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I think people just want phones that are just less addicting. Tech companies have made so much money getting people hooked on their products; digital addiction

I think people just want phones that are just less addicting. Tech companies have made so much money getting people hooked on their products; digital addiction is real. If anyone wants a de-googled privacy focused phone and has a pixel phone you can make a degoogled phone for free by installing GrapheneOS. If want, to just buy a degoogle phone. I’ve created a company that sells refurbished pixel 5a with GrapheneOS installed https://www.ShellphoneX.com https://www.ShellphoneX.com

selfhoster11 4y ago
The best de-Googled phone is, sadly, an iPhone. I came to this conclusion after sticking with Android for over a decade and hating iPhones, but switching to iOS has been one of the better decisions I made in my life.
- ideashower 4y ago
  While I agree, it isn't any less addicting than a Googled phone, sadly. I'm in agreement with the OP that I need something else, but I'm finding it both hard to get away from the iCloud infrastructure and also just part ways with a smartphone. If I could get a dumb phone that could still run Google/Apple/Any Maps for GPS purposes, I'd be first in line.
  - hammyhavoc 4y ago
    It's as addictive as what apps you run on it. Facebook and Instagram aren't going to be any less addictive just because you get them running on a Linux phone. The smartphone UX is all kinds of poor, I'm immediately repulsed and turned off by it versus a keyboard and mouse. Hamburger menus at the top of a now-very-tall screen? Yeah, fuck that.
- mikece 4y ago
  You have zero Google apps on your phone? If not then your iPhone is every bit the Google tracking device that an Android phone is.
  - OJFord 4y ago
    You say that like it's hard to believe, but the big ones are Gmail & Maps right? And it's completely possible/not that uncommon to not have either of them. Out of the box Apple even has first-party solutions for both I think?
    - MaxBarraclough 4y ago
      > the big ones are Gmail & Maps right? There's also the YouTube app (needed for Chromecasting YouTube from iPhone), and Google Calendar.
      - OJFord 4y ago
        Oh YouTube in particular is a good point, I overlooked that. (I'm sure it's at least somewhat intentional along those lines that it hasn't become GTube or something over the years.)
  - jen20 4y ago
    I absolutely have zero google apps on my iPhone. Also don’t use TikTok, Facebook or any of their subsidiary services. It works well.
  - selfhoster11 4y ago
    It's definitely not "every bit the Google tracking device", simply because iPhones do not use Google services for assisted GPS. Unless you fully de-Google an Android phone, it'll keep reporting the nearby networks, cell towers and other wireless beacons to Google in the background. On iOS, this doesn't happen by default, because this data is sent to Apple instead. I have just one Google app installed: Maps. Its location settings are set to only allow location access when the app is open, so it collects very little data useful to Google. I can probably switch to Apple Maps, but I don't know whether the quality of navigation and public transport data is as good as Google Maps. If it turns out to be similar, I'm likely to switch, because I'm only staying with GMaps thanks to the data quality.
sam0x17 4y ago
I don't have this problem. I can't stand and have never been able to stand browsing social media or the internet on smart phones. I have the latest iphone max, but I only use it for comms (phone, SMS, email, slack, discord, zoom if I'm on the go and really screwed) and taking pictures. I never have and never will "consume" on my phone unless I have absolutely no other choice of device to use (like if I were locked in an elevator with only my phone for several days). Mobile websites are terrible so when I do "consume" on my phone I inevitably check the "request desktop site" checkbox and do everything I can to avoid the site thinking I'm mobile, because once they know you're mobile 2/3rds of the features suddenly are unavailable typically. 99.99% of my media consumption, video watching, and web browsing is on my laptop or through various streaming devices like apple tv, etc. In the past I did play a few select mobile games that were quite good like Bloons TD, but I always gravitated towards the desktop version instead when it became available, and I find that these days there aren't any good games that aren't pay-to-win via microtransactions, at least none that come up when I poke around. So for these reasons I've never understood how someone could find their phone addicting. It's an ad-displaying machine with terrble UX and limited functionality that can also do comms. I browse social media like Twitter, etc., on my laptop. I can't understand how anyone would ever want to do that on mobile. My favorite phone I've ever owned was still my Lumia 1020 back in the golden days of windows phone. That phone embodied the two tasks I care about (comms and taking pictures), had a dark-mode UI way before that became popular, and generally just stayed out of the way and was performant.
- tintedfireglass 4y ago
  Yep, it's not the phone it's the apps on the phone that are addicting. Delete them and you'll live in peace and tranquility.
  - sys_64738 4y ago
    > Delete them and you'll live in peace and tranquility. ^ This. My app install strategy is zero apps installed by me.
- giraffe_lady 4y ago
  What was the point of writing this though? You have an extremely anomalous use of and relationship to smartphones that makes you immune to the problems other people have with them. Yet those problems are widespread, and the ways you've avoided them aren't really accessible or acceptable to most of the people experiencing them. You don't come right out and say it but there's definitely a virtuousness angle here. If other people were just good in the ways you are good, they wouldn't have these problems. They have in some sense the ability to avoid these consequences, and so they are choosing to have them. They deserve them, in a sense. Right?
shiftpgdn 4y ago
I've found that setting my iphone to black and white completely broke my desire to use my phone. I would really recommend it as the first step for anyone who wants to limit the amount of time they spend on their device.
- kcartlidge 4y ago
  Works well. And on the accessibility shortcuts you can also set it so triple-pressing the home button instantly toggles between B&W/Colour so (for example) you can the colours on a photo you've just taken.
- dfex 4y ago
  Amazing - this is my new default, thanks!
dijonman2 4y ago
I would love to have a flip phone again.. the simpler and dumber the better.
- greenie_beans 4y ago
  they're great. the UX is so bad that i hardly use it unless absolutely necessary, which is a positive thing for me. would definitely recommend. it has maps and podcasts and google, believe it or not. the downside is no imessaging (which i can do on my computer), no notes (so i carry around a notebook), bad camera (want to buy a digital one), no spotify (been listening to cds and want to get an mp3 player without apps), no authenticator app (we should be using hardware keys anyway). so now i carry around more stuff unfortunately but it's a worthwhile tradeoff. it's a clunky UX and everybody around me has a smartphone, so i just use theirs to google or play something on spotify. it's made me realize how much of our recent world has been built around everybody having a smartphone. for example, QR codes for menus and to pay for parking, etc, is not a very equitable world.
  - hammyhavoc 4y ago
    Is it any less equitable than needing to have a fixed address or bank account?
    - greenie_beans 4y ago
      idk, wasn't comparing to that.
PainfullyNormal 4y ago
> I think people just want phones that are just less addicting. That's easy. Learn to type 120wpm. Going from 120wpm on a laptop to 30wpm on a phone will seem like pure agony. Unfortunately, you'll still be addicted to the internet, but at least you can't take your laptop into the can with you. Well, not in public, anyway.
- Handytinge 4y ago
  I type > 120pm on a computer and > 70wpm on a mobile touch screen with all spell checking disabled (and used to type > 100wpm on a Blackberry). It's not agonising and if you use the tech more (just like the computer), you improve
dredmorbius 4y ago
I'd like a phone that: - Respects my privacy. It's not tracked or surveilled. Contacts and communications are not logged and recorded. - Doesn't alert with spam calls and texts multiple times per day. - Has days of batter and weeks of standby. - Can provide an emergency data link ("tethering") for my other mobile devices when necessary. - Avoids emissive displays. E-ink is rapidly becoming a strong preference for me. - Hardware buttons. - Folds away keyboard/touchpad. No butt-dialing. - Physical headphone jack. - Small pocketable format. Nice-to-haves above and beyond that: notes/remiders, clock / timer / alarm, mapping / directions (with disableable / activate-only-when-needed GPS), and transit / travel information. Almost all other substantive uses are far better applied to a larger format device --- probably a tethered e-ink tablet as a first option (8" -- 13"). I'd still like an e-ink keyboarded ultra-light laptop / notebook as well. I'll wait ... I'm ... close ... to simply going in for a pager with very limited access (as in, nobody but top priorities can reach it), and I can reach back out via another option. PSTN is dangerously near death, not just wireline / POTS but mobile as well.
- jpl56 4y ago
  Hi! Android phone here. - I deactivated notifications for most apps. If necessary, I setup in-app notifications (Discord notifies me about a new personal message, but not about a random post on the "general" channel) - I don't use the facebook app, but I have a link to facebook.com on my icon screen, browsed firefox - ublock origin extension for firefox - if a random notification happens, long click on it allows deactivating the next ones from the same app - I deactivated incoming email notifications. If I want to read my emails, I open the client. I guess it saves battery too. - In France we have an app to detect spam or phishing calls. It can event prevent the phone ringing when detected as such.
  - dredmorbius 4y ago
    Google Play Services, Google's Advertising ID, tower tracking, full access to contacts, call data, messages, and far more, are all failures and weaknesses of the present smartphone (including Android) environment. At its core is the mobile phone data network itself, which provides sufficiently fine (and largely utilised) location tracking, vox activity, and Internet data usage tracking and association with a single device. The foundation is shit, no golden castle can be constructed on it. Source: Android owner for nearly 15 years, infosec background, numerous exploits, data disclosures, white papers, etc. https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/mobile-phones-location-tracking https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/mobile-phones-location-trackin... https://ssd.eff.org/en/playlist/privacy-breakdown-mobile-phones https://ssd.eff.org/en/playlist/privacy-breakdown-mobile-pho...

selfhoster11 4y ago

The best de-Googled phone is, sadly, an iPhone. I came to this conclusion after sticking with Android for over a decade and hating iPhones, but switching to iOS has been one of the better decisions I made in my life.

ideashower 4y ago
While I agree, it isn't any less addicting than a Googled phone, sadly. I'm in agreement with the OP that I need something else, but I'm finding it both hard to get away from the iCloud infrastructure and also just part ways with a smartphone. If I could get a dumb phone that could still run Google/Apple/Any Maps for GPS purposes, I'd be first in line.
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  It's as addictive as what apps you run on it. Facebook and Instagram aren't going to be any less addictive just because you get them running on a Linux phone. The smartphone UX is all kinds of poor, I'm immediately repulsed and turned off by it versus a keyboard and mouse. Hamburger menus at the top of a now-very-tall screen? Yeah, fuck that.
mikece 4y ago
You have zero Google apps on your phone? If not then your iPhone is every bit the Google tracking device that an Android phone is.
- OJFord 4y ago
  You say that like it's hard to believe, but the big ones are Gmail & Maps right? And it's completely possible/not that uncommon to not have either of them. Out of the box Apple even has first-party solutions for both I think?
  - MaxBarraclough 4y ago
    > the big ones are Gmail & Maps right? There's also the YouTube app (needed for Chromecasting YouTube from iPhone), and Google Calendar.
    - OJFord 4y ago
      Oh YouTube in particular is a good point, I overlooked that. (I'm sure it's at least somewhat intentional along those lines that it hasn't become GTube or something over the years.)
- jen20 4y ago
  I absolutely have zero google apps on my iPhone. Also don’t use TikTok, Facebook or any of their subsidiary services. It works well.
- selfhoster11 4y ago
  It's definitely not "every bit the Google tracking device", simply because iPhones do not use Google services for assisted GPS. Unless you fully de-Google an Android phone, it'll keep reporting the nearby networks, cell towers and other wireless beacons to Google in the background. On iOS, this doesn't happen by default, because this data is sent to Apple instead. I have just one Google app installed: Maps. Its location settings are set to only allow location access when the app is open, so it collects very little data useful to Google. I can probably switch to Apple Maps, but I don't know whether the quality of navigation and public transport data is as good as Google Maps. If it turns out to be similar, I'm likely to switch, because I'm only staying with GMaps thanks to the data quality.

sam0x17 4y ago

I don't have this problem. I can't stand and have never been able to stand browsing social media or the internet on smart phones. I have the latest iphone max, but I only use it for comms (phone, SMS, email, slack, discord, zoom if I'm on the go and really screwed) and taking pictures. I never have and never will "consume" on my phone unless I have absolutely no other choice of device to use (like if I were locked in an elevator with only my phone for several days). Mobile websites are terrible so when I do "consume" on my phone I inevitably check the "request desktop site" checkbox and do everything I can to avoid the site thinking I'm mobile, because once they know you're mobile 2/3rds of the features suddenly are unavailable typically. 99.99% of my media consumption, video watching, and web browsing is on my laptop or through various streaming devices like apple tv, etc. In the past I did play a few select mobile games that were quite good like Bloons TD, but I always gravitated towards the desktop version instead when it became available, and I find that these days there aren't any good games that aren't pay-to-win via microtransactions, at least none that come up when I poke around. So for these reasons I've never understood how someone could find their phone addicting. It's an ad-displaying machine with terrble UX and limited functionality that can also do comms. I browse social media like Twitter, etc., on my laptop. I can't understand how anyone would ever want to do that on mobile. My favorite phone I've ever owned was still my Lumia 1020 back in the golden days of windows phone. That phone embodied the two tasks I care about (comms and taking pictures), had a dark-mode UI way before that became popular, and generally just stayed out of the way and was performant.

tintedfireglass 4y ago
Yep, it's not the phone it's the apps on the phone that are addicting. Delete them and you'll live in peace and tranquility.
- sys_64738 4y ago
  > Delete them and you'll live in peace and tranquility. ^ This. My app install strategy is zero apps installed by me.
giraffe_lady 4y ago
What was the point of writing this though? You have an extremely anomalous use of and relationship to smartphones that makes you immune to the problems other people have with them. Yet those problems are widespread, and the ways you've avoided them aren't really accessible or acceptable to most of the people experiencing them. You don't come right out and say it but there's definitely a virtuousness angle here. If other people were just good in the ways you are good, they wouldn't have these problems. They have in some sense the ability to avoid these consequences, and so they are choosing to have them. They deserve them, in a sense. Right?

shiftpgdn 4y ago

I've found that setting my iphone to black and white completely broke my desire to use my phone. I would really recommend it as the first step for anyone who wants to limit the amount of time they spend on their device.

kcartlidge 4y ago
Works well. And on the accessibility shortcuts you can also set it so triple-pressing the home button instantly toggles between B&W/Colour so (for example) you can the colours on a photo you've just taken.
dfex 4y ago
Amazing - this is my new default, thanks!

dijonman2 4y ago

I would love to have a flip phone again.. the simpler and dumber the better.

greenie_beans 4y ago
they're great. the UX is so bad that i hardly use it unless absolutely necessary, which is a positive thing for me. would definitely recommend. it has maps and podcasts and google, believe it or not. the downside is no imessaging (which i can do on my computer), no notes (so i carry around a notebook), bad camera (want to buy a digital one), no spotify (been listening to cds and want to get an mp3 player without apps), no authenticator app (we should be using hardware keys anyway). so now i carry around more stuff unfortunately but it's a worthwhile tradeoff. it's a clunky UX and everybody around me has a smartphone, so i just use theirs to google or play something on spotify. it's made me realize how much of our recent world has been built around everybody having a smartphone. for example, QR codes for menus and to pay for parking, etc, is not a very equitable world.
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  Is it any less equitable than needing to have a fixed address or bank account?
  - greenie_beans 4y ago
    idk, wasn't comparing to that.

PainfullyNormal 4y ago

> I think people just want phones that are just less addicting. That's easy. Learn to type 120wpm. Going from 120wpm on a laptop to 30wpm on a phone will seem like pure agony. Unfortunately, you'll still be addicted to the internet, but at least you can't take your laptop into the can with you. Well, not in public, anyway.

Handytinge 4y ago
I type > 120pm on a computer and > 70wpm on a mobile touch screen with all spell checking disabled (and used to type > 100wpm on a Blackberry). It's not agonising and if you use the tech more (just like the computer), you improve

dredmorbius 4y ago

I'd like a phone that: - Respects my privacy. It's not tracked or surveilled. Contacts and communications are not logged and recorded. - Doesn't alert with spam calls and texts multiple times per day. - Has days of batter and weeks of standby. - Can provide an emergency data link ("tethering") for my other mobile devices when necessary. - Avoids emissive displays. E-ink is rapidly becoming a strong preference for me. - Hardware buttons. - Folds away keyboard/touchpad. No butt-dialing. - Physical headphone jack. - Small pocketable format. Nice-to-haves above and beyond that: notes/remiders, clock / timer / alarm, mapping / directions (with disableable / activate-only-when-needed GPS), and transit / travel information. Almost all other substantive uses are far better applied to a larger format device --- probably a tethered e-ink tablet as a first option (8" -- 13"). I'd still like an e-ink keyboarded ultra-light laptop / notebook as well. I'll wait ... I'm ... close ... to simply going in for a pager with very limited access (as in, nobody but top priorities can reach it), and I can reach back out via another option. PSTN is dangerously near death, not just wireline / POTS but mobile as well.

jpl56 4y ago
Hi! Android phone here. - I deactivated notifications for most apps. If necessary, I setup in-app notifications (Discord notifies me about a new personal message, but not about a random post on the "general" channel) - I don't use the facebook app, but I have a link to facebook.com on my icon screen, browsed firefox - ublock origin extension for firefox - if a random notification happens, long click on it allows deactivating the next ones from the same app - I deactivated incoming email notifications. If I want to read my emails, I open the client. I guess it saves battery too. - In France we have an app to detect spam or phishing calls. It can event prevent the phone ringing when detected as such.
- dredmorbius 4y ago
  Google Play Services, Google's Advertising ID, tower tracking, full access to contacts, call data, messages, and far more, are all failures and weaknesses of the present smartphone (including Android) environment. At its core is the mobile phone data network itself, which provides sufficiently fine (and largely utilised) location tracking, vox activity, and Internet data usage tracking and association with a single device. The foundation is shit, no golden castle can be constructed on it. Source: Android owner for nearly 15 years, infosec background, numerous exploits, data disclosures, white papers, etc. https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/mobile-phones-location-tracking https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/mobile-phones-location-trackin... https://ssd.eff.org/en/playlist/privacy-breakdown-mobile-phones https://ssd.eff.org/en/playlist/privacy-breakdown-mobile-pho...