Mental Floss

How To Turn Your Smartphone Into a “Dumb Phone”

Could making your mobile device a bit “stupider” be the key to curbing that pesky smartphone addiction? You can see for yourself with these handy tips.
ByRudie Obias|
Level up your smartphone game by dumbing it all down.
Level up your smartphone game by dumbing it all down. | Tim Robberts, DigitalVision Collection, Getty Images

Over the last 20 years, smartphones have significantly transformed the way we access information, listen to music, take photos, shoot videos, and, of course, stay in touch with our friends and family.

Whether it’s with an Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, or any other mobile device, you likely have a smartphone in your pocket or purse. You might be reading this article on your phone right now, in fact.

However, as ubiquitous as smartphones are in our society, they can be rather distracting and time-consuming. How many times have you been lost in your Instagram or TikTok feed when you know you should be working? (Don’t worry, it’s happened to the best of us.)

If you want to live a distraction-free life, but also enjoy the convenience of using a mobile device, here are a few easy ways you can turn your smartphone into a “dumb phone.”

  1. Delete Apps
  2. Disable Notifications
  3. Limit Your Screen Time
  4. Grayscale
  5. Minimalist Apps
  6. Android Launchers

Delete Apps

Think of this step as a way to clean house and start fresh. Go through all of the apps on your phone and start deleting anything that you absolutely don’t need during your day-to-day life. Keep vital apps, such as a web browser, calendar, maps, phone and text messaging, email, security and authentication, photo gallery, and others. Delete unnecessary apps, including shopping, news, meal delivery, banking, rideshare, gaming, and even productivity apps, especially social media.

Social media apps, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and others, are among the biggest culprits of time-suckage and distractions on your smartphone. If you need to check your social media accounts, limit your usage on a desktop or laptop to avoid spending too much time on your phone.

You can even delete certain apps, such as Spotify, YouTube, and Audible, to reduce your phone usage time altogether. It may be tough to break the habit, but reading a book on the bus or listening to the radio in your car might be a better way to relax during your daily commute. Additionally, deleting all unnecessary and distracting apps from your phone will probably make your device run smoother and clear up storage space.

Disable Notifications

Notifications on your phone are a good way to know that you have a new text message or email waiting for you in your inbox. However, all the apps on your phone have some notification settings to alert you to something that could be considered inconsequential, such as a new sale or promotion. You don’t need them.

Go into your system settings and disable notifications for most of your apps, then enable alerts for the apps you need the most, such as messaging. There’s no need to get a notification about a new pizza at Domino’s throughout the day. 

Limit Your Screen Time

If the cold turkey approach to your app addiction is too harsh, you can limit your screen time across all your apps. Instead of mindlessly scrolling through TikTok or Instagram for three to four hours per day, you can limit your usage to 30 minutes per day in your system settings.

Once enabled, the app will display a blank screen during that set time range. If you exceed your time limit, it will give you a chance to put down your phone and do something else, such as enjoying a sunny day.

Grayscale

Smartphone apps and wallpapers are bright and colorful, so they’ll easily catch your eye and entice you to pick up your phone and use it. But if you grayscale your phone, all of those bright colors won’t be so distracting anymore.

Go to the accessibility tab in your settings to turn your smartphone from a colorful wonderland into a monochromatic device. It might not be pretty, but it’s effective if you want to reduce your phone usage.

Minimalist Apps

One of the easiest ways to turn your iPhone into a “dumb phone” is to download minimalist apps, such as Dumb Phone and Blank Spaces, which do all the dirty work for you. Although it might seem counterintuitive to download yet another app to downgrade your phone, these apps make the process friction-free and effortless.

Once downloaded and launched, your cutting-edge Apple iPhone 16 can be reduced to a plain and simple device.   

Android Launchers

For Android users, there are a few launchers, such as the Minimalist Phone and Before Launcher, that completely overhaul your smartphone to make it as simple and basic as possible. These launchers streamline the process, making it quick and easy.

And if those solutions don’t work for you, you could always trade in your smartphone for a traditional flip phone—a mobile device with no internet access, camera, apps, or multimedia. Back to just having a regular phone for calls and text messages? How novel.

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