Is the Commodore Callback a good first phone for a kid?

Better than its adult-first marketing suggests, for a supervised teen. Social media and browsers are blocked at the OS level and can’t be sideloaded around, and Sailfish’s multi-user mode lets you be the Admin and give your child a profile with call, text, and app controls. But it isn’t a fully locked kids’ device — other apps like games can still be sideloaded — so for a younger kid who needs everything locked down, a Wisephone II, a Sunbeam flip, or a kids’ landline like Tin Can is simpler.

How much does the Commodore Callback 8020 cost?

Most colors are $499.99, a Starlight edition is $549.99, and a Founders edition is $640. Pre-orders open June 30, 2026, with shipping after final compliance testing.

Commodore Callback 8020 – WISE Score & Parent Review

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

Screenwise Verdict

The Callback 8020 is the most interesting thing the revived Commodore name has done: a flip phone that refuses to be dumb. It runs Sailfish OS and many Android apps and shoots 48-megapixel photos — then hard-blocks the two categories most tied to compulsive use, social media and web browsers, at the operating-system level. The pitch is "smart enough to replace your $1,000 glowing rectangle" without the parts that keep you up at night.

Those blocks are real, not cosmetic: Commodore uses patent-pending technology to stop browsers and social apps from being sideloaded, with DNS-level blocking as a backstop, and the blocks can’t be switched off — that’s the whole point of the phone. Sailfish OS also supports multiple users, so a parent can stay the Admin and give a child a separate, password-protected profile, with control over calls, texts, and which apps are allowed.

It’s still positioned as an adult-first calm phone rather than a locked-down kids’ device, and you can sideload other apps (games, school tools), so a parent handing it to a teen still has some managing to do. At $499 (and $640 for the Founders edition) it’s also a real purchase priced partly on nostalgia — but as a phone that removes the worst surfaces by design and can’t be talked out of it, it’s one of the more credible options here.

Age Fit

Aimed first at adults and teens who want a calmer phone, but unlike most adult dumbphones it has real supervision built in: Sailfish’s multi-user mode lets a parent be the Admin and give a child a separate profile, with call, text, and app controls on top of the unremovable social/browser block. It’s still not marketed as a kids’ device, and other apps can be sideloaded, so for a younger kid who needs everything locked down a Wisephone or Sunbeam flip is simpler — but the Callback is a legitimate option for a supervised teen.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

84

Built around a genuinely good idea: keep a capable phone, kill the doomscroll. Blocking browsers and social apps at the OS level removes the two surfaces most responsible for compulsive use, and the flip form factor adds friction every time you reach for it. It loses points only because it’s still a $500 consumer gadget that can sideload games and other apps, so the calm it delivers depends partly on what its owner chooses to add.

Imaginative

58

A flip phone that still runs many Android apps is a capable computer in a smaller box, not a stripped-back feature phone. Closing the lid helps, and there’s no browser or feed to fall into — but you can still sideload games and other apps, so the imaginative dividend depends on what gets installed.

Safe

87

Stronger than it first looks. Social media and browsers are blocked at the OS level with patent-pending technology that stops them being sideloaded, plus DNS-level blocking as a backstop — and the blocks can’t be disabled. Sailfish OS also supports multiple users, so a parent can be the Admin and give a child a separate profile, with control over calls, texts, and which apps are allowed. It stops short of a top score because it’s marketed as an adult-first calm phone rather than a locked kids’ device, and other (non-social, non-browser) apps can still be sideloaded — so a parent still manages what else goes on it.

Enriching

62

Camera, radio, maps, and the ability to add focused tools (notes, music, a banking app) make it a useful daily driver. It doesn’t teach or build anything on its own, so the enriching value is whatever room it frees up — modest, and dependent on the person.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Hard-blocks social media and web browsers at the OS level — patent-pending tech stops them being sideloaded, DNS-level blocking backs it up, and the blocks can’t be disabled.
Keeps the genuinely useful parts of a smartphone: a 48MP camera, maps, music, FM radio, and the ability to sideload focused apps.
The flip form factor adds friction on purpose — opening it is a small deliberate act, not a thumb-twitch.
An admin/child-profile mode (via Sailfish’s multi-user support) lets a parent control calls, texts, and which apps a child can use.
No Google apps and a privacy-minded OS (Sailfish), so it leans away from the ad-and-tracking model.

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What to Watch For

It’s an adult-first device, not a locked kids’ phone — and apps other than social/browsers (like games) can be sideloaded, so a parent still manages what else goes on it.
At $499–$640 it’s a premium purchase priced partly on nostalgia.
Pre-order only as of mid-2026 (ships after compliance testing) — you’re buying a promise, not a shipped product yet.
Setting up the child-profile and admin controls takes deliberate effort; out of the box it’s tuned for an adult.

Conversation Starters

"If you could keep only five apps on your phone, which would actually make your life better — and which just eat time?"
"What feels different about flipping a phone open versus tapping a screen that’s always lit?"
"Why do you think the company chose to block social media but keep the camera and maps?"

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