Pinwheel Reviews

Name: Pinwheel
Address: 1023 SPRINGDALE RD, AUSTIN, Texas
Rating: 4.61

4.6 Rating 589 Reviews

92 %

of reviewers recommend Pinwheel

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Phone:

5108676528

Email:

support@pinwheel.com

Location:

1023 SPRINGDALE RD,
AUSTIN
Texas
78721

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Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 3 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Good but some aspects don’t work consistently, location can be effected by putting battery saver on by the kiddo”

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Posted 10 months ago

“Difficult to manage through caregiver portal”

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Posted 10 months ago

“It can be a bit frustrating but we’re grateful to have this option for our kids”

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Posted 11 months ago

“Pinwheel served as a great starting point for our daughter and introducing her to the responsibility of having a phone and that type of communication. The only issues we experienced were related to connectivity. Sometimes she would be able to make a call or send/receive a text and sometimes she wouldn't - regardless of network or WiFi connectivity. That was troubling.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“It's a valuable service. Sadly, continual tech problems have us frequently considering moving to a regular phone.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Julia was very helpful in walking me through all of the steps. I never felt pressure which I appreciate as this was a hard decision for me to make. Thank you for being so helpful.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“I love the idea of Pinwheel but they do have some kinks to work out. Their telephone customer service is top notch. Recommendations: Easy navigation from all the Pinwheel urls to each other. A link to the caregiver portal from the main page seems like an easy fix A couple introductory videos or even webinars to help new caregivers and users get acquainted with the system Don't just market this to kids. I think an adult version would be super helpful to those of us with ADHD and likely others too.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Pinwheel is a good idea, but software doesn't work very well”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Summary: A mixed bag. The concept is great, the execution is lacking. Cons: App and feature requests are very slow to be followed through, not all listed apps actually work (they have unexpected functionality missing or straight up crash), and support tickets are met with overly demanding authentication requests (e.g. last 4 digits of the credit card for a ticket asking about an app not being installed correctly). Pros: Customer support folks are friendly and try to help you out, the dashboard management is simple and gives good insight into phone usage, location, and other details. App descriptions have good insight so you can decide for yourself whether it's a good idea to install or not. On the side of "good or bad depending on your situation", the environment is very restrictive, with no recourse. It either works for your case or it doesn't. There is no flexibility in allowing some things (e.g. the "menu" Android button is fully disabled), and no app sideloading (by the parent) is allowed. This means I can't e.g. install a good adblocker, or an app required by the school but not officially supported. In exchange, you get a less exploitable system by children. I'd prefer the flexibility though.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“I had to call in and have customer service spend almost an hour just to get apps to download. If that is fixed, I'd give it a higher score.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“I think this is a good option for new phone users. I think it is a little too much for older teens because the apps are so limited. It would be nice to have a phone with the same type of parental controls as an iphone has, but that are able to be controlled from the parents phone.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“I don't like how all contacts are shut down when "all-mode" is disabled except for emergency contacts. I find I cannot allow my child to be in All-Mode most of the time because he games. I've also had a difficult time adding contacts. He should be able to add his own contacts, as that's the permission I've given him, but he cannot seem to do this. I wish there was a way to allow contacts and phone calls, but to shut down the apps and gaming. I would also like to give him permission to game during his lunch period, but there are not enough scheduling options to curate the timing. Additionally the GPS at times works and then at other times seems to get stuck.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“I am frustrated that as the parent, i cannot send contacts from my phone to hers, or videos by text. I wish I could receive notifications when I need to go into the parent portal. Also, getting into the parent portal via cell phone is not the most convenient. While I am happy that my child has a safe phone, it does not meet our needs as a family.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“There are so many limitations that I cant do. I want to be in control of which apps to install and which not to, there are tons of apps that I know dont have backdoor internet access and I cant install them because pinwheel doesnt let me, thats wonky. I've submitted the apps and they havent been approved yet or even given a timeline of when they will get looked at. I dont want to sit around and wait hoping something my kid needs for school gets approved. My kid even grabbed my screen shattered broken 10 year old phone and started using that instead. Not a good look for Pinwheel.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Easy to use, straightforward!”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Had an issues whilst my son playing on an app. The mode on the phone was not allowing calls or text. Had to trouble shoot once I found him and not even sure how it was fixed. Also my daughters phone the calls are not coming in clear, fading in and out at times, not sure if it’s the connection.”

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Posted 2 years ago

“Cant access gmail and not a fan of the website”

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Posted 2 years ago

“A lot of work for parents to set up and figure out the interface. But the phone works well.”

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Posted 2 years ago

“I’m disappointed that the phone will not connect with an iPad and that I cannot put in an email for a contact. Many of my sons friends use an iPad to converse with each other and the Pinwheel phone messages will bot connect.”

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Posted 2 years ago

“The phones are quirky. Sometimes they don’t send or receive calls even when in “All mode”. Sometimes they refuse to load things that require internet, even in modes that allow it. This is really irritating. I want them to work when they are supposed to. Sometimes apps go down, like messenger. It will block all messages even in all mode and you have to restart the phone. The caregiver app often freezes and I have to restart it. But maybe that’s because I have 4 kids on there? The control aspect is phenomenal. The caregiver system is so easy to use. 4.5 stars for that. It would be 5 except I have 4 children and I have to create modes and schedules for each of them individually when it would be nice to duplicate and use for each successive child without creating them from scratch. I’ve had to use customer service before and they are TERRIFIC. The 3 stars are ONLY for the bugginess of the phones.”

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Posted 2 years ago

Pinwheel is rated 4.6 based on 589 reviews