I recently embarked on a journey to make myself a "dumbphone". I started with an iPhone 12 mini, removed every app possible and kept Phone, Contacts, Messages,

I recently embarked on a journey to make myself a "dumbphone". I started with an iPhone 12 mini, removed every app possible and kept Phone, Contacts, Messages, Camera, Photos, and Safari with a 15 minute daily limit. My main motivations for going with iPhone were 1. Get to keep iMessage 2. Get to keep a good camera with easy photo syncing 3. Browser when really needed 4. App store for emergencies 5. I eventually added Bitwarden (for passwords) and iCloud Files, for when I need email attachments (PDFs) without access to email. I also enabled lockdown (didn't contribute much to the dumb experience) and black & white color filter. It's fine, and I do use it a lot less when out and about, but I've had many inconvenient moments in the first couple months 1. Rented a Uhaul, which basically required a smartphone to complete the checkout process. Got away with not having it because Uhaul seems to have lots of issues even with smartphones and let me slide 2. I should probably add Maps back, for obvious reasons. 3. Having to ask everyone I communicate with through an app (via website these days) for their number before leaving the house, otherwise there's no way to get in touch. Burned me a couple times meeting up for bike rides etc. (no Strava on phone) 4. Having to tell someone I'll pay them back (Venmo etc) "when I get home" is awkward at best. 5. Haven't needed an Uber yet, but will probably have to install that at some point. 6. Will have to go back to paper boarding passes and such, I suppose Overall I use the phone less... recently had a Dr appointment and was flabbergasted to be the only person in the waiting room who didn't look at their phone once, let alone stare at it the entire time. But that said, I had already removed all social media from my phone for many many years. So the improvement was marginal and the inconveniences have definitely been there. Ultimately, I think removing any app that causes you to scroll mindlessly (social media obviously, but also any news, video, etc.) and setting screen time limits for need to haves like Browser will be as far as most people should go.