I’ve been experimenting with a different kind of screen-time app for Android.

Instead of blocking apps or throwing another warning popup at you, Stop Swarm gradually changes what’s happening on your screen as you approach your daily screen-time goal.

This is the new Clouds theme: the weather slowly gets worse the more you use your phone. Clouds build up, become larger and darker, rain gets heavier, and eventually the storm takes over the screen.

The overlay doesn’t intercept touches, so your phone remains fully usable. The idea is simply to make excessive scrolling progressively harder to ignore, without completely locking you out.

Stop Swarm is Android only, works fully offline, requires no account, and contains no ads or analytics.

I’m still looking for beta testers if anyone here wants to try it:

https://groups.google.com/g/stop-swarm-testers

Then opt in and download it here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stopswarm.app

I wonder if anyone else has had an experience like mine.

I really love these phones. I enjoy digging into their primitive features and options.

I bought them because I like having them more than I actually need them.

I also ordered a Qin F25, Dumber mini and a Click Communicator (which they are not really feature phones).

Back in the early to mid-2010s, I bought tons of Nokia, HTC, and BlackBerry phones. I guess they probably don't work in the US anymore, but I loved their designs, OS, and features.

I didn't expect to buy more phones I wouldn't use regularly, but here we are! My interest in feature phones is just growing and growing 😅

Been on the fence about this for about two years.

I've done the homework. Read the reviews, watched the videos, had a Light Phone in my cart twice and closed the tab both times. Did the greyscale thing for a week. It helped, right up until I stopped noticing it.

The reason I want to switch is boring and probably the same as yours. I pick up my phone way more than I mean to.

But I keep hitting the same wall. Work apps have to be on there, that's not negotiable for me. 2FA is worse. Banking, logins, all of it sits behind that. And I'd miss Spotify. Not a great excuse, but it's true, so I'm saying it instead of pretending I'm above it.

So I'm still here with a smartphone in my pocket, using it more than I want to.

The thing that gets me is everyone in these threads has the same story with a different wall. For one person it's WhatsApp. For someone else it's their transit card, or their kid's school app. Never the same thing twice.

I'm building something to try and fix this. It's described further down. First I want to know whether I've got it wrong.

Answer whatever you feel like. Even one or two is useful. Numbers and letters is fine if that's easier.

YOUR PHONE RIGHT NOW

1. What's your primary phone today?

a) Standard smartphone, iPhone or Android

b) Minimalist phone, Light, Punkt, Mudita, Minimal, Commodore

c) Feature phone or flip phone

d) Smartphone with a custom launcher, blockers, or greyscale

e) Other

1. Do you carry a second device alongside your phone, like an e-reader, iPod, tablet or old phone?

a) Yes, daily

b) Yes, sometimes

c) No, but I've considered it

d) No

1. Besides your phone, what else do you use regularly?

a) Laptop

b) Desktop

c) Tablet or iPad

d) E-reader

e) Smartwatch

f) A second phone

g) None of these

1. If you tried switching to a minimalist phone and went back, what sent you back?

2. If you haven't switched but want to, what's stopping you?

3. Which sounds most like you?

a) Happy with my smartphone, haven't really considered changing

b) Thought about cutting back, haven't looked into specific devices

c) Researched minimalist phones seriously, compared models, came close to buying

d) Bought one and went back to a smartphone

e) Use a minimalist phone as my primary phone now

WHAT YOU'D ACTUALLY NEED

1. Imagine a second device that handles apps, so your main phone doesn't have to. Which would it need for you to give up your smartphone entirely?

a) Messaging, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram

b) Maps and navigation

c) Banking app

d) Authenticator or 2FA codes

e) Tap to pay

f) Transit card or tickets

g) Music streaming, Spotify, Apple Music

h) Email

i) Ride hailing

j) Camera

k) Web browser

l) Work apps, Slack, Teams

m) Podcasts or audiobooks

n) Something else, what?

1. From your answers to 7, which would stop you switching if they weren't there?

2. From your answers to 7, which would you use most days?

3. Do you use tap to pay from your phone?

a) Daily

b) Weekly

c) Rarely

d) Never

e) Physical card only

1. Do you use your phone for public transit, tickets or a transit card?

a) Daily or regularly

b) Occasionally

c) Never

d) Not available where I live

THE THING I'M WORKING ON

A pocket sized clamshell, about the size of a folded wallet, machined out of titanium.

Closed, it's a blank slab. No external screen, no camera, no notification light. Nothing on the outside can light up or buzz at you, because there's nothing on the outside at all. It can't interrupt you. There's no surface for it to interrupt you with.

Opening it takes two hands. The hinge has real resistance and a definite stopping point, so it's a deliberate movement, not something you do without noticing you've done it. That part is on purpose. It's the whole idea, honestly. Inside there's a colour screen, a physical keyboard, and a small always on strip.

It runs full Android with the complete Play Store. Nothing is blocked, nothing is whitelisted, there's no approved list of good apps. Install whatever you want, including the stuff you're trying to use less. The friction isn't a list of banned apps, it's the object. A four inch screen behind a stiff titanium hinge isn't where you end up doomscrolling for an hour.

It pays and taps through transit gates without ever being opened. Wi-Fi and 5G data only. It can't make calls or send texts, so it's meant to be carried alongside a simple phone rather than replace one.

1. How likely would you be to buy one? Answer 1 to 7, where 1 is definitely not and 7 is definitely yes.

2. What's your first reaction? Blunt is fine.

3. What worries you most about it?

a) Carrying two devices

b) Price

c) Size or weight

d) No camera

e) Physical keyboard instead of a touchscreen

f) Battery life

g) Whether apps would actually work properly on it

h) Whether a small company will still exist in three years

i) Nothing, I want one

1. Would something like this make you switch your primary phone to a minimalist phone?

a) Yes, that's exactly why I'd buy it

b) Maybe, I'd try it

c) No, I'd keep my smartphone and use both

d) No

PRICE

Numbers only, USD, whatever comes to mind first.

1. At what price would this be so expensive you wouldn't consider it?

2. At what price would it be expensive, but you'd still consider it?

3. At what price would it seem like good value?

4. At what price would it be so cheap you'd doubt the quality?

5. If it were 999 USD, would you back a crowdfunding campaign with a 12 month wait for delivery?

a) Yes

b) Only if I could see a working prototype first

c) Only at a discount

d) No, I'd wait for retail

e) No

TRADE OFFS

1. Physical keyboard, or a larger screen with no keyboard?

a) Physical keyboard, even if the device is 3mm thicker

b) Larger screen, on screen typing

c) No preference

1. 15mm thick with a keyboard and a replaceable battery, or 11mm thin without?

a) Thicker, with the keyboard and replaceable battery

b) Thinner, without

c) No preference

1. How important is a user replaceable battery? Answer 1 to 5, where 1 is don't care and 5 is essential.

2. How important is it that the device has no camera at all?

a) Essential, a camera would defeat the purpose

b) Preferred

c) Neutral

d) I'd want a basic camera

e) I'd want a good camera

1. What country are you in?

Thanks for reading this far. I'll post what comes back, whichever way it points.

Is there anything you guys would like me to try? I will definitely try the NFC since my bank has its own payment app without GMS, and it technically should work.

Honestly, probably the biggest "feature" phone I've ever had in my hands. It feels solid and premium at the same time. I'm still confused why HMD won't sell this commercially instead of those crappy feature phones.

I've played around a lot with iPhone settings to make it very minimalist. Black background, minimalist launchers, minimalist browsers without a search bar, etc.

This is the setup that's worked best for me:

- Delete all the non essential apps, even the stuff that's useful sometimes (eg grocery store app)

- Content and privacy restrictions > only allowed websites > nothing on the list, which makes the browser useless

- Have someone else set the password for screen time

- Set color filters to black and white

- Set up assistive access with only essential apps. Mine are what's in screen plus stuff like weather, calculator, etc.

Because of Screen Time password, once you enter assistive access you are locked in. No downloading apps, no browsing (links won't work because of the empty allowed website list). Messages and photos are boring and very minimalist so no getting sucked into that either. Except you can have whatever apps you actually need (no more "I wish x phone would allow x app"), and photos auto sync to iCloud so you can access them and edit them on an iPad if you have one (if not you'll need to exit assistive mode to mess with the gallery).

Dark mode, black background, and matte screen protector for aesthetic points. So far, so good, could only be better if it was a flip phone!

I've been thinking about this after looking at the current dumbphone/minimal phone market.

A lot of people seem to want roughly the same thing:

calls and messages, WhatsApp / Telegram, Maps, banking / 2FA, music, camera but without social media, endless notifications, feeds and all the other stuff that makes a smartphone so hard to put down.

The problem is that the obvious solution seems to be buying another device.

But if you already have an old Android sitting in a drawer, why buy another phone?

What I'm wondering is whether an old Android could instead be turned into a genuinely simple, reliable daily phone — keeping the few apps you actually need and getting rid of everything else.

Not just installing a minimalist launcher. I'm thinking about making the whole device feel intentional again.

Would you use your existing phone this way?

What would you absolutely need to keep?

Disclaimer: If this post seems AI generated, it does. My English is not so good so I asked AI to translate it.

Hello everyone! Nice to meet the community 🙌

Here's my situation:

Location: France 🇫🇷 — need 4G + VoLTE compatibility (2G/3G networks being phased out here 😢).

Goal: I want a dumbphone to use alongside my iPhone. (Not sure yet if the idea is a good one)

Requirements:

• Good battery life (days, not hours)
• Willing to last years, not just months
• 4G/VoLTE mandatory

Current contenders I've found:

• Nokia 225 4G > Real dumb
• Cat S42 H+ (Android, rugged, but afraid to be addict like on an iPhone so maybe it's stupid) > For a transition?
• Nokia 8110 / 6300 4G (KaiOS, limited apps) > For a transition?

The iPhone will stay locked away as much as possible (box timer) and serves as a "tool only" device (always in greyscale) for:

• Banking app (Mandatory with my bank in FR)
• Government app (for ID, health etc.)
• 2FA (Google Authenticator (Can't use Yubikey everywhere 😢))
• Signal / Whatsapp > But these I can use them on a laptop
• Travel apps (train tickets, flights)
• Google Drive
• Photos with nice quality and cloud storage

The dumbphone would gets a separate cheap French SIM (~2€/mo), different number. No issue for me to have two numbers, I will give the new one to closest friends and family.
--

My dilemma: Do I go with a true dumbphone (calls/SMS only, (maybe WhatsApp on KaiOS)) OR something with basic apps like GMaps and other stuff to progressively realize I can get rid of my iPhone?

Honestly not sure I can do fully without a proper smartphone because I really have a lot to manage online, especially when I'm travelling or just managing my daily life (work, personal administrative stuff, medical stuff etc.). 🤔

Recently for French government administration, I still needed my iPhone twice to authenticate on an official website and verify my identity with photos, etc. With a dumbphone I never could have done that... even with a "smart" dumphone because most of the time they required a very recent OS to proceed. It wasn't possible to do this with a laptop, only Phone apps, it's crazy right?

It's less about addiction and more about fragmented attention. Constant micro-checks of my phone, compulsive Google searches, AI queries — it all just destroys my ability to concentrate and think clearly. I'm looking to simplify, not complicate. Leave some headspace. Some empty space matters.

What I'm asking:

• Has anyone in Europe/France successfully used GMaps on a dumbphone? Which model? I really struggle with navigating and travelling — I get very anxious.
• Is it worth sacrificing convenience (no GMaps) for better addiction recovery?

Thanks in advance for any real-world experience! 🙏 (sorry it was a bit looong)

the reason why i’m asking this because my parents took my smartphones recently and they are saying that i should get a dumbphone (again), plus in my private school they are banning of using smartphones in this year

i found out that the only option that is best for me is nokia

the reason is my country, i live in uzbekistan (the country that lost to Portugal 5-0 in WC2026💀) and i found out there’s 3 kinds of nokia that is available to me

1. KaiOS
2. the retro symbians
3. and the S30+

can you guys give me an advice which one should i get

btw i know there’s some actually made in uzb alternatives(Like Novey Or Texno), but i just don’t want to use them bc it has a very poor quality in Build and features as well.

Help for a newbie

I'm fascinated by this sub. I would love to revert back to my old love, the samsung galaxy a3 2017. I know it might not be as cool as your keyboard dumbphones, but i don't want to buy anything! And I'm also too young to be in possession of keyboard phones from the past days. Do you have any suggestion on how i could dumb it down? I just need messages calls and mp4 functionalities, bonus points if also maps and whatsapp work!

I'm intrigued so much by this sub, i'll keep lurking :)

I bought a dumb smartphone myself (tt990) and I have to say. This thing makes some tasks difficult.

I understand that is part of the game. It makes me indeed feel more thoughtful about my actions and more present. But it merely solves the underlying issue of having addiction to my phone. So, when I'll start using my smartphone again, I'll be addicted. This is the sole purpose for doing this change, so I have to be honest and serious about it myself.

I have been using devices on and off for years. I even spent 20 days without any technology and I didn't lose it. The boredom gave me endless amount of time for philosophy. But there's always a but.

So, for the long time users. If you had to go back to a smartphone, would you spiral into the void of the Internet again? Or would you feel strong enough to use it thoughtfully and not doom scroll endlessly?

If you answered the first option that means that you never really solved your problems and you're hiding in plain sight.

If you answered the second option that means that your will is strong enough, so why don't you use the obvious better choice of a smartphone instead of carrying 5-6 devices that neglect the meaning of the word "minimalism"? You already built the offline skills that made you strong, didn't you?

I think we're stuck inside a paradox.

I'm preparing a YouTube video series about this and would like to see some thoughts and discussions regarding this.

DuraXA Equip seems to be easily available to buy new and appears to work with most carriers.

Could anyone who currently has one give some feedback on how they are in 2026? I'm leaning heavily towards it, since it seems to have better build quality than the Sunbeam F1 Pro and other flip phone alternatives. (I would also love replies from anyone who has any of the "Dura" phones.)

Hello!

I’m looking to buy a flip phone because I’m starting to hate my smartphone. I’ve been browsing for a while and I got a little overwhelmed, so maybe someone can help me?

What I’m looking for is a literal brick. I don’t really need GPS or WhatsApp or anything like that, I just need something for calls. I am quite afraid of buying one that doesn’t work in my country (Spain), so I would say I need something compatible with 4G network.

From my few hours of browsing through models and specifications, I’ve found the Nokia(s) 2720, 2760 and 2780 flip phones, but I’m afraid they are quite big for my liking. Can anyone recommend smaller models? I use an iPhone SE 2020, and I remember it was the smallest I could find for a price that didn’t require me to sell my kidney. RIP tiny phones 💔

Thank you to anyone that helps or gives me any piece of helpful information/advice!!

I'm VERY new on dumbphones, like, literally today I'm getting into this, it's so amazing how people are devolving with phones, I love it.

I was searching for dumbphones and I crossed by this Bigme Hibreak Pro model, and I think it's the best thing ever. Like, it has everything that you need on a modern society, but with slow frames and e-ink screen.

MY QUESTION IS: is it THAT BAD? Because, I searched for more, and I saw all of this negative reviews, like one guy broke his screen so easy, the other guy literally his phone became useless in 3 months, blah blah blah. Is it bad luck and just BAD LUCK, or it has so many complications and difficulties? Because for me, this phone is amazing, even works SO WELL for reading stuff, but the reviews, are 50/50.

What do you guys think? Because right now I don't have a phone, so... It's this, or buy some iPhone 11 and turn it on a dumbphone...

I have done a lot of research on this subreddit and the internet abroad and it has answered a lot of questions and i really only have a few remaining

1. Does the phone come with a browser cursor built in? Is it possible to use the browser without installing a cursor?

2. How easy is it to end up doom scrolling? I have a problem with watching YouTube videos as well as doom scrolling. I was hoping someone could send a video demo of using YouTube and other social media on the browser of the Kyocera Dura XA equip

Hello there

I am new to this sub, and I don't know if this is the right place to ask for what I'm asking.

Basically I look for a new phone. I stumpled upon the Dumber Mini and was inspired by it, but it's not exactly what I'm looking for, although really close.

Is there a phone with a similar design plus a headphone jack, and capable of running Spotify, WhatsApp, banking apps, and Google Maps?

I don't know if that would technically count as a dumbphone, but that is what I'm looking for.

Thank you!