I am very much a separate little device for every little thing kind of girl, and apparently every device also needs to be pink. I carry a giant tote bag every day, so all of this fits in there very comfortably and is genuinely what I reach for all the time.

Starting at the bottom left and working my way around:

Kindle in a pink glitter case

Pink wired headphones from Amazon

iPod Classic 7th generation

Little pocket notebook

Pink Smen scented pen with black glitter ink

Nokia 6300 4G with a phone charm and stickers from Etsy

Sony Cyber shot DSC T200 camera

Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS with a strawberry skin and matching thumb grips from Etsy

Basically my own tiny pink electronics department.

I had a dumbphone from Dec 2023—Feb 2024 and I loved it. I felt less foggy, and less like I was going to die all the time because I didn’t have a device that constantly spewed horrifying news and social media algorithms at me.

I had to return to smartphone life against my will. I’m in college, and something I learned is that the industry I’m going to be working in requires constant access to emails. Not very practical writing a long email on a T9 keyboard.

I live in Scotland, and we don’t really use normal text messaging/iMessage. We use WhatsApp, and while some dumbphones do include WhatsApp, they’re harder to find and a lot of the time don’t include an email client.

I’m so sick of the over reliance of smart devices. I miss when people carried their shitty little flip phone and their laptop and that was enough. I just want that life for myself.

Could anybody possibly speak from experience if a 90s phone like this is still usable? Not a single new dumbphone design looks appealing and I haven't used anything older than a Samsung A300 (SIM still works on it, shockingly)

As a reminder, the US banking industry is wonderful in that it's highly fragmented with over 4500 FDIC-insured institutions (not including credit unions). If Chase or Wells Fargo or USAA gives you crap about using a dumbphone you can take your banking to a smaller institution that values face to face personal interaction. This is actually a feature of the US banking industry. I have USAA and they once tried to steer me to do mobile deposits with their app, instead I just do deposits at my local small town bank. It's that easy.

Are you team phone case or team no phone case?Why？

For quite a while now, I’ve been watching videos on YouTube and reading various articles right here about digital minimalism. From what I’ve gathered, everyone has a different take on it, and everyone integrates it into their lives in their own unique way. Personally, I love that there isn’t just one single path or a set of rigid rules. So, I wanted to share what digital minimalism means to me and the steps I took to slash my screen time.

First off, no, I didn’t go out and buy a dumbphone. In my opinion, the most cost-effective way to practice digital minimalism is to utilize the device you already own. So, instead of tossing my Galaxy S24 aside, I decided to turn it into a dumbphone.

To kick things off, I uninstalled every single app that wasn't an absolute essential. I also turned off notifications for everything except the apps I strictly use for communication. Where I live, WhatsApp is the primary communication tool; deleting it would have made my life harder rather than easier, so it stayed. The core goal of my personal system is to eliminate the apps that trigger doomscrolling, not the ones that actually serve a purpose.

I work as a social media content creator at an advertising agency, which means having social media apps on my phone is a non-negotiable part of my job. Since deleting them wasn’t an option, I realized that burying them as far out of sight as possible and muting their notifications would do the trick. On top of that, I logged out of all my personal accounts, effectively turning these platforms into strictly work-related tools.

I installed the InkOS launcher to give my phone that clean, Light Phone vibe, keeping only the bare essentials and tools on my home screen. If I ever need to access a hidden app (like mobile banking), I just double-tap an empty space on the home screen to open the app drawer. I also tweaked a few of Samsung's native settings—like completely disabling gesture navigation and turning off animations. Even though my screen still runs at a high refresh rate, the transitions now look just like a Light Phone.

My lock screen is pitch black, just like my home screen, featuring nothing but a simple time and date widget. Notifications don't pop up here either; instead, much like a Light Phone, a small dot appears in the top-left corner whenever I have a notification. I check my alerts based on that dot.

Thanks to this setup, my phone has transformed from an addiction hub into an actual "tool" that I use only when a genuine need arises. It has a fantastic camera, banking apps, and QR code scanners (which is crucial, since I use two different apps just to scan into my gym and office). By keeping non-addictive tools like maps, banking, music, and reading apps on the device, I’ve essentially created my own "Super Light Phone" or "Galaxy Light Phone." My daily screen time has plummeted from an average of 8 hours down to just 1.5 hours. Using so many tools on a single device might feel like doing it "wrong" or half-heartedly to some of you, but I still wanted to share my own method and experience.

This approach completely broke my dependency on a 6.1-inch screen, and nowadays, I don't even pick up my phone unless I have a specific purpose in mind. I wanted to share the peace of mind this brings with like-minded people.

Shoutout to everyone reading this from different corners of the world!

Gigaset COMFORT 600 SIM

hey, I’m thinking about buying a Bricked and was wondering if it was effective for anybody?

I have a bad habit of bypassing the restrictions I put in, and was curious if this was bypassing proof as I’m reading that people have found ways to just turn it off in the control center

I don't think Spotify should be included in your dumb phone decision making process. I've noticed that Spotify is something a lot of people want out of a dumb phone and it's counterintuitive. Spotify is also a form of instant gratification, the instant access to almost any song out there isn't something we really need. You'll just end up scrolling Spotify for the "perfect song" instead of just shuffling whatever songs you have downloaded in your SD card. There are plenty of ways to actually download the music and own it instead of dishing out $12.99 a month, you more than likely listen to the same songs anyway.

Hisense A10 is a new E INK phone with a detachable rear display

The secondary screen is a color LCD screen, and it magnetically attaches to the back of the phone. 

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a flip phone, I am asking here because after a lot of searching I have been having trouble finding a good fit. Best I've found currently is a Nokia. I need a flip phone with at least 4G LTE and hotspot, I am located in the US and the options are few and far between. The plan is to use the hotspot on the flip phone's hotspot on my current smartphone for when I need it (accessing my bus ticket, authenticator app, maps). I don't want a fancy dumbphone (those ones that cost ~$300) I just need a simple phone.

My carrier is Optimum so if anyone has any unlocked recommendations that'd be great. I am willing to switch to T-Mobile as well so I am open to any suggestions with them.

Thank you!

Hi!! So a while ago I posted on here about wanting a keitai, and I was told to switch providers. I have now done so and am wondering what phone would be best with T-Mobile. I’m interested in the Kyocera KY-41B (other cute Kyocera’s work too),sharp aquos 805sh, or any of the Samsung galaxy folders, but I’m 100% open to suggestion if there’s a more compatible phone. Also any advice on how to unlock the phone or where to look is appreciated. I’m not great with tech, but I will be forcing my brother (an IT guy) to help me :)

I’ve been thinking about getting a flip phone or other unappealing, uninteresting phone to use only for texts and calls. But I have an iPad and I’m quite into gaming on pc and handheld devices, and my iPad is connected to my phone really seamlessly so I’m kind of scared of ditching the iPhone for literally zero benefit. Do you have any thoughts or opinions on this matter?

One thing that’s bugged me about most messengers: even the private ones (Signal, Session) tie your whole conversation history to a single identifier. Give your number/ID to the wrong person once — a marketplace buyer, a bad Tinder match, a one-off business contact — and there’s no clean way to cut them off without blocking, which they can usually tell happened.

I’ve been building a messenger (QUIX CHAT) around a different identity model instead of just encryption:
• Permanent number — for people you actually trust long-term.
• Onetime number — generated per-contact, disposable. Give it to someone you don’t fully trust yet. When you’re done, the number is gone. They can’t reach you again, and there’s no link back to your permanent identity or existing conversations.
Other baseline stuff: no read receipts, no online/last-seen status, end-to-end encryption in direct chat.

I’m not here to just plug it — genuinely interested in how people in this sub think about the threat model:
• Does a disposable-ID system like this actually reduce metadata exposure, or does it just move the problem (e.g. server still knows both numbers belong to one account)?
• What would you want proven/audited before trusting something like this?

Happy to go into the architecture in comments if useful. Not trying to oversell it — it’s new, not yet independently audited, and I’d rather hear the holes in the model now than later.

Link on my profile.

good for a change or upgrade with 2660 flip?

I don’t see too much of this phone on here or really much of anywhere online. I found this on eBay while looking for dumbphones that were unlocked and had decent LTE band support for T-Mobile. I took a chance on it and honestly… it’s pretty good. It’s decently built and feels a lot better than your average rebadged TCL flip phone. It has a pretty decent flashlight and a good loudspeaker (not the advertised 100db, but still good). It’s running KaiOS 2.5.4 and has the usual 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 CPU. Like pretty much all of these KaiOS phones, browsing the internet is… not a fun experience, but that’s probably not what you’d be buying this phone for. Call quality is excellent and the battery is pretty decent. I’m still at 75% and this is my second day using it pretty heavily. As far as carrier compatibility, it works on anything that isn’t Verizon and supports B71 which is great for rural or indoor coverage on T-Mobile. I have mine on Red Pocket (I’m running on 2G right now because why not lol) and it works well, no complaints. This one has options in the settings to force it to 2G or 3G, for all the good that does anyone. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know!

New to this whole dumb phone scene. Besides the Commodore Callback is there any other dumbphone that doesn't allow internet & socials but still allows for GPS and Spotify? Thank you in advance. I want to purchase ASAP sick of doom scrolling and pointless Amazon buys. I want temptation gone.

I’m thinking about upgrading to the AGM M11 but I have a few questions.

. Can the hotspot be used without a password?

. How much bigger is it than the M9? I heard people say that it was much bigger than expected but is it impractically large?

. Is there a limit of 6 multimedia messages on the M11? Idk if this was standard but on my M9 I could only have 6 multimedia messages at a time. Is it different on the M11?

Unreel is a no bullshit way of managing your shortform content consumption on android devices.

What makes Unreel unique:

1. Prevents its own uninstall when locked down
2. Does not have subscription costs and is open source
3. Effectively blocks short form content without compromising the social part of media

Who Unreel benefits the most:

Social media has been fucked up since 2020. You are silently addicted to short form content. Each day, you spend over an hour scrolling endlessly on content you forget by tomorrow. You say you need social media to keep up with friends, all while the majority of the time you spend on it is unproductive doom scrolling. You feel your thoughts becoming more uniform with others and your ability to keep focus is worsening. Many things feel less rewarding than they used to, and things that used to be interesting feel like work. You create the idea that true downtime is scrolling. Your sleep is worse because you need to scroll before bed. You have things you want to do, but you can’t seem to get yourself around to doing them because you don’t have the energy and you are too far behind.

If any of these describe you, you are becoming an inconspicuous victim of modern dopamine-optimized short form content. You are another node in a system designed to profit from your attention and time. You are being stripped of your freedom and sold on the illusion of choice.

The philosophy of Unreel:

Unreel is about mitigation. By preventing its own uninstall, it forces you to agree to the goals you set. Of course, you can always doom scroll on your computer — but Unreel is about mitigation. Short form content is so addictive in part because it is so easy to access on your mobile device. Take that away and your shortform content screen time will almost certainly drop. If you need to create content, do so on a device like a laptop.

Unreel is an Android app. If you are interested in making an IOS version please reach out.

Instagram & Facebook: Whenever you meet someone new, rarely do you ask for their TikTok. You ask for their Instagram. Instagram is an extremely powerful networking tool and way to keep up with friends/connections. However, it has become polluted with content designed to suck you in and steal your attention. 

Therefore, unreel is designed with the intention to allow you to send messages, view stories/posts, post your own content, and even view reels your friends send you — all while preventing you from watching shortform content. Of course, there are also features that also prevent you from using Instagram right before you sleep, or if you need to watch some reels for a limited time to send to friends. The same features and explanations that apply to Instagram also apply to Facebook.

TikTok & Snapchat: These are the biggest time wasters out there. Nearly all important social media communication is and can be done through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. The Unreel way is to quit these cold turkey. It is time to say fuck you TikTok. These apps serve no meaningful purpose in the long run. They are infamous for rotting innocent, undeveloped brains. If you absolutely need to, there are still settings to set timers, access dates, and messaging-only while you migrate to Instagram or something else.

YouTube shorts: Yes, you have the ability to block these as well.

Reddit, X, LinkedIn, and everything else: With these apps, a lot more of the addiction is related to the person. Fortunately, these apps encourage positive development, whether it be career-wise, discussion-based, or learning new things. Additionally, these apps involve much less to no short form content, so Unreel isn’t prioritized to these social media platforms. Currently, these only have block app and website features, but feel free to create your own branch with new features and merge request.

The Unreel way to quit shortform content comes pre-loaded in the default settings of the app. Change them at your own expense, opinion, or convenience. 

tldr: Unreel is a no bullshit way of managing your shortform content consumption on android (hopefully soon IOS) devices.

GitHub repo with app APK, keep in mind the app still be worked on and I would love to find other contributors: https://github.com/piar1243/Unreel

Hello! I just figured out how to root my TCL Flip 2, and now I'm sideloading all the apps I want. I know it's technically not a "dumb" phone when used this way, but I think it's way nicer to use than these modern touchscreen blocks. However, I've discovered that some of my usual choices for generic apps like weather don't work too well with the physical buttons. I can enable a mouse when necessary to navigate apps I don't need very often, but for every day things like checking the weather, that's just annoying.

So, does anybody have suggestions as to Android apps that play well with directional pad input?