For me it's mostly about your awareness and motivation, and you can test both with almost every phone on the market (well at least on Android).
Just use the "ultra" power saving mode your current phone has. It's not a fully universal advise, but usually it will make your screen turn grayscale, disable background services, replace your launcher with a much simpler one and then allow you to add 3-5 apps to use. On my phones it's configurable (like, you can keep colors, etc).
You can still use 5G and read email, use an IM. But you have to prioritize and your notifications are severely limited.
I personally consolidated all mail to Thunderbird mobile which checks mail every 3-4 hours only and it had zero impact on me (I can always refresh manually if I need to confirm login email etc).
I tried it for a few months. What helped was keeping a basic smartphone at home on Wi-Fi just for authenticator apps and maps planning before heading out. The key is not going fully offline — it is removing instant access during the day. The friction actually makes you more intentional.
My take is: don't. There's very few dumb phones to choose from anymore, they are mostly slow, laggy, and insecure. The older classics are no longer compatible with existing cellular networks.
If you have no self-control, it's better to use a smart phone with the apps removed and the device locked down (give the "key" to someone you trust).
For why? Get a pixel, install graphene. And use the utilities that serve you. Text/voice communications, GPS, MP3 music player (if you listen to music), a web browser. Maybe google translate and your banking apps (or use a browser for either).
There is no place for garbage like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube on your phone. It's a device for utility, not entertainment consumption.
As a note: there are almost no true dumb phones in existence anymore. Almost all flip phones are smart phones in disguise, with either a cut-down version of Android (with all the data collection that entails) or KaiOS under the hood.
At this point, you might be best served by obtaining a Rotary Un-SmartPhone (https://skysedge.com/RUSP/index.html ) once they start production up again. Now that is a true dumb phone.
I presume you mean web-on-desktop? Since a dumb phone doesn't have a browser?
I came late to phones, resisting them till 2013. Up to that point I could function with desktop alone. Today, it's not possible (for me.)
Authentication is a big part of it. My (web) access to my bank demands a selfie photo on my phone. Plus endless other systems.
Outside of work, all communications is via WhatsApp. I pretty much don't even read SMS's anymore. They're 99% spam or scam. And it's not just person to person, all social activities from church to sport to band etc are all on WhatsApp.
I use maps only a couple times a year, but when I need it, I really need it (cause I'm not where I expected to be.)
I don't do social media, or email, on the phone. Both if which frankly lead to problems in some situations.
I'm traveling this year and the number of tickets (train and museum) that can only be used from a phone is impressive.
I applud your desire to remove the phone from your life, especially if you are distracted by it. But you may find that it's hard to do. I'm not interested in "work arounds", I want to get stuff done, not fight everything about my life.
So I recommend, get a dumb phone and use that. You'll quickly discover what's missing every time you have to reach for the smart phone.
Cold turkey. More than seven years ago, on my way home, I stopped at T-Mobile and bought a random flip phone. I still own that same phone. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21929194
Just a few minor updates to my original post:
- Low-res photos are perfectly fine for my purposes
- I don't need Google Maps when I'm on the go
- Quick fact checking is not important
- One day, I ripped off the band aid and migrated all auth keys to Yubikey
- Tethering is occasionally useful
Edit: some things never change--I still haven't learned how to format a bulleted list here.
I think it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do this. There are so many things now that simply don’t have good non-mobile alternatives, like the maps and authenticators you mention. “Uninstall the apps and turn off data” seems like the most attainable option in this thread.
Maybe think about what it was like before they were everywhere.
Peoples' recollections might not be that accurate, and watching old TV shows may not help much, but think what it means to you and how you would thrive like so many people did and many still can.
Now with the smartest of phones you can put your communication on steroids and do more other things by far, but just because you can doesn't mean you should.
I never even got a cellphone until I had been in business for over a year, then it was only because I wanted clients to be able to reach me 24/7. Decades ago they were already popular but not really common yet.
When I got my first smartphone they were still monochrome and just got you on the internet as a wireless dial-up modem, connecting by the built-in IR sensors to your laptop's little port before there was USB which became available in later years.
And it was pretty good because it was usually way faster than 56K, which most people didn't even get when they had a premium land-line modem.
But it was also pretty expensive by the minute so only useful when there was just no landline available.
So it's quite easy for me to refrain because I'm old enough to remember how it was before these were even here.
Eventually I had a Sony smartphone in the flip-phone format which was way more capable than the iPhone was, but it was decades and calls and text were still enough to keep me busy so I never had time for any apps on the small screen, especially when I was long used to having the full internet on my x86 laptop whenever I want.
I kept my final Sony-Ericsson as long as could, and one of the nicest features was it was not Android nor iOS, but eventually all its frequencies were discontinued.
So got a run-of-the-mill touchphone not that many years ago for the first time, and Android is worse than I thought.
The experience is so "rewarding" that it's even easier reverting to how it was before there were even cellphones at all, which I also remember well.
So most of the time it doesn't even come with me, just leave it sitting there on the desk at home or office and mainly carry it in between, or in a vehicle if I'm going to be gone a long time.
Touchphones are so bulky (and delicate) compared to everything I was accustomed to, that it's a drag to carry around anyway, and ends up more so than ever, without planning, back to serving more like a good old land line stuck to the desk than anything else.
So that's the switch I made and it was no effort at all, just let nature take its course :)
For me it's mostly about your awareness and motivation, and you can test both with almost every phone on the market (well at least on Android).
Just use the "ultra" power saving mode your current phone has. It's not a fully universal advise, but usually it will make your screen turn grayscale, disable background services, replace your launcher with a much simpler one and then allow you to add 3-5 apps to use. On my phones it's configurable (like, you can keep colors, etc).
You can still use 5G and read email, use an IM. But you have to prioritize and your notifications are severely limited.
I personally consolidated all mail to Thunderbird mobile which checks mail every 3-4 hours only and it had zero impact on me (I can always refresh manually if I need to confirm login email etc).
I tried it for a few months. What helped was keeping a basic smartphone at home on Wi-Fi just for authenticator apps and maps planning before heading out. The key is not going fully offline — it is removing instant access during the day. The friction actually makes you more intentional.
This question gets asked quite a bit.
https://hn.algolia.com/?q=dumb+phone
My take is: don't. There's very few dumb phones to choose from anymore, they are mostly slow, laggy, and insecure. The older classics are no longer compatible with existing cellular networks.
If you have no self-control, it's better to use a smart phone with the apps removed and the device locked down (give the "key" to someone you trust).
For why? Get a pixel, install graphene. And use the utilities that serve you. Text/voice communications, GPS, MP3 music player (if you listen to music), a web browser. Maybe google translate and your banking apps (or use a browser for either).
There is no place for garbage like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube on your phone. It's a device for utility, not entertainment consumption.
As a note: there are almost no true dumb phones in existence anymore. Almost all flip phones are smart phones in disguise, with either a cut-down version of Android (with all the data collection that entails) or KaiOS under the hood.
At this point, you might be best served by obtaining a Rotary Un-SmartPhone (https://skysedge.com/RUSP/index.html ) once they start production up again. Now that is a true dumb phone.
What a beautiful little device
A take on this to add - the absolute ease of this might depend on your social enviornment.
Make a list of mobile apps you use. For each of these, identify the web or other substitute soluti9n.
If there is no substitute, you might need a smartphone. Is the solution to 5his keeping one in a box, for example.
I presume you mean web-on-desktop? Since a dumb phone doesn't have a browser?
I came late to phones, resisting them till 2013. Up to that point I could function with desktop alone. Today, it's not possible (for me.)
Authentication is a big part of it. My (web) access to my bank demands a selfie photo on my phone. Plus endless other systems.
Outside of work, all communications is via WhatsApp. I pretty much don't even read SMS's anymore. They're 99% spam or scam. And it's not just person to person, all social activities from church to sport to band etc are all on WhatsApp.
I use maps only a couple times a year, but when I need it, I really need it (cause I'm not where I expected to be.)
I don't do social media, or email, on the phone. Both if which frankly lead to problems in some situations.
I'm traveling this year and the number of tickets (train and museum) that can only be used from a phone is impressive.
I applud your desire to remove the phone from your life, especially if you are distracted by it. But you may find that it's hard to do. I'm not interested in "work arounds", I want to get stuff done, not fight everything about my life.
So I recommend, get a dumb phone and use that. You'll quickly discover what's missing every time you have to reach for the smart phone.
Cold turkey. More than seven years ago, on my way home, I stopped at T-Mobile and bought a random flip phone. I still own that same phone. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21929194
Just a few minor updates to my original post:
Edit: some things never change--I still haven't learned how to format a bulleted list here.Uninstall all the apps. Turn data off.
I think it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do this. There are so many things now that simply don’t have good non-mobile alternatives, like the maps and authenticators you mention. “Uninstall the apps and turn off data” seems like the most attainable option in this thread.
No need. Use GhrapheneOS without Google services. It is like dumb phone with modern browser.
Maybe think about what it was like before they were everywhere.
Peoples' recollections might not be that accurate, and watching old TV shows may not help much, but think what it means to you and how you would thrive like so many people did and many still can.
Now with the smartest of phones you can put your communication on steroids and do more other things by far, but just because you can doesn't mean you should.
I never even got a cellphone until I had been in business for over a year, then it was only because I wanted clients to be able to reach me 24/7. Decades ago they were already popular but not really common yet.
When I got my first smartphone they were still monochrome and just got you on the internet as a wireless dial-up modem, connecting by the built-in IR sensors to your laptop's little port before there was USB which became available in later years.
And it was pretty good because it was usually way faster than 56K, which most people didn't even get when they had a premium land-line modem.
But it was also pretty expensive by the minute so only useful when there was just no landline available.
So it's quite easy for me to refrain because I'm old enough to remember how it was before these were even here.
Eventually I had a Sony smartphone in the flip-phone format which was way more capable than the iPhone was, but it was decades and calls and text were still enough to keep me busy so I never had time for any apps on the small screen, especially when I was long used to having the full internet on my x86 laptop whenever I want.
I kept my final Sony-Ericsson as long as could, and one of the nicest features was it was not Android nor iOS, but eventually all its frequencies were discontinued.
So got a run-of-the-mill touchphone not that many years ago for the first time, and Android is worse than I thought.
The experience is so "rewarding" that it's even easier reverting to how it was before there were even cellphones at all, which I also remember well.
So most of the time it doesn't even come with me, just leave it sitting there on the desk at home or office and mainly carry it in between, or in a vehicle if I'm going to be gone a long time.
Touchphones are so bulky (and delicate) compared to everything I was accustomed to, that it's a drag to carry around anyway, and ends up more so than ever, without planning, back to serving more like a good old land line stuck to the desk than anything else.
So that's the switch I made and it was no effort at all, just let nature take its course :)