The best phone for a 13 year old in the UK.
Short answer. Three honest routes, depending on where you are. Nokia 3210 (2024) at around £79 for families who never started a smartphone. Light Phone III at £399 for families stepping back from one. Refurbished iPhone SE (3rd gen) at £169 with Apple Screen Time properly configured if a smartphone is genuinely required.
Route one: continue with the Nokia 3210
If your Year 9 has been on a Nokia 3210 since Year 7 and the conversation about upgrading has not yet arrived, do nothing. The 3210 is Ansa-Phone's first pick, and it works for older teenagers too, with the proviso that 13 is the age at which a child can begin to legitimately argue for a step up. The argument is worth listening to. The first move is rarely a smartphone.
Route two: step back to the Light Phone III
For 13 year olds who got a smartphone at 10 or 11 and the family wants out, the Light Phone III at £399 is the design-led step back. E-ink screen, tools (maps, music, podcasts, calls, texts, a small messaging app), no app store, no browser, no algorithm. Ships from the US with a six-week wait and customs handling. The Light III is the rare basic phone that feels like an upgrade rather than a downgrade, which named UK press coverage of the Smartphone Free Childhood community reports as decisive when persuading a teenager.
The cheaper step-back route is the Nokia 3210 at £79 with a clean reset and the conversation script at /switching-kit. Honestly an alternative.
Route three: a smartphone with strict Apple Screen Time
If the school genuinely requires a smartphone, or the family has decided that a smartphone with proper rails is right, the refurbished iPhone SE (3rd gen) at £169 from Back Market UK is the considered version of that decision. Set up Apple Family Sharing, Communication Limits, Screen Time, App Store Restrictions and Content & Privacy Restrictions on the child account before the first use. Apple's family guide is the best instruction set. The single most useful rule is to keep the phone out of the bedroom at night.
How much it costs and where to buy
The three routes sit far apart on price. The Nokia 3210 (2024) is around £79 on Amazon UK. The Light Phone III is £399 direct from Light, shipped from the US with import VAT and a Royal Mail handling fee on receipt. The refurbished iPhone SE (3rd gen) is from £169 at Back Market UK with a twelve-month warranty. The Nokia is unlocked and contract-free, so any UK SIM works, from around £6 a month. We earn a small commission on marked buy links; prices are checked on publish day and best-effort after that, so confirm the figure before you buy. The full £24 to £400 ladder is on the UK pricing guide.
Light from £399 (opens in a new tab, affiliate link) Back Market UK from £169 (opens in a new tab, affiliate link)
What we do not recommend at 13
An iPhone or Android without Apple Screen Time properly configured. In named UK press coverage, the route that most often ends with a step-back is "we just gave them the phone and trusted them"; the route that most often does not is the one with the rails set up before the phone arrives.
The pair we suggest
Any of the three phones with Smarty at £6 a month for most families, or ParentShield at £9 a month if you still want SIM-level whitelist controls. Full SIM comparison.
Five quick questions, five short answers.
What is the best phone for a 13 year old in the UK?
It splits. For Year 9 families who started with the Nokia 3210, the 3210 still works. For families stepping back from a smartphone the child already has, the Light Phone III at £399 is the design-led pick. For families where the school genuinely requires a smartphone-shaped device, the refurbished iPhone SE at £169 with Apple Screen Time is the considered fallback.
Should my 13 year old have a smartphone?
Possibly. 13 is the age at which the public polling, the named UK press coverage and the research signal start to soften. If they do get a smartphone, it should be on rails: Apple Screen Time set up before the first use, Communication Limits set to Contacts Only, App Store Restrictions on, and a household rule that the phone does not live in the bedroom.
How do I take a smartphone off a 13 year old?
Carefully and with a script. The longest version of the script is at /switching-kit, with eighteen specific objection replies. The short version: 'We made a decision a year ago and we got it wrong. We are correcting it.' Children handle 'we got it wrong' better than parents expect. The full long-form note on stepping back is at /notes/05-stepping-back-from-smartphone.
What is the best phone for a teenager in the UK?
For most teenagers the Nokia 3210 (2024) at around £79: calls, texts, your own music, FM radio and Snake, with no apps and no internet. For a cheaper, stricter option the Nokia 105 4G at £24, no camera, no internet, just calls and texts. For an older teenager stepping back from a smartphone they already have, the Light Phone III at £399.
What phone do most Year 7s have?
Most still start secondary school on a smartphone, but a growing number start on a simple phone instead. The named UK campaigns Smartphone Free Childhood and Wait Until 8th exist to make starting simple normal across a whole year group, which is what makes it easier: the single biggest predictor of an easy first term is one or two other families in the friendship group doing the same thing.
Read next
- How to take a phone off a teenager, the calmer playbook
- Stepping back from a smartphone, the long-form UK guide
- What the research says, calmly, the Anxious Generation summary
- The conversation, in seven moments, the kitchen-table script with eighteen objection replies
- The full ranked list of simple phones for kids in the UK
- The 14 year old guide, when the Light Phone III takes the front position
Notes from Ansa-Phone, when there is something worth saying.
Short notes on simple phones, the parent conversation and the school side. New subscribers get our first-phone series, four short emails over eleven days, then occasional notes when there is a piece worth sending. Unsubscribe with one click.
