I’m not sure why there is so much negativity toward this article here.

Even a small amount of friction to getting to slot machine apps does wonders for reducing the amount of time spent on them. But likewise it’s nice (and useful) to still have access to these apps for some people so deleting isn’t a viable option.

Like any other “everything in moderation” suggestion if it’s not all or nothing, just use self control, the internet hates on it.

I tried the "grayscale-only display" for kicks, and it sucks, primarily with Apps that are better off with different colors - Maps.

Besides that, I have been disabling Notifications for ages, and that is the one decision that I believe was one of the best decisions of my phone life. I wrote an article in 2014[1] that needs a serious update, but it still makes sense.

Make it a habit to turn off Notifications as soon as you install a new app unless they are critical, such as Medical or Kid/school-related.

My Home page has a minimal wallpaper that I did a few years back, and it stayed. I usually leave one row at the bottom for beta-testing and region-specific Apps I use while traveling.

Of course, none of the Social Media Apps are on my phone. I checked my screen time to include this comment, and I've 37 minutes Daily Average. So, on most usage, I should still likely be averaging less than an hour daily.

1. https://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activi...

Easy solution: Delete apps you don’t need or feel bad about (Twitter, social media, apps spamming notifications,…)

The described solution is just someone procrastinating by spending even more time on their phone trying to customize things and fiddle with apps.

Same category as building a todo app to become more productive or building a blogging engine to write more instead of just writing.

While deleting apps, BitWarden is built in now, including setting TOTP MFA codes and sharing. https://support.apple.com/en-nz/guide/iphone/ipha6173c19f/io...

Photos and Maps, while deleting the unneeded Google apps, keep the dumb phone from informing third party adtech of your day.

The minimal launcher is cool; this is built in: https://support.apple.com/en-nz/guide/assistive-access-iphon...

Pointless waste of time. It's still an internet connected smartphone - evidenced by the fact he has apps like Slack on the home screen.

May as well rename the article to 'how I changed the appearance of my iPhone'.

This article is all about showing off and getting attention from people asking about your home screen. It’s all about consuming minimalism and telling people. I disable all notifications but phone, messages and calendar, install minimal applications, no sns, and only show the basics on Home Screen. No need to configure the whole minimal wallpaper, just get your phone far for eyesight.

It’s crazy to think that iPhones are so powerful but there’s not an easy way to repurpose them as generic computing devices at their EOL.

It's easy to break your phone addiction—I've done it a 1,000 times...

But, seriously, I've tried launchers, leechblock, and other software solutions. For me, they don't work long term because I end up just reverting and unblocking. I always have some justification in my head as to why I need to reinstall Discord or browse YouTube and then it's over.

For me, I've had much better luck with a device where those types of slips are impossible. Mostly... although sometimes I really do need a smartphone to scan a QR code or to pay a foodtruck with Venmo.

The Jelly Star seems to be the best compromise for me so far. It's still a smartphone, but the screen is so small that it's a lot harder to be on it for hours.

iOS has a built-in “simple” mode called Assistive Access. It does a lot of what’s described here.

https://support.apple.com/guide/assistive-access-iphone/welc...

If the problem is social media app addiction, I have found the best solution is to turn on screen time, whitelist your most important apps like messages, calendar etc. and then enable a passcode to access any other app. Ask a friend to set a pin code for you so you cannot cheat.

Another solution is to just use an apple watch with cellular as your primary phone. It has everything you need (spotify, imessage, etc.) but nothing that distracts you like youtube, tiktok etc.

I just don’t have any social media apps on my phone, that’s basically the only thing that sucks up screen time

The article is not useless as many might think.

It is a pity that it is not as well thought out as it appears. For example, the suggestion to remove system applications will almost immediately lead to a bootloop.

I, for example, have a hard time imagining how to protect elderly parents from a text message that will send them a link that, when clicked, will bombard them with suggestions to enable notifications, and then notifications will bombard them with suggestions to do something else.

The most effective solution I found was keeping my phone in my backpack instead of my pocket. When working I keep it somewhere I’d need to get up to get it.

Together with taming notifications this provides enough friction to discourage me from reaching for it at every spare second.

Once the phone reaches my hands the tricks in the post are not enough to remove the need for conscious effort to let go of the thing and put it back in its inconveniently positioned place.

I recognise the problems this 'dumbphone' trend is trying to solve but I really don't understand many of the solutions people are putting forth. What I did years ago is aggressively manage my notifications settings, deleted the apps that were a problem (twitter, reddit) and I'm assertive about not being in too many group chats + notifications off for those. And it's been working great.

I was seriously looking into purchasing a dumb smart phone, a la Light Phone 2 or Punkt MP02. I want some messaging, audio, maps etc but keep the slot machine apps as far away as possible. This simple guide saved me at least € 300 on the purchase of a new phone... for now.

No mention of the iPhone’s built in ‘Assistive Access’ mode. That would be my first port of call for turning it into a dumb phone.

I implemented all of them. Thank you for sharing.

I recently finished Atomic Habits and these actions pair well with it. Especially the points about making the bad habits less accessible and make them less satisfying.

I don't know why people do this.

The reason I buy an iPhone is that I want all the non dumb things. If I wanted all the dumb stuff I'd just not bother.

A hack that has worked for me is having another person set up the code for screen time settings, in a way that there is just enough friction for the often unconscious reflex to open XYZ app and proceed to get sucked in.

In my case I both set a daily time limit and block certain apps to only certain hours of the day

I take a medium approach and turn off almost all notifications, do not install “social” addictionware apps or similar junk, turn off background refresh for almost everything, and if I need some gratuitous app on a trip I uninstall it as soon as I don’t.

I haven’t tried their lock down mode yet whatever it’s called.

I like e ink phones a lot. Same screen tech as Kindle ereaders.

Great for reading and text. Terrible for videos and scrolling. Here’s a video of me using one:

E ink phone Android app showcase | Hisense A9 review https://youtu.be/dvO9ScTdwz8

My Androids made better dumbphones.

The always-on display simply showed a small Whatsapp icon. No need to unlock your phone or check an app for messages. Only unlock it at all if you have a message. Ignore the message without reading its contents. And, as LineageOS/cyanogenmod can, disable notifications also in the status bar. Use Google Maps or your train ticket app without being interrupted by the status bar icons/notification center. "Do not disturb" really means you won't get any notifications. 1-click toggle.

iOS on the other hand, I haven't even found a way to make notifications silent while making calls ring. (Apart from toggling notification settings for 30 apps individually!)

I would say what you can do is simply block or time limit distracting apps and websites from the screentime section of the iPhone settings, and then get a friend to input a pin to lock the settings in place

If you have a problem with attention, just buy a flip phone, they still exist.

For Android users, take a look at BaldPhone. Fully Open Source and primarily aimed at seniors, does a pretty good job at simplifying the interface making most important actions easier to perform. It does not turn a smartphone into a dumbphone (I don't think that is even possible without removing entire parts of the system, possibly bricking the device) but the simpler and immediate interface makes it a lot more usable.

https://github.com/UriahShaulMandel/BaldPhone

Re greyscale, it really does work.

And you can also add an accessibility switch with Back Tab to turn this on and off by tapping three times at the back of your iphone.

I have turned my work iphone into a dumb phone. It has got only apps that cannot be removed, plus the apps that are provisioned through mdm. No icloud, nothing beyond what is needed for communication with my colleagues. Location services off, bluetootg is always off, wifi only connects to cirporate network.

My personal phone is less so dumb but I follow the YAGNI principle there as well.

just turn it off and check your messages every few hours, that's what I do. Airplane mode is a god send if you're trying to break the habit. Yesyesyes I know that's not an option for everyone. Back in the day I did fine without being constantly online though, and so far I'm good. Seems like a reasonable compromise between smart phone and dumb phone

So you need a dumb phone to focus on? Can't you decide what to focus yourself in?

That sounds like you should ride a car with a top speed of 50 kmph to control your driving speed.

If you can't concentrate, practice it.

I'm using Niagara Launcher on Android, really recommend it.

One problem I found with the "delete your apps" recommendation, is that you can't actually delete Safari on iOS.

It just feels wild to suggest turning a $1000 phone into something a $100 phone. However, I see the appeal.

I gave this a try. I'm already a skeptic towards cell phone usage, but I figured why not try to push it a little further by "minimalizing" my home screen.

Dumbify is easy enough to set up. It's not always an elegant solution as the list of supported apps is quickly exhausted and required me to make a shortcut. There's a delay and window transitioning from when I tap the link for Anki as Dumbify must first open its app, then go to the shortcut, and then open Anki. Not a huge latency, but noticeable and irksome at times when I want to do a quick search on Firefox. Maybe that's my fault for not trying to deliberately dumb my phone down further to the point where I don't even need a browser. How do we know when we're dumb enough with our phones? What level of distraction is acceptable?

The other major detractor is the fact that instead of seeing my badges on my homescreen, I just flip over one page. Mind you, these are only messenger apps, so that I can at least be reachable by those in my life. I don't have badges enabled on Mail or other apps. I don't have social media accounts, let alone the apps for them, yet my instincts are still to open and flip to the page with the badges. Maybe my behavior will change over time, but I am skeptical it will.

disclaimer: No relation. Adding to this clearspace app. Kicks you out of your current at after a selected amount of time. Takes time to load the app in, really good jolt to the brain. Although the apps SSO is buggy af, and it glitches out sometimes.

Wait since when does iOS support third party launchers? This is news to me.

I was trying to minimize my YouTube watch time. It was a failure.

Looks really interesting, I'll give this a shot.

Can Safari be removed? I would assume: no.

How to turn an iPhone into the perfect dumb phone:

- Never log into an iCloud account

- [optional] don't connect to the internet except for low bandwidth mobile data

Done.

Tbh iphone itself is less smart than android

80% of the battle is notifications but iOS really sucks at this compared to Android. On Android, I could use an app like Uber, keep the important notifications on like driver/delivery arrived but turn off all the marketing trash. On iOS all you can do is turn on or off all notifications, so if you need certain notifications from an app they get a free pass to spam you all they want :/ The entire idea of any random being able to spam messages onto your phone and make it beep without consent and fine grained control is insane.

Seriously, HN? You want a dumb phone, go get yourself used iPhone X/SE or something, and never install anything, but only the essential stuff. Without all the gazillion of apps, it would work wonders even in 2024.

You have issues with you wasting your life on something like Facebook? Don’t install it. Use browser when needed. Use private tab in Safari, and enter your password each time, so it’s all complicated now. (That’s how I use it, btw.) Same with any other addictives.

Android users, I recommend you to get oLauncher from f-droid/gplay (or better oLauncherCF), and that’s enough already. Hide all the distractions, and Bob’s your uncle.

I have my phones to be the bare minimum pocket computers for years now, and I’m surprised that topic still arises and is actual. Greyscale is bullshit, isn’t it? Has anyone used it seriously for over a couple of days? Even Night Shift is kinda bullshit, in a way. (Better to leave it on, though.) The way is to not use your phone in the night, if you can afford it.

If there’s no nightly drone and missiles attacks from russia in your countries now. So that you need to watch out for Air Raid Alerts 24/7. And your life is at stake. If you’re not there, chances are you can afford to not touch your phone since the evening till the morning. Think of it.

The essential thing isn’t inside your phone, it’s outside of it. It’s you. Work on yourself, and those distractions wouldn’t take you that easily, even when your phone is all flashy and colourful.

I know, we all have that shared problem, but I thought it’s kinda resolved issue for over– for years. Since– idk, 2017?

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