Press

Stockholm, Sweden · 30 September 2026 · For immediate release

Half a million parents in twenty countries have done what their governments would not: set an age limit for smartphones. The parents say 14. Their governments say 13, or nothing at all. And neither the parents nor their governments have a good answer to how the child is supposed to stay in touch with friends and family in the meantime. That is what Barnluren's survey of parent movements and legislation in 26 countries shows.

Sweden is ahead of Europe, but not ahead of the parents. Sweden is one of only four countries with an official minimum age for smartphones: 13. Sweden's Minister for Social Affairs, Jakob Forssmed, has also invited telecom operators and electronics chains to a handshake agreement, which was presented on 12 September. The agreement is intended to get the industry to inform parents about the recommendation, adapt its marketing and offer alternatives to smartphones for younger children.

What the survey shows

Parents go further than their countries. The parents' pacts set the limit at 14 in Britain, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium, and at 16 in Spain. The countries that have a guideline at all say 11 to 13.

The movement is bigger than it looks. In Britain 190,000 families have signed; in Spain 34,000 pacts across 4,500 schools; in Italy 20,500 families; in the Netherlands 15,000 children; in Germany 2,200 schools; and in Sweden 4,400 parents. Together that is around 450,000 families, parents and children.

School is regulated, home is not. Of the 24 countries whose legislation was mapped, nearly all have banned or restricted phones in school. Only four, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands, have an official guideline on when a child should get a smartphone of their own. The European Commission's proposed EU Kids Act, presented on 17 September, sets 13 for social media and 15 for an account of a child's own, but says nothing about smartphones.

What Barnluren is

A child who has to wait for a smartphone loses something along the way: the chance to call a friend and ask, "Can you come out?", or to call grandma just to talk. Barnluren gives that back. The child gets a phone of their own at home that reaches their friends and family, and nobody else.

Friends with a Barnluren call each other directly, handset to handset. Grandparents and friends' parents answer in a free app. The parents decide who is in the phone book. No screen, no open internet, no connection to the ordinary phone network.

The first thing a child does with a phone of their own is call a friend. That is why Barnluren builds telephone clubs: classes, teams and neighbourhoods where several families get one at the same time, so the children are in each other's phone books from day one. The handset can be an analogue phone the family already owns, and Barnluren takes in old landline phones and lets them ring again in another child's home: barnluren.com/en/kretsloppet.

Barnluren is not part of any of the movements in the survey.

The survey draws on the movements' own sites and press coverage, retrieved on 15 and 16 September 2026: 20 countries with a parent movement, 24 whose legislation was mapped. The movements count different things, so the total is an estimate rather than an exact figure. The full survey with sources: barnluren.com/en/blog/mind-the-gap.

Stockholm, Sweden · 16 September 2026 · For immediate release

Barnluren is giving away a genuine vintage Garfield phone, the world's laziest cat as a working telephone. The point is not nostalgia. It is to get Swedes to open their storage rooms.

In many Swedish homes a working landline phone sits in a wardrobe, a basement or a drawer, doing nothing. Barnluren takes them in, checks and cleans them, and lets them ring again in the home of a child who does not have a mobile phone. Now there is a reason to actually go and fetch that phone: a prize draw for what may be the cutest phone in the world.

Entry is free and open until 13 October at barnluren.com/kretsloppet/tavling. The prize is a genuine vintage Garfield phone in working order, plus a Barnluren subscription for life, so the cat can ring for a child instead of sitting in the attic.

How the loop works

Anyone with an old landline phone fills in a short form at barnluren.com/kretsloppet and gets a PostNord QR code straight away. The service point prints the label, and shipping is free.

At Barnluren the phone is tested and cleaned. Then it is put up for adoption, where a new family is waiting.

When the child outgrows the phone, you can send it in again, so that it rings on in the next family. A phone never leaves the loop.

About the draw

• Period: 15 September to 13 October 2026
• Prize: a genuine vintage Garfield phone, used and in working order, worth about SEK 1,500, plus a free Barnluren subscription for one household for as long as the service operates
• Entry: free, no purchase necessary, one entry per person, 18 or older and resident in Sweden
• Extra chances: sharing your personal link gives one extra chance per friend who enters, up to five
• Draw: at random within seven days after the draw closes
• Terms: barnluren.com/kretsloppet/tavling/villkor

What Barnluren is

Barnluren is a landline phone for the home, connected over Wi-Fi to a closed network. The child only calls contacts the parents have approved: friends who also have a Barnluren, handset to handset, and family who answer in a free app. No screen, no open internet, no connection to the ordinary phone network. The handset can be an analogue phone the family already owns, or one that has been round the loop.

The first thing a child does with a phone of their own is call a friend. That is why Barnluren now builds telephone clubs: classes, teams and neighbourhoods where several families get one at the same time, so the children end up in each other's phone books and call each other without a mobile.

Calls are never recorded, and the only information stored about the child is a first name. The service runs on Barnluren's own infrastructure in the EU, with no advertising and no sale of data. Barnluren is a closed network and cannot call external numbers, including the emergency number 112.

Stockholm, Sweden · 8 September 2026 · For immediate release

Barnluren, the screen-free home landline for children that can only reach the people their parents have approved, is now open for orders in Spain, Denmark and Finland — its first markets outside Sweden. Devices are in stock and ship immediately.

Barnluren is a landline for the home, connected over Wi-Fi to a closed family network. The child can only call contacts their parents have approved. No screen, no open internet, no connection to the public phone network. The handset can be an analogue phone the family already owns.

The family side of the network has always been international: parents, grandparents and friends answer in the free Barnluren app, which works anywhere in the world. What is new is that the child's device now ships to homes in Spain, Denmark and Finland as well as Sweden.

The expansion comes as the debate about children and smartphones sharpens across Europe. Finland restricted mobile phone use during the school day by law from August 2025. Denmark's schools and after-school clubs are phone-free by law from this school year, on the recommendation of the government's wellbeing commission. In Spain, every region now has rules restricting phones in the classroom. School bans settle the school day — Barnluren is built for the hours after it: a real phone at home means parents can say no to the smartphone without cutting their child off from family and friends.

How it works

Two children with Barnluren call each other directly. Family and friends answer in the app. Setup takes about five minutes. Calls are never recorded, and the only data held about the child is a first name. The service runs on Barnluren's own infrastructure within the EU, with no advertising and no sale of data.

Old analogue phones work just as they are. Barnluren also takes in used phones and gets them ringing again in a new family's home: barnluren.com/kretsloppet.

Price

• Spain and Finland: packs with a phone from €63 (simple), €73 (desk) or €108 (retro); adapter only €49. Friends & Family €4/month
• Denmark: packs from DKK 448, 548 or 748; adapter only DKK 349. Friends & Family DKK 30/month
• Sweden: packs from SEK 648, 748 or 1,098; adapter only SEK 499. Friends & Family SEK 40/month
• Barnluren Friends is included with every phone: Barnluren to Barnluren calls are always free, unlimited calls to other Barnluren phones, and the parent who manages the phone can call it. Friends & Family lets the whole family circle call, cancel any time

Prices updated 24 September 2026.

Terms: No lock-in. Purchased hardware can be returned within 6 months. Barnluren is a closed network and cannot call outside numbers, including the emergency number 112. Order at barnluren.com.

Stockholm, Sweden · 1 September 2026 · For immediate release

Since the landline disappeared, children have had no good way to stay in touch with family and friends. Barnluren fixes that by bringing the home phone back to life.

Barnluren is now open for orders across Sweden. Devices are in stock and ship immediately.

Barnluren is a landline for the home, connected over Wi-Fi to a closed family network. The child can only call contacts their parents have approved. No screen, no open internet, no connection to the public phone network. The handset can be an analogue phone the family already owns.

The child calls either the Barnluren app – which grandma, say, has installed on her phone – or a friend who also has a Barnluren.

The launch comes in the middle of a shift. The share of Swedish nine-year-olds with their own mobile phone fell from 82 to 67 percent between 2022 and 2024, according to the Swedish Media Authority's report Ungar & medier 2025. A national mobile phone ban has applied in compulsory schools (ages 6–16) since 1 August. And since June, the Public Health Agency of Sweden has recommended that children wait until the year they turn 13 for a smartphone, pointing to a simple phone without internet as the alternative. Barnluren is built for the gap that opens up: parents should be able to say no to the smartphone without cutting their child off from grandma and their friends.

How it works

Two children with Barnluren call each other directly. Family and friends answer in the app. Setup takes about five minutes. Calls are never recorded, and the only data held about the child is a first name. The service runs on Barnluren's own infrastructure within the EU, with no advertising and no sale of data.

Old analogue phones work just as they are. Barnluren also takes in used phones and gets them ringing again in a new family's home. We care about children's future – and about the environment they will inherit: barnluren.com/kretsloppet.

Price

• Packs with a phone: simple phone SEK 648, desk phone SEK 748, retro phone SEK 1,098. Adapter only, for families who already have a phone: SEK 499
• Barnluren Friends, included: Barnluren to Barnluren calls are always free, unlimited calls to other Barnluren phones, and the parent who manages the phone can call it
• Barnluren Friends & Family: SEK 40/month, the whole family circle can call the phone, cancel any time

Prices updated 24 September 2026.

Terms: No lock-in. Purchased hardware can be returned within 6 months. Barnluren is a closed network and cannot call outside numbers, including the emergency number 112. Order at barnluren.com.

Stockholm, August 2026 — Barnluren, the Swedish company behind a screen-free private phone network for children, today announced that Andreas Tael has joined as Co-founder.

Andreas Tael spent ten years at King, most recently leading the New Games R&D team — around 20 people running up to three games at once, built to find out fast whether real players wanted them. Around ten concepts came out of it, including Minecraft Blast. He then joined Mojang as Senior Product Manager for Minecraft Java, running the platform team behind one of the most loved games and opinionated communities in software.

Barnluren is a phone for children with no screen and no internet: a real handset, on a closed network, that only rings the people a parent has approved. The product launched publicly in Sweden in July 2026.

Read the full announcement on the Barnluren blog.

Press contact: [email protected]

Stockholm, April 2026

Swedish startup Barnluren invites 10 families to pioneer a private phone network for children.

Barnluren, a Swedish startup building a private voice network for children, today opened applications for its Pioneer Beta Program. The company is seeking 10 families to be the first to introduce Barnluren to their communities.

Each selected pioneer will receive 10 Barnluren devices to distribute among connected families — children in the same school class or friend group. The program is designed to validate whether a network of children using simple landline phones can build the kind of independent social connections that disappeared when the family landline was replaced by smartphones.

The pioneer program is free for three months, including the device. Barnluren is a closed private network — no connection to the public phone system, no internet access, and no ability for anyone not on the parent-approved contact list to reach a child. Family members use a free iOS or Android app to call and receive calls.

The program comes as Sweden prepares to implement a national school phone ban in August 2026, and amid growing international momentum to delay children's smartphone access. Grassroots movements such as Ki-DS (Sweden) and Smartphone Free Childhood (UK) now represent hundreds of thousands of parents across dozens of countries.

Barnluren was founded in 2025 in Stockholm by Greg Chrystall and Ivan Soltic. The company designs its own hardware and firmware and is working with Mitac AB to manufacture devices in Sweden.

Families can apply to the Pioneer Beta Program at barnluren.com/pioneer.

Press contact: [email protected]