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iPhone dumbphone

stopa.io

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Re: iPhone dumbphone

#51

Post by d--b »

marklar423 wrote: post #41

I've been trying to do this too - paring down distracting apps, leaving only essentials like communication, maps, uber, etc. But my problem is what to do about the browser? I feel it's too essential to the "long tail" of uses (as the author put it), but also among the most distracting apps on my phone. If anybody has any ideas I'd love to hear them.

I vaguely remember someone here saying what worked for them was to add a fair amount of artificial lag to browsing, so that loading a page would actually be painfully slow.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#52

Post by stopachka »

StevenNunez wrote: post #42

Is there any way to do this with Android? I'd wish to get a modern snappy phone with a great camera but completely locked down.

Author here: I think so! A reader shared with me that they used the adb cli to remove all the apps they didn't want, including the Play Store.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#53

Post by stopachka »

postexitus wrote: post #31

Could this be used as an alternative to Parental Controls? Appple's implementation of parental controls is so deficient that it gives me PTSD every time I need to configure it.

Author here: I think this could work great for parental controls. A really determined kid with a laptop or the willingness to factory reset their iphone could get around it. But outside of this I _think_ it's worth trying.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#54

Post by isolli »

parhamn wrote: post #24
nominalprose wrote: post #5

You can achieve the same more easily using Screen Time, and having a trusted friend or partner enter the screen time passcode. Still possible to override with your Apple ID, but this is a significant enough speed bump that it works (for me anyway).

I do this too, and have them set the recover apple id to their own. Been averaging ~1.2 hours per day screentime the last few months (mostly messaging apps). Basically in "downtime" mode all the time with a few "Always allowed" app. One thing is, you're phone (and it's browser) is pretty damn useless. Overtime you realize that a lot of things you need to lookup don't need to be looked up, etc but it can be frustratin…

That's how my children's iPads are too. Permanent downtime, with a few always allowed apps, and the rest on demand. And indeed, the most frustrating part is when my daughter needs to do some research for school. I'd have to allow each and every website she visits, so I temporarily un-downtime her phone instead...

Edited to add: for some reason, time limits never worked for my kids (they could always override them with one click). That's why I had to opt for permanent downtime.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#55

Post by ktosobcy »

modeless wrote: post #36

I don't understand why people leave email notifications enabled. There is almost no email I get that needs instant action. The one exception is delivery notifications, so I can retrieve the package immediately, and I used a filter to get notifications just for those.

Uhm. I set the email app to check for mail every 30 minutes. But also I don't get that many messages (and mailinglists and whatnot are filtered away to subfolders that don't trigger the notification) so when I get the notification is for something I actually need.

Apart from that I only have notifications for IM (telegram/whatsapp) and the phone is in constant DND mode (with sound allowed only for calls).

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#56

Post by sulandor »

larrik wrote: post #43
modeless wrote: post #36

I don't understand why people leave email notifications enabled. There is almost no email I get that needs instant action. The one exception is delivery notifications, so I can retrieve the package immediately, and I used a filter to get notifications just for those.

You can probably just use the UPS/FedEx/Amazon apps to get those notifications instead anyway.

suggestion to install apps in a detox thread

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#57

Post by antipaul »

A more lightweight option, though easier to bypass, is to disable apps, App Store, even Safari, with "Content & Privacy Restrictions".

See Settings – Screen Time.

You can use a passcode to lock it. It seems primarily meant for blocking things from your kids.

But it can help turn your iPhone more into a dumb phone

(Blocking safari was the key, for me)

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#58

Post by specproc »

marklar423 wrote: post #41

I've been trying to do this too - paring down distracting apps, leaving only essentials like communication, maps, uber, etc. But my problem is what to do about the browser? I feel it's too essential to the "long tail" of uses (as the author put it), but also among the most distracting apps on my phone. If anybody has any ideas I'd love to hear them.

I'm a real app minimalist, only basic stuff for day to day living, but the browser is what sucks my life away.

I've tried things like Leechblock, but they don't stick.

The only thing that's really worked is turning the damn thing off and sticking it in a drawer. I managed it for a week once. Hard to keep to though.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#59

Post by tines »

antipaul wrote: post #57

A more lightweight option, though easier to bypass, is to disable apps, App Store, even Safari, with "Content & Privacy Restrictions". See Settings – Screen Time. You can use a passcode to lock it. It seems primarily meant for blocking things from your kids. But it can help turn your iPhone more into a dumb phone (Blocking safari was the key, for me)

He mentions this, says it’s too easy to circumvent.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#60

Post by asdff »

marklar423 wrote: post #41

I've been trying to do this too - paring down distracting apps, leaving only essentials like communication, maps, uber, etc. But my problem is what to do about the browser? I feel it's too essential to the "long tail" of uses (as the author put it), but also among the most distracting apps on my phone. If anybody has any ideas I'd love to hear them.

I find the mobile web is doing a great job of destroying the addictiveness of the browser. I use an se2 so not terribly old. new reddit doesn't really work at all on it. old reddit just barely. Most other websites seem to hang after trying to load all the adware and never return the full content anymore. Some mobile websites just flat out don't load at all anymore, just a white screen like the phone rolled over and gave up.

Hacker news is about the only website that works. But, once you find a couple threads you are interested in you are rate limited from replying before long and that frustration kicks me off it until days later potentially.

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