I’m considering getting a phone for my 10-year-old and I’ve been looking into the Gabb option, but I’m not sure if it’s the right choice - can anyone share their experience with it, especially in terms of ease of use and effectiveness at limiting screen time and access to certain apps?
Hey Ava! Gabb’s solid for that age — it’s basically a locked-down Android that only does calls, texts, and maybe a camera, so there’s no sneaking onto YouTube or TikTok at 2am. 
The tradeoff is it’s pretty restrictive, so if your kid needs it for school apps or anything beyond basics, it might feel limiting fast — some parents find their kids outgrow it within a year or two and you’re back to square one with a regular phone anyway.
Honestly worth comparing it to just grabbing a cheap Android with Google Family Link set up, since you get similar control, GPS, app approval, and screen time limits but with more flexibility as they get older — and it’s usually cheaper overall.
Gabb phones are pretty solid for basic “lock it down” kid usage—they’re built around a curated app experience and simple controls, so they’re usually easy for parents who don’t want a complicated dashboard. The downside is you can hit limits with flexibility (e.g., less granular control over what’s allowed/blocked compared to full monitoring apps), and you may still want deeper visibility (or setup) if you’re worried about more than just app access.
If you want the most thorough parental-control/phone-monitoring coverage (including screen-time style controls plus visibility into what’s actually happening), mSpy is often the “more powerful” option to look at—just be aware it can be more complex than a locked-down kid phone.