PuffinCall
Ten minutes to set up. One tap for Grandma.
The hardest part is finding the spare phone. Everything after that is photographs.
Setting up the child's phone
You'll need the spare phone in your hands and the parent account on your own phone. The parent account has to exist first — the child's screen won't unlock without it.
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Install and choose Kid mode
One app, two modes. You pick Kid mode on the spare phone the first time it opens.
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Create the parent account
An email address and a PIN. The PIN stays on your device and guards settings and payments.
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Add up to 6 people
A first name and a photo each. The photo is the button — take a clear one of their face.
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Pick video or voice for each one
Grandma is probably video. A parent at work, who mostly gets a fifteen-second "I'm ready to be picked up", is better as voice — it uses far fewer minutes.
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Set quiet hours
Pick the window when the phone shouldn't ring. Bedtime is the usual answer.
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Lock the phone to the app
Optional, and recommended. Your child can't swipe out to anything else.
Getting Grandma connected
This is the part people expect to be difficult and it is not. There is no account to make and no password to remember.
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Send the link
The app writes the message for you. Send it however you already talk to them.
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They tap it once
It installs the app, opens in Receiver mode, and pairs with your family automatically.
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Walk them through the battery setting
The app asks for it during pairing. Say yes — without it, Android will stop the app and calls will silently never arrive.
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Done
Their screen is one photo and one button. Nothing to learn.
Nobody's camera opens by itself.
Whoever holds the phone presses accept. Both sides. Always. There is no auto-answer setting to find, because there isn't one.
Your child calls out
They tap a face. The other phone rings like a normal phone call — full screen, over the lock screen. The person answers, and there they are. If nobody picks up, your child sees a friendly koala and goes back to the faces. Never an error, never the word "failed".
Grandma calls in
She taps the photo. Your child's phone lights up with her face and one big button. Your child taps it to answer. If it's quiet hours, the phone stays silent and she's told to try later.
Before you start
- Any spare Android phone, 8.0 or newer, for your child
- Wifi or mobile data on both phones
- The people you want to call, on Android
- Your own phone, for the parent account
- About ten minutes
- The child's phone doesn't need a SIM if it's on wifi
- One plan covers every child in the family — they share the six faces and the minutes
- Six contacts is the maximum on every plan — it's what fits at a size a toddler can hit
- A call is never recorded, by us or by anyone
- Your child can't reach a payment screen, ever
- Deleting the account removes everything, permanently
Go and find that phone.
Free forever — 20 minutes of talk time every month.