What HomeFón does.
Calls and texts with the people you approve, and nothing else. There is no browser, no app store and nothing to scroll.
Everything on this page is enforced by the phone itself, unless it is marked Family rule
On this page
Calls and messages
Calls with approved people
Your child can call the contacts you approve. Calls from anyone else don't ring through. When the phone rings, whoever is nearest picks it up.
Texts
Your child can text approved contacts, who just use ordinary SMS. Texts from numbers you haven't approved never reach your child, and neither does any photo or video. They're held in your dashboard for you to see.
Small group chats
Groups of up to 5: your child and 4 approved people. A group containing any number you haven't approved never reaches your child; it's held for you instead. Group texts need mobile data and cost extra on prepay.
HomeFón to HomeFón
When a friend's family also has a HomeFón, your children can message each other, one to one or in a group of up to 5 that a parent sets up. It's free on Wi-Fi; without Wi-Fi it uses a little mobile data, with no per-message charge. It only switches on once both families' parents approve the link, and either family can disconnect at any time. A text sent when either phone has no internet is charged like any text.
Inboxes and your dashboard
An inbox for each child
Each child has their own inbox with their own contacts. On the phone, your child taps their name to see their own messages and people.
Parent dashboard
Manage inboxes, contacts, quiet time and emergency contacts online, from your phone or computer. See a record of setting changes and GoFón trips, download your family's data, or delete your account at any time.
Parent PIN on the phone
A parent PIN protects the phone's settings, with a limit on wrong attempts and a reset from your dashboard. It works even when the internet is down.
Message oversight, off by default
You can choose to save your child's messages to the dashboard. If you do, their phone shows a clear banner that messages are saved. There is no hidden version.
Quiet hours and locks
Quiet hours
The phone goes quiet when the family does. You set the hours from your dashboard, and they hold even when the phone is offline.
Unlock or lock it from your dashboard
Grant a 30-minute unlock, or lock the phone now, from the dashboard.
What always works
Emergency calls, whatever the settings
No HomeFón setting blocks a call to 999 or 112, and your child's emergency contacts can always ring the phone. Your child can ring up to three of them in one tap, under “In case of emergency” on the home screen, even during quiet time or on a trip, as long as the phone has credit. If you lock a lost phone from your dashboard, your child can't ring them until you unlock it, but the lock doesn't block calls to 112 or 999.
Family agreement
Family ruleWrite and print a shared agreement together. These are your family's own rules. The software does not enforce them.
Costs, delivery times and the limits of each feature are set out in the FAQ and the known limitations.
It can go out the door too.
When your child heads to training, a friend's house or is taking the bus home, the HomeFón can go with them. You choose who they can contact while they're out: their usual approved contacts, or a shorter list you pick for the trip.
Outside the house, nothing new opens up. There are still no apps, no internet and no strangers.
The phone
Your HomeFón arrives, a Samsung handset that is already set up for your household. Follow the short steps on your setup card to connect it to your account.