The Best Phone Insurance Options for Families With Teenagers

Phones are one of the most expensive items teens own, and often the first expensive thing. Losing or damaging a phone can be a painful and costly situation. Having phone insurance means you can afford any phone replacement in the family, preventing tears and phonelessness.

Let’s go over the best phone insurance for families with teens, the pros and cons, and coverage types you need to know.

Why Teenagers Pose Unique Phone Risks

High frequency of accidental damage

Teenagers are inexperienced. They often find themselves damaging their phones accidentally. It may be when they’re following adventurous trends, at school, eating food, or just resting at home. Drops, spills, and cracked screens are extremely common. It only takes one accident for the entire phone to be damaged.

Higher likelihood of loss or theft

Whether your teen is at school, on outings, or traveling, they may be vulnerable targets for thievery. It’s easy to get too comfortable sipping coffee at a cafe, phone exposed, and then five minutes later it’s gone. When commuting to school or traveling by plane, train, or metro, damaging or losing their phone is a real risk.

Increased phone usage

Teenagers use phones for a lot of things, such as:

• Social media: It’s rare to find a teen not glued to social media all the time. Social media often draws attention for hours every day
• Gaming: Streaming services like twitch, mobile games like Genshin Impact, and other gaming apps can overwork the phone. This means greater wear and tear
• Texting: We live in a world where Facetiming and texting other people is as easy as the press of a button

Emotional damage

Teenagers can feel very distraught when damaging or losing their phone. It is a big financial investment, gift, and responsibility to have a phone.

Phone insurance is a useful tool to help mitigate the emotional damage and distress when an accident occurs. After all, it means parents and guardians will know that there is a financial safety net and a replacement or repairs will be possible.

Key Features Families Should Look for in Phone Insurance

Multi-Device Family Plans and Bundles

Phone insurance has become much more versatile in today’s day and age. You can obtain coverage for multiple phones under one policy. There may be a deductible per-claim or a shared deductible for all phones’ claims.

Low Deductibles for Common Accidents

The phone insurance deductible is how much you need to pay out-of-pocket before the insurance will cover the rest. Cracked screens and other more minor damages often cost a hundred or more to repair. It is important to choose a plan that has a low deductible, like $100, so that you can actually file claims for losses that aren’t an entire phone replacement.

Low phone deductibles for common accidents is great for:

• Cracked screen: $100 - $400
• Battery replacement: $50 to $300
• Water damage: $50 to $500+
• Charging port repair: $100

Costs will of course vary based on your phone’s model, specs, and degree of damage.

Fast Replacement Options

If anyone in your family knows they need fast phone replacements in case there is an emergency, you might want to choose a phone insurance company that is known for fast payouts and same-day or next-day replacement. That way if you file a claim, it can get accepted quickly, allowing you to swiftly repair or replace a phone.

Theft & Loss Protection

A phone insurance plan that covers theft and loss is essential for teens who carry their phones with them everywhere. Theft and loss coverage for phones can cover the entire replacement cost if your phone gets stolen. Insurance policies like AppleCare+ even cover international shipments and replacements.

Having a phone location tracker can greatly improve the efficiency of theft insurance claims.

Worldwide Coverage

International phone insurance is something to consider if your teen plans to travel or go on school trips. Some places, like Italy, are notorious for having your phone stolen. But even in the safest tourist locations, it’s easy to damage or lose a phone due to unfamiliar environments.

However, if your child is traveling abroad, consider a travel insurance plan instead since it won’t just cover phones, but also baggage, trip cancellations, delays, and other potential expenses.

Easy claim tracking and device monitoring

Since you would likely be filing insurance claims for your teen, make sure to choose a phone insurance company that offers easy claim processing and tracking tools. For example, online portals are an easy way to see every phone’s claims laid out clearly.

Data recovery

Some phone insurance plans offer data recovery services and protection. This can be useful if anyone’s phone gets damaged but it has precious data, such as family photos and account passwords. Know that data recovery coverage is usually an add-on, not a standard coverage type, because data recovery can get quite expensive without guaranteeing success.

Comparison of the Best Phone Insurance Options

Here are the features and downsides to popular phone insurance types and alternatives.

Carrier-Provided Insurance

Most carriers offer phone protection plans for your convenience. It may be provided by your mobile phone carrier or by a third-party insurance company partnered with them. Popular ones include AT&T Phone Insurance, Verizon Phone Protection, and T-Mobile P360.

Let’s go through the pros and cons of carrier provided phone insurance.

Pros:

• Easy to add to plan
• Fast replacements

Cons:

• Can be more expensive
• Limited flexibility

Manufacturer Insurance

Phone manufacturers used to only have phone warranties, but they do offer phone insurance nowadays. Popular options are AppleCare+ and Samsung Care+. Here are the pros and cons of phone manufacturer insurance:

Pros:

• Strong repair networks
• Reliable service
• Easy claims processing
• Swift phone replacements

Cons:

• Usually per-device
• Can get expensive for multiple teens and family members
• Has coverage limitations

Third-Party Insurance Providers

Third party phone insurance providers include Asurion, SquareTrade (AKA Allstate), Protect Your Bubble, and Akko. Here are the pros and cons of third-party phone insurance policies:

Pros:

• Often cheaper for families
• Customizable coverage
• Many more options
• You can get travel coverage for your phone

Cons:

• Claim process can be slower
• Terms vary
• Takes longer to get phone replacement

Bundled Coverage with Homeowners or Renters Insurance

Did you know that homeowners insurance and renters insurance policies often include belongings such as phones and other electronic devices? Check your insurance plans to see if they come with phone insurance or if they offer add-ons you can purchase to improve your coverage.

Pros:

• May already be included
• Covers loss and theft
• Convenient bundles

Cons:

• High deductibles
• May raise overall policy premium
• Claims may further raise policy premium

Cost vs. Value: Is Phone Insurance Worth It for Families?

Is family phone insurance worth it? Even though phone insurance offers great financial assistance, it might not be worth it for your family. This is because a family emergency savings fund could work better in terms of flexibility.

Family phone insurance costs around $50 a month for four lines. That is $600 a year in phone insurance premiums. Now, it may seem like a lot if nothing happens, but it is a predictable cost that you can plan for. If you need to replace a smartphone for 2 to 3 teenagers, each phone can cost over $800 depending on what model they have. Then what happens if your own phone breaks too? No one in the family should go around without a phone in case an emergency happens and your teens need to contact you (or vice versa).

Let’s look at an example. Say family phone insurance costs $600 annually.

• Your younger child drops their phone into a swimming pool. Water damage costs $200 to repair, but the phone ends up being hard to use and the data irrecoverable. A replacement costs $500
• Your teen gets their phone stolen while on a field trip. Their smartphone costs $1,000 to replace

That’s $1700 in a year on extra expenses if you don’t have insurance. Don’t forget that the phone insurance cost is predictable. Accidental expenses are not. It’s much easier to pay a small amount every month than to shell out a thousand dollars for an emergency.

If you have insurance, you get to slash that down to only $600 (plus a hundred dollar deductible). You would save around $1,100 in expenses. You also get to cheer up your sad children with phone replacements.

Tips for Parents to Reduce Teen Phone Risks

Everyone in the family can take proactive steps to protect their phones. Here are some of the best ways to reduce phone damages for families with teens and children.

Encourage phone cases and screen protectors

Don’t settle for a $10 phone case on Amazon. Choose a phone case that is a little bulkier. It can help protect the phone in case it gets dropped. Shock absorbing phone cases are essentially armor for phones, but shockproof phone cases can be expensive. Consider OtterBox, a fantastic phone case brand, and SUPCASE, the best budget phone case.

A good screen protector can go a long way in protecting a phone from scratches, cracks, and hardware damage. Just make sure it is applied properly aligned to the screen and with no air bubbles.

Teach responsible habits

What seems obvious to an adult is not obvious or common sense to teenagers. Teach your teenager responsible habits, which can be built over time. Habits are also easier to teach if you model them for your children. Here are some examples:

• Never leave phone unattended
• Check phone before leaving a location
• Don’t balance phone on risky, unstable surfaces
• Don’t download sketchy links (teach them how to avoid malware)
• Don’t swipe credit card without thinking about the costs
• Charge phone to full
• Know how to keep track of data usage
• Be careful about joining random public wifi connections

Consider parental tracking apps to locate lost devices quickly

Phones can download GPS apps and geotracking software. Some phones come with manufacturer apps for this purpose.

It is important to respect a teenager’s privacy. Imagine if you found out a trusted adult had downloaded a tracking app on your phone without telling you. It is a good idea to chat with your child about how to activate Find My iPhone or other tracking options.

A phone tracker can also help with travel insurance and phone insurance claims. The GPS can show your insurance company that the phone has truly been lost or stolen and you cannot recover it.

Rotate older phones to younger kids with insurance on new devices

If your family has multiple children but can only cover one or two phones, try to cover the newest devices. Insurance on newest devices generally makes more sense because they are more expensive to replace.

However, do consider warranties and phone repair potential when deciding which phones in your family need insurance coverage. Some phone brands are cheaper to repair. Others, like Apple phones, can be hard and expensive to repair.

Conclusion

The right phone insurance for families can save you from a huge financial headache. It costs anything from $8 to $50 a month depending on coverage types, number of lines, and insurance company.

Families with multiple children should strongly consider a multi-device family insurance plan. Balance cost with protection by checking out our curated best phone insurance plans today.