Press

FirstPhone

Help your child earn digital independence.

FirstPhone is a product of RCG. It helps parents plan a child's first iPhone: a free readiness check, a family phone agreement, an iPhone setup checklist, and 30- and 90-day reviews. It does not read messages, track location history, or watch social media. Children do not get accounts.

The readiness check is free. FirstPhone Complete is $49, one time, for one family.

Try the free check Parent guides

Facts

Site: https://firstphone.family
Company: RCG
X handle to claim: @firstphonefamily
Platform: web, iPhone setup checklists (iOS 18 and nearby versions)
Scoring and Independence Level recommendations are computed in code. Parents can override them.

X profile

Display name: FirstPhone. Bio: Help your child earn digital independence. A first iPhone plan for families. Not a monitor. firstphone.family

Launch posts

Post 1
Most first-phone advice is a printed contract or a monitoring app. FirstPhone is a plan: a free readiness check, a family agreement, iPhone settings that match it, and a date to look again. Not a monitor. firstphone.family
Post 2
“Is my child ready for a smartphone?” is the wrong test. Readiness is a conversation about everyday habits at home. Five minutes. A planning score. A starting Independence Level you can change. https://firstphone.family/readiness
Post 3
A phone contract on the fridge rarely survives the first confusing group chat. An agreement helps when it says why the phone exists, what parents will do, and when you will look at it again. https://firstphone.family/family-phone-agreement
Post 4
FirstPhone does not read messages, track location history, or watch social media. It helps you decide what the iPhone is for, then shows which Apple settings match that plan. A plan, not a monitor. https://firstphone.family
Post 5
iPhone Screen Time is the technical half of a first-phone plan. It cannot explain why. Pair downtime and Family Sharing with a written agreement, then review at 30 days. https://firstphone.family/iphone-screen-time-for-kids
Post 6
The Independence Ladder is five starting points, from calling family to the teen managing more of the phone. The level suggests defaults. You keep, rewrite, or replace any of them. https://firstphone.family/#ladder
Post 7
The readiness check is free. FirstPhone Complete is a one-time purchase for one family — more than one child. No subscription. https://firstphone.family
Post 8
The first iPhone setup should not last forever. FirstPhone includes a 30-day launch plan, then 30- and 90-day reviews. Nothing on the phone changes unless you change it.
Post 9
Twelve is a common first-phone year. It is not a rule. If you are starting now, keep the first month narrow: family, getting home, charging in a shared place, a way to ask for help. https://firstphone.family/phone-rules-for-12-year-old
Post 10
If a first iPhone is coming this year, start with the free check. Nothing is diagnosed. You decide every setting. https://firstphone.family/readiness

Product Hunt

A first iPhone plan for families, not a monitoring app

FirstPhone helps a parent go from “we’re getting an iPhone” to a family phone plan. Take a five-minute readiness check (planning tool, not a diagnosis). Get a suggested Independence Level you can change. Write rules and an agreement you can sign and download. Follow an iPhone Screen Time checklist that matches that plan. Come back at 30 and 90 days. We do not read messages, track location history, or watch social media. Children do not get accounts. The parent is the account holder. FirstPhone Complete is a one-time family purchase. The readiness check is free.

Maker here. I built FirstPhone because a printed contract and a monitoring app were the two default answers, and neither felt like a plan. The score and Independence Level are computed in code, not by a model. You can override every recommendation. Happy to walk through the readiness check or the iPhone checklist if that’s useful.

Outreach you can paste

Parenting newsletter

Subject: A first-phone plan that isn’t a monitoring app

Hi — I’m Franco. FirstPhone is a parent tool for the week a family gets a first iPhone: a free readiness check, a family agreement, an iPhone setup checklist, and 30- and 90-day reviews. It does not read messages or track location. Children don’t get accounts. If a first-smartphone guide would be useful for your readers, the check is at https://firstphone.family/readiness and the parent guides are at https://firstphone.family/guides. Happy to write a short guest note or answer questions.

School / PTA

Subject: A calm first-iPhone plan for families

Hello — I built FirstPhone for parents who are about to hand over a first iPhone and want a plan, not a surveillance product. The readiness check is free. Families can use the public guides even if they never buy. If it’s useful for a parent night or the PTA newsletter, here is the link: https://firstphone.family

Journalist / blog

Subject: FirstPhone: family iPhone plans without monitoring

FirstPhone (a product of RCG) is live at https://firstphone.family. Angle: most “first phone” coverage is either wait-until-later or install a monitor. This is the missing middle — a written plan, Apple settings that match it, and a review date. Press notes: https://firstphone.family/press I can walk through a sample plan or the scoring (deterministic, parent can override).