Tin Cans are bringing landlines to a new generation

Driving the news: Tin Can launched last year to fill that gap.

• California is their biggest market.
• Other companies offer similar products, including Pinwheel Home, Ooma MyPhone, Wiley Buddy, Ring Ring Club and Voiply's Kids Phone Plan.

How it works: The colorful, toy-looking Tin Can is $100.

• The phones run off WiFi, you get your own phone number and parents approve what numbers kids can call.
• Parents can also set quiet hours.
• You can call other Tin Cans for free. For $9.99 a month, you can call non-Tin Can numbers too.

Flashback: It all started when founder Chet Kittleson realized something was missing for his three kids, all under age 12, he tells Axios.

• He's not letting them get cellphones until they're older. He was talking to other parents at school pickup one day about how kids couldn't contact each other to organize their own playdates.
• "A mom made a comment about how she felt like she was an executive assistant for her kid," Kittleson says.

The big picture: Most younger elementary school children don't own smartphones, according to a 2025 Pew study.

• And increasingly, parents think kids should wait until 12 to get one, the study found, as books like "The Anxious Generation" and lawsuits against Meta point to the dangers of smartphone use.

State of play: San Diego parents are posting about Tin Cans in online forums like "San Diego Moms," and some neighborhoods are buying phones in bulk.

• Tin Can keeps its sales numbers private, but Kittleson says it's sold hundreds of thousands of the phones.

Yes, but: Can't you just get a landline?

• It's not that easy anymore because getting a traditional copper-wire connection has become harder.
• Also, phones like Tin Cans that ring for only approved numbers block spam calls.

San Diego parent Ahna Dick tells Axios she was eager for her kids to have the same experience she did as a child: rushing home to call up friends to recap the school day.

• "My kids are too young for cellphones and I'm trying to push off their access to social media for as long as possible, so the Tin Can seemed like a good compromise," she says.

💭 Claire's thought bubble: My son and his friend got Tin Cans last month and we parents eagerly waited to see what would happen.

On the first day, I saw on my Tin Can app that the friend had called three times, five minutes apart, all shortly after 7am.

• We had our phone set on silent until 8am, so the calls didn't come through.
• The friend called again that afternoon, but my son was playing a game so he didn't answer.
• Finally, my son called him back.

"Um, do you need something?" his friend asked.

• "I don't know," my son said.
• "Oh, OK. Bye," the friend said.
• My son looked at me. "How do you hang it up?"
• "Just put it down," I said.

Clearly, there's a learning curve.

The bottom line: Tin Cans are wildly popular at his school, and lots of parents report their kids use them all the time.

• My son's friend told me he likes having one.
• "Why?" I asked.
• "Because you can call people," he said.