Set up few few

About five minutes. Have these with you:

Before the reset

While the phone still works normally.

  1. Check the Android version

    Settings > About phone > Android version. It must be 10 or newer.

  2. Make a test call

    Put your child’s SIM card in and call someone. If the call doesn’t go through, try another phone or SIM: few few can’t do better than the phone.

  3. Turn off voicemail

    Dial ##002# and press call. Calls few few blocks would otherwise end up in a voicemail your child can’t check.

  4. Remove the Google account

    Settings > Accounts > your Google account > Remove account. Otherwise, after the reset, the phone asks for that account’s password before anything else.

Did this number use an iPhone? Turn off iMessage for it first, or texts from iPhones will never arrive. On the iPhone: Settings > Messages > iMessage off. No iPhone any more? Use Apple’s deregister page.

The reset

This erases everything on the phone.

  1. Erase the phone

    Pixel, Motorola
    Settings > System > Reset options > Erase all data
    Samsung
    Settings > General management > Reset > Factory data reset
    Xiaomi
    Settings > About phone > Factory reset
    Other brands
    Search for “reset” in Settings

  2. Wait for the welcome screen

    The phone restarts on a screen with a Start button.

Stop there. Don’t tap Start. Going through Google’s setup screens makes the QR code unusable, and you would have to reset the phone again.

The install

The phone downloads few few and sets it up on its own.

  1. Tap the welcome screen six times

    Quickly, on an empty spot. A QR code reader opens. If the phone asks for Wi-Fi first, connect.

  2. Scan your QR code

    With this reader. A camera app can’t read it: the code holds setup instructions, not a link.

  3. Accept Android’s screens

    “This device belongs to your organization”: tap Next, then Accept & continue.

    “Organization” sounds odd, and that’s fine. Android uses this word for any app allowed to manage a phone, like the ones companies put on work phones. Here, the organization is you, through few few. No company can see the phone, and your contacts and messages never leave it.

  4. Finish Google’s setup

    Skip everything optional, like signing in or extra apps.

  5. Finish in few few

    few few opens by itself. Choose your parent code, add the people your child can reach, then tap Finish. Android shows one or two screens to allow few few: accept each one, then come back.

That’s it: the phone is now locked to few few. It updates itself, at night over Wi-Fi while charging: nothing to scan again. To come back to the parent settings, press and hold the time for three seconds. There you can also set a phone code: your child types it each time the screen turns on, so nobody else can use the phone. Stuck somewhere? See Support.