Troomi, “offers the best safe smart phones and the first designed to grow with your child.”
Last year we were sent a wonderful little package from Troomi. The company was excited to offer us a free phone and trial plan in order to test their service in exchange for a review. Our oldest, 10 at the time, was ecstatic to have a phone of his own. He was more than ready to give it a try with us.
The phone was the Troomi Phone (a Samsung A13 with their KidSmart™ OS installed). The plan they put us on was called Discover. That is the top-tier plan with all included options in the Parent Portal and phone OS.
The wonder he had at having a new phone quickly dissipated when he realized there were restrictions on the apps he could use. Only approved basic and KidSmart Apps are allowed to be used on the phone. One of them is Duolingo, thankfully, but others he likes to play on his iPad (like Minecraft or Roblox) do not work on the phone.
That is when he declared to us that he was going to figure out how to make them work to us, his parents. We chuckled and said “Good Luck.” He then spent the next three days working on nothing but that in his free time outside of school, band, and improv.
“I did it!” was what we heard our oldest shout in jubilation from his computer desk.
That is when he showed me what he could now do. Text who he wanted. Run what he wanted. Surf on the open web. All the things the phone wasn’t supposed to allow him to do.
My son (5th grade) found a way to flash the phone and remove most of the Troomi restrictions baring him from downloading apps like Roblox or surfing on the open web.
It took a while before I worked up the courage to contact Troomi and explain the situation to them. The first response, in part, that I got was literally this:
“I’m being told it is not possible for a child to factory reset a Troomi device, which is what I assumed you meant by rebooting the phone. We would love to hear more details about the steps your son took to unlock his device so we can fix any existing loopholes.”
He found some old firmware for the phone, an open source flashing app, and ran them to the phone via his mother’s Windows 10 PC. It didn’t 100% get rid of Troomi’s software on the phone, but it allowed him to install and run apps like Roblox and surf the net unrestricted via Chrome. He also installed an app that lets him use a different phone number and text/mms unapproved numbers.
I had to send screenshots of the phone before they believed me and promised to fix the “workaround” they were perviously not aware of.
I believe that the Troomi service is a good one that would work for my younger son (7), and children my older son’s age (11) who are not so technically savvy. I wouldn’t, however, recommend the service for the more stubborn and technically inclined little ones in your house.
Have you used Troomi? What was your experience like? Let me know in the comments or on social.
