How can parents address concerns about their childrens’ use of smartphones? HMD has introduced the HMD Fusion X1 package to the market, which combines the HMD Fusion smartphone with Xplora’s Guardian App. How does it work, and what features does it offer the connected family?
The HMD Fusion Smartphone
I took a closer look at the HMD Fusion (the smartphone part of this package) when it was released late in 2024:
“…the HMD Fusion is a competent smartphone that delivers what the market expects at this price point. It’s equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset backed up by 6 GB of memory. You have 128 GB of internal storage, while support for SD Cards means you can comfortably add 1TB if you feel the need for more.”
Given its price and capability, the Fusion will not win any awards for high performance, but neither will it break the bank. It’s the sort of phone that could easily be considered for a younger member of the family, hence the marketing of the Fusion X1 as “your first phone.”
I’m going to skip over the curious question about the potential of the Fusion X1 as a first phone in the family—every family’s personal ecosystem is going to be wildly different—and move to the X1 part of the equation, because this is where things get interesting.
Managing The HMD Fusion Remotely
The starting point of the HMD Fusion and a remote management app comes from the company’s Better Phone Project. Part of this study examined parental concerns about smartphone usage, with two-thirds feeling they had to devise their own solutions. The HMD Fusion X1 is an all-in-one package that aims to address these concerns through its partnership with Norwegian company Xplora—the X in the Fusion X1 package.
Once the Fusion is up and running out of the box, the Xplora Teens Phone App is opened and paired with a phone running the Xplora App. From that point, the Fusion has an additional layer of control that is managed through the parent app, allowing it to pass location, battery status, and relevant data, such as screen time, back to the app.
This has two main focuses.
The first is the ’ modes’ the phone is in, with School Mode and Bedtime Mode available, allowing for different levels of access depending on the time of day or day of the week. Both modes limit contacts that can be messaged or called. Additionally, there is a whitelist set of apps and contacts that can be used. For example you might want the web browser to no longer work after 9pm on a school night.
The second core focus is on apps. Specific apps installed on the phone can be hidden from view at app times. Any app installed (for example through Google Play) on the phone will be installed as hidden, so will need to be approved before it can be opened. Each app can also be assigned a timer, allowing a set amount of time to run per day. The obvious use here would be for gaming or social media.
It’s worth noting that you will need a subscription to Xplora; all plans offer this support, starting at €4.99.
HMD Fusion Xplora Experience
The other side of the package is on the managed phone, and here the experience is almost identical to the core Android experience, albeit with fewer apps installed. The phone is effectively locked into this customised and restricted launcher. Some unavailable apps are still displayed, but they are greyed out. Typically, these are apps that are either unavailable in the current mode or the daily time limit to use an app has expired.
The UI optionally blocks contacts and messages from those not on the whitelist set by the parent phone. All in all, it feels like a painless tweak to the user interface. Any complaints about “needing more time” or “I want this app” have nothing to do with the management experience.
And yes, when the phone is restarted, it goes straight into the managed UI, so there’s no quick workaround on the phone.
The HMD Fusion X1 In The Family
The package of hardware and software offers a middle ground between the extremes of “no smartphones for children at all” and “here’s a gateway to everything in the world, and everything in the world can reach you.” HMD has also focused on making the Fusion a repairable phone with parts available through the likes of iFixit, which should help keep costs down if the phone gets into any scrapes at school or out at play.
There’s also part of me thinking that a phone that limits apps and offers a whitelist of contacts makes sense to help support older family members.
While similar services have been available before, the bundling of the HMD Fusion with the Xplora software is a single purchase (for the phone) and a straightforward subscription service for ongoing support. It’s a one-box solution for a complicated issue, and many will be thankful for the easy starting point that answers concerns about the always-connected smartphone.
Now read my full run-down of the HMD Fusion…
