in 2025. “I feel we have to be nervous concerning the repercussions this may have on each people and society.”