Contracts, cancellation, and what the fine print doesn't lead with

None of the five phones we track requires a contract. Four are month-to-month or device-financing models from the start; Gabb offers month-to-month too, but its cheapest rates are for one- or two-year contracts with an early termination fee. Either way, walking away is not always free — here's what each vendor's own pages actually say, not the headline price.

Gabb

Gabb is the one brand here that sells a real service contract, and the only one whose headline price depends on signing it. Each plan has three rates: Standard is $29.99 a month on a two-year contract, $31.99 on a one-year contract and $34.99 with no contract; Advanced is $34.99, $36.99 and $39.99. When a contract ends, the plan carries on month-to-month at the same rate.

Leaving early costs an early termination fee, plus taxes. On the one-year contract it is up to $100: it stays at $100 for the first two months, then falls by $10 a month from month 3. On the two-year contract it is up to $150: it falls by $6.25 a month from month 7 to month 15, then by $10 a month from month 16 to month 24. All of this is printed on the Gabb Phone 4 product page; the help-centre article on plans still gives only the two-year rates and says the others "may be higher". (source)

Bark

The Bark Phone device is financed separately from the wireless plan, at $15/month for 24 months (Bark Phone Pro: $25/month for 24 months) — this is a device payment, not a plan fee, and it keeps going even if you change your plan tier. Bark's terms state that canceling more than 60 days after purchase means paying off whatever device balance remains. (source)

Troomi

Troomi advertises "no contracts" and a 30-day money-back guarantee, with plans billed month-to-month. The handset is $249.95 for the Samsung Galaxy A17 5G, or $10.60 a month financed; the tougher XCover7 Pro is $649.95. Those figures are on Troomi's shop subdomain rather than its main site, which is why our own pipeline missed them until 2026-08-10. (source)

Pinwheel

The cheapest Pinwheel plan ("Caregiver Portal only") is parental-control software alone — it does not include cellular service. You'll need a SIM and data plan from your own carrier on top of that. Pinwheel Wireless bundles unlimited talk/text and 5GB of data with the same parental controls. Neither has a monthly option: the portal is $174.99 a year or $49.99 per three months ($14.58 and $16.66 a month respectively), and Pinwheel Wireless is $284.99 a year or $79.99 per three months ($23.75 and $26.66 a month). Paying quarterly rather than annually costs 12–14% more. (source)

MMGuardian

MMGuardian advertises the phone "from $229 + service plan," bring-your-own-carrier. The vendor's own comparison table also cites a roughly $529 first-year total assuming a 5GB data plan — we're not publishing that figure ourselves because it bundles an unverified carrier plan cost we can't confirm applies to every buyer. (source)

Back to the first phone decision guide, or see the full monitoring comparison.