For many adults, childhood memories include sprinting to the kitchen wall phone to call a friend before a sibling picked up on another line. Pinwheel, a company focused on kid-friendly technology, is trying to revive that ritual with a modern twist.

The company has introduced Pinwheel Home, a retro-inspired household phone designed specifically for children who are too young for smartphones but old enough to want some independence. Aimed at kids roughly 5 to 10 years old, the device offers a way to stay in touch without opening the door to apps, web browsing, or social media.

Unlike smartphones that compete for attention with games and endless feeds, Pinwheel Home is built for one thing only: voice calls. The idea is to encourage focused, one-on-one conversations, letting kids practice basic phone etiquette and maintain relationships with friends and relatives without borrowing a parent’s device.

The launch taps into a growing movement among parents and educators to reduce children’s screen exposure. Researchers have linked heavy screen use to emotional and behavioral issues, as well as weaker social skills. One study from the University of Georgia found that children who spend more time on social media tend to show slower vocabulary growth and more difficulty recognizing and pronouncing words, adding urgency to efforts to delay or limit smartphone use.

Though Pinwheel Home looks like a classic landline, it runs over Wi-Fi rather than a phone jack. It comes in two versions. The Spark is the simpler model, available in white, black, blue, and purple. The Classic adds a retro-style handset and decorative stickers, with color options including pink, black, and white, evoking the look of old-school home phones.

Parents manage the device through Pinwheel’s Caregiver Portal, where they can approve contacts, block unknown numbers and robocalls, and set calling schedules and time limits. Features like speed dial and voicemail are included, making it easier for younger children to use.

Pinwheel plans to roll out software updates that will add three-way calling and link the phone with the company’s kid-focused watches and smartphones. That integration would allow a child to use a single phone number across devices while keeping the home environment largely screen-free.

Pinwheel Home also enters a small but growing market of screen-free communication tools for kids, competing with other Wi-Fi-based home phones that give parents tight control over who their children can reach.