after school activities and we need to know when to pick them, or when they travel with school teams and we want to know how close the bus is to getting back to the school, etc.

We have gone with smart phones, but, at least with iPhones, they are pretty easy to lock down. We don't allow them to delete browsing history, they can't download apps without our permission, etc. The iPhone also has screen time so we can set daily limits they have by app category and they have to request more time if they want it. They also don't get their phones in their rooms when they go to bed. The phones are in our room over night. They also know we go through their phones and see what's going on.

Obviously you can't control 100% of what they have access to.

We have only daughters, but if I had teenage sons I would be a little more concerned about what kind of access they have on their devices...