CAVEAT: Before delving into this product review, it is essential to disclose that we have not received any financial benefits, incentives, or gifts from Ghost Phone or any affiliated parties for conducting this evaluation. Our review is based solely on our unbiased research, our first-hand experience, and objective analysis of the product’s features and performance. Our commitment is to provide our readers with transparent and impartial information, ensuring that they can make well-informed decisions based on the merits of the product itself. It is important to us that our audience can trust the integrity of our assessments and be confident in the authenticity of the information presented.
Also, the Ghost Phone Plus was not designed primarily for youth. However, given its minimalist approach to its functionality, we believe for some teens and their families, this would be a reasonable option as a teen’s first phone.
Recently, a follower connected with us asking about a new mobile phone that was on the market called the “Ghost Phone Plus”. Not knowing anything about this phone, we started our research, and here’s our review.
The Ghost Phone Plus was created by Sebastian Snell and his company Ghost Phone LLC (1), a small US based company that has created what we believe to be a great “minimalist phone”(2) . Sebastian wanted a phone that looked and functioned like a modern smartphone, but without all the distractions associated with today’s modern fusion cellphones like an iPhone or fully functioning Android phone – as stated on their website “Our phones have all the apps and features you’d expect from a smart device with none of the distractions. No browsers or app stores, no social media or endless scrolling. Just what you need, thoughtfully designed.”
The concept of the Ghost Phone Plus piqued our interest. As most readers know, we are constantly looking for technology that is age appropriate, especially for youth and younger teens. In the past we have done reviews of other phones that we have recommended for teens such as the Pinwheel phone (3), the WisePhone (4), and the Orchid Flip Phone (5)
After reading what we could about the Ghost Phone Plus online, we connected directly with the creator of the Ghost Phone, Sebastian Snell, to see if he might be interested in sending us one of his phones for testing and evaluation. Sebastian agreed to send us the Ghost Phone Plus for testing. We must recognize Ghost Phone for taking us up on our offer. Even though we stated that we would be brutally honest about our testing and evaluation of their product publicly, Sebastian welcomed the opportunity for us to test their phone.
Within a week of our request, we received our Ghost Phone Plus that was shipped to us via UPS.
Inside the box we located a Pixel 4 phone, a power cable, USB plug adaptor, 64GB flash drive and adapter, an owner’s manual, and a tool needed to access the micro-sim card slot.
The Ghost Phone Plus we received for testing and evaluation was a Google Pixel 4 phone, which had the Ghost Phone Plus proprietary software (GhostOS) installed that utilized a de-Googled operating system. Specs on this phone are:
- Unlocked Pixel 4 Utilizing Android 13
- 5.79 x 2.71 x 0.32 inch aluminum body
- 5.7 inch 1080 x 2280 Gorilla glass 5 touch display, Gorilla glass 5 back
- 16-megapixel 4K 60FPS camera front facing camera
- 8 – megapixel selfie camera
Although the phone fit well in our hand, it could be on the larger side for the smaller hands of some younger teens.
NOTE – As most parents know, youth and especially those under the age of 16yrs don’t necessarily treat their phones with the greatest of care – it’s not uncommon to see a teen’s phone with a spider web cracked screen. It is because of this reality, we would recommend purchasing a third-party ruggedized phone cover to further protect the Ghost Phone Plus from accidental drops or water hazards (puddles, sink, toilet) Parents can purchase a case specifically designed for the Pixel 4 for between $15 – $40 from a third-party vendor online, depending upon the amount of protection you are looking for.
What About Connectivity in Canada?:
Given that we are from Canada, we were very interested in knowing if the Ghost Phone Plus phone and services would be congruent and work with cellular carriers up here in Canada. The answer – “YES” it does. For the test and evaluation, we used a “Rogers” micro-sim card. When using the Rogers network, the sound quality was above average, connectivity to data was seamless, and we did not experience any dropped calls.
It should be noted that the Ghost Phone Plus can also connect and work via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth which we used as well; this connection process to the internet or Bluetooth headphones was also seamless.
It should also be noted that like the Orchid flip phone, the Ghost Phone Plus can be purchased with a Canadian credit card and shipped into Canada from the United States – both the Wisephone and the Pinwheel phone that we have reviewed in the past do not.
What makes the Ghost Phone different from third-party parent filtering and monitoring apps that integrate with an Android phone operating system – the Ghost Phone Plus uses its own unique operating system that they are calling GhostOS. It’s not an app, but an operating system that completely sandboxes and scaffolds the phone, allowing a user to only access certain proprietary functions on the phone. However, unlike other minimalist phones such as the Wisephone, it also allows the user to download some other applications approved by Ghost Phone that we will speak to later in this article.
What really makes this phone standout and differentiate itself from the other phones being specifically marketed to youth – the Ghost Phone Plus’s sandboxed approach to applications. Intentionally, the Ghost Phone does not allow the user to access any kind of internet browser, App Store, social media platform, or gaming platform, it only allows the user to:
- Send and receive phone calls
- Send and receive SMS/MMS messages (including group messages)
- Text-to-email if mobile carrier supported
- Access to a notes option
- Access to a music player
- Access to two cameras for pictures/video that can be stored on the phone, and only be shared via the above noted SMS/MMS messaging function or Bluetooth
- Access to a map function for voice activated turn-by-turn directions.
- Access to a clock, alarm, timer, and stopwatch
- Access to calculator
- Access to a weather app
- Access to a calendar
- Access to a flashlight function
- Hotspot capability
Optional Features that Can Be Downloaded:
- Ability to listen to podcasts via “Antennapod”
- The ability to stream music from YouTube Music
- The ability to install the Encrypted Instant messaging app “Signal”
- The ability to install the messaging app “Whatapp”
We tested all the above noted functions (other than the optional features), and all worked smoothly without any issues. Another thing we like about the Ghost Phone Plus – software updates are pushed to the device for free – very Apple like.
Now, we love identifying any workarounds that would allow us to by-pass the sandboxed operating system and here’s what we found:
- We tried to defeat the GPS location beacon when the phone was turned on, we could not do so unless we placed it into a Faraday bag or bricked the phone by removing the SIM card and turning off the WIFI.
- We attempted to use the phone to access the internet, social media platforms, and online gaming platforms, or to just surf the web freely; not only couldn’t we do so, but the phone doesn’t allow the user to access or browse the web at all.
Important NOTE – There are ways to “jailbreak” this phone to allow a user to freely access the internet. We are not going to share publicly how this can be done; however, it should be noted that with time, effort, hardware, and software it can be accomplished. We would suggest that the likelihood of a pre-teen or younger teen having the capabilities of doing this would be extremely rare. However, we are aware of older teens who have successfully cracked fully sandboxed phones.
Now What About The Cost of the Phone?:
The cost of the Ghost Phone Plus is $359.00 US or with the exchange rate $486.00 here in Canada – not including shipping. Also, a parent will have to purchase a micro-sim card to use the phone or to text message when Wi-Fi is unavailable. We would recommend that you look at a monthly pay as you go plan, rather than a yearly contract. By choosing a month-to-month plan, if the phone is lost or damaged you are not stuck having to pay for the remainder of the contract or pay a penalty to get out of the contract. Given the phone doesn’t use a lot of data, we would recommend parents consider a plan that gives your child 100 minutes of talk time, texting, and 500MB of data as a starting point for the first month, and then increase or decrease based upon usage. You can find monthly pre-paid plans for between $15 – $20 in Canada.
Things we liked about the phone:
- It was simple to set up and use which we know many parents and youth will be thankful for.
- Because the phone is completely sandboxed it prevents and kind of internet or social media access, no access to online gaming, no adds, no access to pornography or other topics that are not age appropriate. As well, third-party apps cannot be downloaded onto the phone with a couple of exceptions that we mentioned above.
- It’s an unlocked cellphone, so you can choose a mobile carrier and data plan that meets the needs of your child.
- Can be purchase and shipped into Canada and throughout the US
- Works on a Canadian mobile network (we used Rogers for our testing)
- It has minimal notification alerts – phone call and message notifications only, which greatly reduces phone distraction via dings or haptic vibrations.
- The touch screen and the full functioning qwerty keyboard were easy to use. Transitioning between the functions on the phone was also very smooth and the touch screen was clear, crisp, very responsive.
- Battery life was excellent. We almost got 3 full days of usage without having to recharge the phone.
- Given that the Ghost Phone Plus is built on a sleek looking Pixel 4 phone, it doesn’t carry the same visual stigma that most youth have over owning a flip phone (like the Sunbeam Orchid phone that we recommend for pre-teens and younger teens) as a first phone. Yes – we have helped parents because their child was bullied over the fact that they were using a flip phone.
- It’s definitely a privacy by designed phone – after reading their privacy statement, they do not collect or sell any data or usage information they gather to third party vendors. As well, given that the phone is sandboxed, there are no targeted adds and the child can’t be tracked or data mined by big tech companies like Google or Apple. The phone can only query the Ghost Mode sever for updates, and this is only a one-way communications channel. There are no cloud services installed by default on the phone or any communication with the Ghost Mode server outside their operating system updates. Therefore, any information on the phone – contacts list, pictures, video are stored directly on the phone. Given we are privacy hawks, we like this fact, especially when it comes to protecting our kids’ digital dossiers that big tech wants to data mine, monetize, and profit from.
- It has a “Do Not Disturb” feature that can be turned on
- Easy to follow “how-to” guides are located on the Ghost Phone Plus web site (6)
- Full suite of setting options that allow a user to create a mobile environment specific to their needs and likes under the “Settings” option such as – network and internet access, Bluetooth paring, notification settings, sound and vibration settings, display settings, wallpaper settings, security and privacy settings, safety and emergency settings, and language and gesture settings to name a few.
- No ability to access an internet browser, app store, or gaming platform.
- The company offers a full refund in the first 30 days of the purchase of the phone. No restocking fees, no return shipping fees.
- The company will repair or replace any device having hardware issues as a result of regular use during the first year.
Things we didn’t like about the phone:
- At $359.00 US / $486.00 CDN it’s pricy for a youth’s first phone. However, it’s still cheaper than an iPhone and many Android phones. We do think the price can be balanced off with the fact that the phone is fully scaffolded and sandboxed with their proprietary software. This cost is also very close in price point to other phones that are designed for youth such as the Gabb Phone, the PinWheel phone, the Wisephone, and even the new Bark phone once you factor in the monthly contract these other phones require to use their platforms – unlike these other phones, there is no monthly/yearly contract with the Ghost Phone Plus.
- We do believe that given how youth treat phones, it would be strongly recommended that a good third-party protective case be purchased and used to protect a parent’s investment specific to this phone.
- All phone numbers and text messages sent/received can be deleted by the user without a parent’s knowledge or permission.
- The phone can be used to tether or hotspot internet access to a secondary device like a laptop, tablet, or another cellphone. Although adults may want this option, it can provide a youth with the ability to connect to an un-sandboxed secondary device (like a laptop or iPad) to allow them to have full internet accessibility using the Ghost Pone Plus’s data plan as the gateway.
- GPS meta-data specific to the location of where a picture/video is taken on the phone is not scrubbed. If a teen text messages a picture/video to another person, it can be used to track a child to their location using the meta-date behind the picture. This feature is not enabled, it is disabled by default. However, the user is prompted with a choice the first time the camera app is used to choose if the GPS metadata will be saved or not. Our suggestion is to keep it off by default when prompted.
- The expected ship date of the phone for public purchase is early September – not available yet.
NOTE: When we first attempted to use the texting function on the phone, we could easily send messages to a friend’s iPhone but when they replied with their own text, the Ghost Phone Plus phone did not receive the message. We did this several more time and achieved the same results. This is a common occurrence if you use a sim card from an existing iPhone where iMessage was turned on, and then placed into a non-iPhone. Here are the two work arounds for this issue:
- Use a newly purchased sim card in the Ghost Phone Plus phone (best option), or
- If using an existing sim card from an iPhone, before you remove the SIM make sure to turn iMessage off before you remove the SIM card from your iPhone. Otherwise, your SMS/MMS messages could continue going to your old iPhone instead of your new phone. To turn off iMessage on your iPhone,
- go to Settings, Tap Messages, Set iMessage to Off.
After we reset the Apple sim card that we were using for testing, messaging both outbound and inbound now worked just fine.
Wish List:
If we had one wish to add a feature it would be:
- Email access – more for older teens, adults, and seniors who are looking for a minimalist phone but would still like to access to an email option for things like work and school communication.
So, What Are Our Final Thoughts About This Phone?
Remember, the Ghost Phone Plus is not primarily designed for teens as a youth’s first phone, however, given its minimalist approach to its functionality, we would recommend it to families who can afford the cost as a great option for consideration for teens as well.
Overall, the Ghost Phone Plus does exactly what the vendor says it does. It’s a phone that is completely sandboxed and scaffolded with its own unique operating system. Yes, it looks and feels like a smartphone, which it is, but given the intentionally built Ghost Phone Plus operating system, it’s more like a smarter phone, rather than a fully functioning iPhone or Android phone. Think of the Ghost Phone Plus as a youth’s first smarter phone with training wheels to get them ready to transition to a more fully functional iPhone or Android phone as they digitally mature.
The Ghost phone allows the addition of other features. More specifically, messaging applications such as “Signal” and ‘WhatApp” (which we think would be appropriate for older teens) as well as a “YouTube Music” and a podcast app”. Given this fact, it is our opinion that this minimalist phone may be a better option for teens 16yrs+.
When we ask parents why they would want their pre-teen or younger aged child to own a phone, the number one answer we hear, “in an emergency, they can call me, or I can immediately call them.” Often giving a child a cellphone is more about a parent’s convenience in being able to connect and keep tabs on their child when they are outside the home. The narrative that youth are badgering their parent for their first cellphone is not necessarily factually correct – in reality, most youth are getting their first cellphone because parents want to keep in touch with them if needed. Well, the Ghost Phone Plus would fit this need perfectly without all the access and distracting fluff of a fully functioning iPhone or Android phone – a win/win situation in our opinion.
We acknowledge that the Ghost Phone Plus will probably be labelled as a “minimalist” tool by competitors who are selling phones designed specifically for youth – that was the creator’s intent, which we applaud. We would argue that given the ages that we recommend this phone be used as a “first phone” (16yrs +), an age-appropriate minimalist guided approach to their “onlife” use of technology is a good thing.
In our opinion, think of the Ghost Phone Plus as training wheels; once your child is exhibiting good digital literacy, digital maturity, and learned respect for technology, it’s our opinion that those teens have now earned the privilege to possess a more fully functioning iPhone or Android phone. Having said this, there might be some older teens who would still prefer this phone because of its minimalist approach to technology. Dare we say, this phone may also be very desirable for adults or even seniors who are looking for a basic phone that is not designed to capture and hold the attention of the owner, or have their digital dossier data tracked, mined, and monetized by big data.
So, there you have our product review of the Ghost Phone Plus. If you are a product vendor looking for an open and honest review of your tech product, connect with us!
Don’t forget to check out our chapter in our FREE web book “Cellphones – Is My Child Ready For A Cellphone”
The White Hatter
References:
2/ https://thewhitehatter.ca/blog/smartphones-redefining-mobile-phones-for-both-parents-caregivers/
3/ https://thewhitehatter.ca/blog/pinwheel-phone-for-young-teens-review/