In times of constant sensory overload, many people yearn for a digital break. One trend here is so-called dumbphones – ordinary cell phones that offer only the most essential functions. But what if you don’t want to miss out on the advantages of a smartphone? The solution: a smart dumbphone. c’t 3003 shows how to quickly remove distracting and addictive features from an iPhone or Android device.
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Transcript of the video
(Note: This transcript is for those who cannot or do not want to watch the above video. The text does not reflect all of the information in the image track.)
Look here, this is my smartphone interface. Does it look different from yours? Yes, it’s a smart dumbphone, a simple cell phone that has all the best aspects of a smartphone. I’ve disabled everything here that could be addictive or distract you. So an old Nokia in the guise of a modern smartphone. And if you think now, why not just buy a simple cell phone? Yes, it doesn’t have a great camera, can’t make video calls, probably still has WhatsApp but no signal or Threema and GPS, music and video streaming or chatGPT. And I still want to be able to use Apple Pay.
With just a few clicks I can turn these smartphones into smart dumbphones or switch them back to normal smartphone mode with TikTok, Teams, Instagram, etc. So digital detox after work. Sounds good? Now I’ll show you what you need to do to get a smart dumbphone, whether it’s an iPhone or Android. Stay tuned!
Dear hackers, dear internet surfers, welcome here…
So, dumbphones are currently experiencing a bit of a revival. At least in the younger generation, a lot of people are avoiding the constant over-stimulation of smartphones and I can totally understand that. For a while I just used my Apple Watch Ultra and parked the smartphone in the drawer in my spare time and it was really liberating. You can still be contacted in important matters, you can listen to music and podcasts, but you no longer spend hours on TikTok. The only problem is that I need a smartphone to take pictures and then all the notifications pop up and TikTok is just a click away because I want to take a picture. That’s why I looked for a way to keep the best of my smartphone but temporarily disable everything else, and that’s how these smart dumbphones came about.
General Settings
The approach varies depending on the manufacturer, but the basics are the same. What helps me a lot to spend less time on my smartphone is to make the display black and white. This can be done using the operating aid and on my iPhone 15 Pro Max it is now on the new action button above the volume control. On Android I simply created the grayscale filter as a shortcut. The important thing here is to make your smartphone just “dumb” enough that you can and want to use it. If you now revert to normal mode for every little thing, then yes, it only makes limited sense. For example, the red filter on iOS was too much for me.
Also, take a look at your notifications. If it piles up like that, you can set a lot more there too, using different focus modes on iOS or generally restricting certain apps from sending notifications altogether or only displaying them in the notification bar but not on the lock screen. iOS and Android give you the option to set time limits for apps or app categories. This comes under Screen Time on iOS and Digital Wellbeing on Android. For example, I allowed Instagram and TikTok 10 minutes a day. When the limit is reached, I can’t open the app. Not even from another app. And this whole thing saves battery too as smartphones turn off background usage of apps after the time limit.
Turn iPhone into a smart dumbphone
The actual dumbphone mode is an operating aid on the iPhone. You can find assistive access in the Accessibility settings under General at the bottom. And here you can simply select the apps you want to use in dumbphone mode. For me here are, for example, Music, WhatsApp, Photos, Camera, Clock, etc. You can set a background image, but you don’t have to do that. You can also just leave it black and it also has some common settings like time, notification badges or Siri. You can secure assistive access with a PIN code. This is especially important because you can only exit this mode after pressing the power button three times and then entering this PIN code. This means that assistive access is also great if you want to give your child your iPhone from time to time or if your parents always complain about complicated smartphones. Because honestly, you can’t make using a smartphone much easier than this mode. To start Assistive Mode you have to either go into Settings or create a shortcut in Control Center. From iOS 18, which is currently in beta, it’s even more flexible. But you can’t really make a lot of adjustments anymore. Brightness and volume, sure, but that’s it. So that fat back button, for example, at the bottom of the display, it remains visible in every app. Some apps have also been specially optimized for this mode. For example, Apple Music only shows playlists and albums that you’ve previously selected and in a much larger font. Notifications don’t display at all, but there’s a notification next to the app’s name in the overview for new messages if you want. And if you use your iPhone like that for a while with large icons and a grayscale filter, it becomes a lot less fun. But well, that was our mission.
Turn Android into a smart dumbphone
With Android the whole thing is a bit more complicated, but also more customizable. I tried it on Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Pixel 8 Pro and Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Basically, it works the same way on almost all Android smartphones of the last few years. The good thing about Android is that you can easily install alternative launchers. And of course there are launchers that look similar to the smartphone, but also have a more minimalistic interface. The easiest way is to set up a second user profile on your smartphone and set a minimalist launcher as the default. That would be my recommendation here Olauncherthe basic function is free, but there is also a paid version for 10 euros per year for more setting options. Unfortunately, how you create a second profile on your smartphone depends on the device and manufacturer.
In vanilla Android, this is easily done through System Settings under Users. You can simply add more users. Again this process seems like setting up a new Android cell phone, so you have to log in again with your Google account. But you actually have two separate systems, you can install apps, use the launcher and set notifications according to your user account. Then you can easily change the user profile through the Control Center.
Xiaomi gives you the option to set up a second profile and it is actually perfect for this use case. Under “Additional Settings” you can choose which apps should be available in which profile, whether notifications should also be displayed in the second profile and the best part is that you can set that you can access the second profile using a specific fingerprint or PIN when the profile changes. While unlocking, I can decide which PIN I enter and which profile I open with it.
Unfortunately, Samsung doesn’t have an option to create multiple user profiles, at least on smartphones. It’s been in the works on tablets for a long time, but maybe it will come to smartphones via an update at some point. However, if you have a Samsung you don’t have to completely abandon the dumbphone mode, you can just replace the standard launcher with a few clicks; of course, it’s a bit annoying, but you usually only do it once a day. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to apps that allow you to create multiple profiles, so if you know of something that works well on Samsung smartphones, please write it in the comments.
After creating your second profile, install Olauncher. What’s special about it is that it’s almost entirely text-based. So you can work completely without colorful icons and just link your most important things as text on the start screen. In the paid version you also have the option to swipe to the left and place widgets there and take notes instantly when you swipe to the right. But you can of course try the free version first, but if the smart dumbphone works for you the same way, I think 10 euros per year is worth it if you want even more personalization options. For me it looks like this: I have the most important apps here on the left and some shortcuts on the right. I can see my Whoop data directly in the widgets and if I want a quick note, just swipe to the right. And there’s nothing more. So just a clean interface that still has the most important functions of my smartphone, but no longer shows work notifications or TikTok and Teams.
Smartwatches cause problems
If you have a smartwatch or fitness bracelet, this can be a bit annoying because unfortunately the smartwatch can only be used with a smartphone. And since Android G devices create a second user profile and then act like a second smartphone, you can only use your smartwatch with the main profile or dumbphone mode. But if you have an LTE smartwatch or you are on WiFi with the smartwatch, you will see notifications, for example from WhatsApp, even without a smartphone connection, and payments also work. This is not a problem with iOS; the Apple Watch also works perfectly without any problems in supported accesses.
conclusion
Digital detox and dumbphones can be useful, no doubt about that. But from a mere resource point of view, you don’t have to buy a new device for this. Especially because it can’t really do anything that your own smartphone can’t. And if you really want an extra device, you can even use an old smartphone. So an old Android smartphone or an iPhone from XR onwards can be used as a smart dumbphone just like the latest models. And old, discarded smartphones can still be lying around in the drawer, giving them a second life. Personally, I find it extremely practical that I only have to carry one device with me for work and for private purposes and now that I’ve got it pretty much under control, I no longer just switch back and forth and then spend an hour on TikTok again. How is it with you? Do you want to use your smartphone less and do you have any tips and tricks on how to use it? Feel free to write it in the comments and of course also subscribe to the channel and our newsletter. Bye!
No 3003 This is not a YouTube channel. The videos on C’T 3003 are independent content and are independent of the articles in C’T magazine. Editors Jan-Keno Janssen and Lukas Rumpler as well as video producers Sahin Erengil and Pascal Chevé publish a video every week.
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