Modern Landlines vs. Kids' Phones: The 2026 Comparison

A few years ago, the choice was simple and grim: hand a kid a full smartphone, or hand them nothing. Today there's a whole spectrum in between — screen-free home phones, watches that call, and locked-down cell phones. They solve different problems, so the "best" one depends entirely on what you're actually trying to do. Below is a clear map of the landscape and where each option shines.

The quick comparison

Product	What it is	Upfront	Ongoing	911
Homie	Wi‑Fi home phone with call screening	$99 one‑time	$99/yr or $10/mo (free Homie‑to‑Homie)	Always on
Tin Can	Wi‑Fi "landline" for kids	$100	Free Can‑2‑Can; $9.99/mo for outside numbers	Yes
Ooma (Telo)	VoIP landline replacement	$99.99	$0/mo Basic; $9.99/mo Premier	Yes
Waffle	Screen‑free Wi‑Fi kids phone	~$89–119	Free tier; $9.99–$17.99/mo	n.a.*
Pinwheel Home	Wi‑Fi landline for kids	$68–79	Free Circle; $6.99–$9.99/mo	Yes
Kids' smartwatches	Cellular watch with calling + GPS	~$150–180	~$10–18/mo	SOS varies
Parental‑control phones	Locked‑down smartphones	~$120–200+	~$15–79/mo	Yes

*Waffle's US 911 support could not be independently confirmed at the time of writing. Prices and plans change — check each maker's site before buying.

The modern landlines

Homie — one phone for the whole house

The benefit: Homie takes the modern landline beyond kids. It's a slim home phone for the whole household — a first phone for children, a screen-time reset for parents, and a scam-proof line for grandparents. Only the contacts you approve can ever ring it, everything is managed from a simple web dashboard, and 911 calling is included. It's $99 one time, with a free Homie-to-Homie plan or a $99/yr (or $10/mo) Everywhere plan to reach any approved outside number. Ships Fall 2026.

Best for: families who want one phone that works for every generation under the roof — not just a kids' gadget.

Tin Can — the one that went viral

The benefit: Tin Can made "bring back the home phone" a movement. It's a $100 screen-free WiFi phone for kids with free Can-2-Can calling and 911 on every plan; reaching outside numbers needs the $9.99/mo Party Line plan. Well-reviewed by NYT Wirecutter, with a charming smiley-face voicemail button.

Best for: parents who love the nostalgic, kid-focused aesthetic and want a proven phone shipping now.

Ooma — the traditional VoIP landline

The benefit: Ooma's Telo is a classic landline replacement — about $99.99 for the device and then $0/month on the Basic plan (just taxes and fees), or $9.99/mo Premier for extras like voicemail-to-email. Ooma also makes a separate kids' safe-calling product for families who want a controlled line. The Telo itself is an open-dial phone with spam blocking — anyone not on a blocklist can still get through — rather than an approved-contacts whitelist where only people you allow can ever ring.

Best for: households that want a familiar, dial-anyone home phone number and are comfortable managing spam as it comes. If your goal is a phone that simply never rings for anyone outside your approved list — no exceptions, no robocalls slipping past a filter — that's where Homie's whitelist-first approach pulls ahead.

Waffle — try before you commit

The benefit: Waffle (formerly Chatterbox) is a screen-free kids phone with a genuinely free tier — no credit card, one approved contact, a few hundred minutes a month — so you can test the concept before spending. Paid Home ($9.99/mo) and Go ($17.99/mo, adds GPS and mobile data) plans unlock more.

Best for: homes that only need a single approved contact and want to sample the idea first. Families who want the whole household covered — multiple approved contacts, grandparents, and parents included — without stepping up through paid tiers tend to land on Homie's flat $99/yr Everywhere plan.

Pinwheel Home — the multi-device family option

The benefit: from the established Pinwheel brand, Pinwheel Home is a kids-focused home phone with a free Circle tier plus 911, and paid outside-calling plans ($6.99/mo Friends & Family limited to 5 numbers, $9.99/mo Unlimited), with a discount if you buy several devices.

Best for: families outfitting several kids' rooms who like a per-device model. If you'd rather have one home phone the whole family shares — with no per-line math and outside calling on a single flat plan — Homie is built around that.

The other two categories

Kids' smartwatches — calling that travels

The benefit: devices like the Gabb Watch ($149.99), TickTalk, and Angel Watch put calling and GPS on a child's wrist over a cellular plan (~$10–18/mo). A home phone can't follow a kid to practice or a friend's house — a watch can. Emergency support is usually an SOS button rather than direct 911.

Best for: active kids who are out of the house and need location tracking plus a way to call, without a phone in their pocket.

Parental-control phones — a first "real" phone

The benefit: the Gabb Phone, Bark Phone, and Pinwheel phones are locked-down smartphones — real texting, approved contacts, some apps, GPS — with parent controls and monitoring, on cellular plans from about $15 to $79/mo. They cost more and add screens back, but they bridge toward a normal phone.

Best for: older kids and teens who need texting and limited apps for school and social life, when a screen-free phone is now too limiting.

How to choose

If you want the simplest possible phone that serves kids, parents, and grandparents alike — managed from one dashboard, with only approved people able to ring it — that's exactly what Homie is built for. If you specifically need mobility, pick a watch; if you need texting and apps, look at a parental-control phone; and if you're fine dialing any number and just want a traditional open home line, a VoIP box like Ooma covers that. But if the whole point is a calm home phone that never rings for anyone you haven't approved, that's the gap Homie was made to fill.

Want the calm of a real home phone that only rings for the people you love? Pre-order Homie for Fall 2026, or read our Homie vs. Tin Can head-to-head.