dumbphone journey -- eight month update
51 points by j3s
51 points by j3s
i used parental controls to lock myself out of the browser.
Same here, but with an Android phone. I turned my wife into my "parent". I pretty much only have google maps and some messaging apps installed. If I want to install any other app, which is never, my wife has to approve it.
Fun fact: when creating the account, I had to submit a date of birth. I set it to whatever the date was at the time.
Turns out Google thinks it's totally normal for parents to buy their kid a phone when they're about a week old.
Based. Steam still thinks I was born on Jan 1st, 1901. It still asks me to verify my age every time I view a game with a rating though.
Every now and then I get a notification "Add your birth date now to help Google comply with the law.", and I keep dismissing it. They have yet to state which law, or even which jurisdiction they are talking about. If it was legally crucial I have a hard time I would be able to dismiss it.
i refuse to use grapheneOS because of the behavior of their leadership, and i personally don't think that non-android AOSP phones will remain viable for much longer.
I (sadly) agree with the latter point, but I have no idea what the author is talking about with the former.
As much as I admire GrapheneOS and consider it to be the best way to use an Android at present, the leadership regularly spews words like "libel", "harassment", and "disparaging" and considers the entire world to be their enemy. They also seem to have a compulsive need to call out every other alternative smartphone OS project, except iOS, out there as insecure. It wouldn't be surprising if someone decides to stay as far away as possible from GrapheneOS after following their social media accounts for a month.
As far as I've seen, no other alterative smartphone OS project is secure. (Disclaimer: I use and love grapheneOS). I think GOS, while maybe too aggressive at times, is accurate in every claim and 'debunk' they make of other projects.
However, j think they (whoever is doing their public accounts) need to disengage from public discourse just a little bit. Especially when they are attacked, even slightly, their reaction is definitely over the top, but again, more often that not accurate when it comes to the technical side of things.
They end up doing themselves more harm than good by engaging with their bullies. Think streisand effect. I say, at this point they need to ignore most if not all outside projects and concentrate on the project itself.
As far as I've seen, no other alterative smartphone OS project is secure
I think GOS, while maybe too aggressive at times, is accurate in every claim
Sure, I agree. However, different people have different needs and security is not the paramount requirement in all scenarios.
I have a Pixel 4a, the last Pixel to have a 3.5mm jack, and I use it as a media player device with LineageOS. The GrapheneOS project views that device as e-waste and any mention of LineageOS in a conversation with them would result in them pointing out how insecure and unsuitable LineageOS is. They might be correct about their claims of security but they're tone deaf at the same time.
They might be correct about their claims of security but they're tone deaf at the same time.
Look I agree, however, why mention it in a conversation with them at all? The context they operate in is extremely secure mobile devices (it seems to be a "bubble" they never depart from in public discourse - which makes some sense?), not media players like your use-case is. I'm not trying to defend their tone deafness though, I can definitely see evidence of that.
why mention it in a conversation with them at all?
Oh, I don't mention such topics in any conversation with their accounts at all. It's just that not everyone is aware of the kind of responses GrapheneOS would give when one might talk about GrapheneOS or an alternative smartphone OS. It's like stepping on a field of land mines. One might escape that field unharmed and learn something new but there's a significant chance that one will be accused of "bullying", "harassment", "spreading libel", and "targeted attacks" at GrapheneOS. I prefer to be in a read-only mode when going through their accounts or forums.
Yes please, just focus on project outcomes and stay squeaky clean with PR wherever possible.
I’m hoping to switch to GOS next year because of the merits of the project and my stance on privacy.
Tragically, leaders in tech are all too often destroyed through social media addiction. Let us pray leadership learns their lesson and fast.
being quiet would be a positive for the news articles against GOS, and would also be a positive for the politicians and lobbyist groups against GOS, it would be a positive for anyone who cares about making GOS look bad. Or to make Daniel Micay look bad.
Silence only stops one very specific group of people: Those that specifically want to make Daniel Micay angry, and who also have relatively short attention spans (to allow them to move onto another target in a time span of under 5 years).
I'm inclined to agree with you - I do not mean "being quiet" to claims against GrapheneOS. I mean being quiet to commenters and passers-by who merely speak about, or ask about, other projects being piled on as if they are coordinated attackers. I'm not doubting coordinated attacks on the project in public are possible, I just think the project is too jumpy when it comes to that, damaging their image to potential users more than anything.
I respect Daniel, his work, and I understand his suspicions and his attitudes, and I understand the history of it as well.
i refuse to use grapheneOS because of the behavior of their leadership
Huh? As someone currently typing this on a GOS Pixel, I'd like to know more
I followed https://stopa.io/post/297 which gives instructions on how to use Apple Configurator (I think you need a Mac) to turn your phone into a dumbphone using managed iOS profiles. I haven't looked back since because you literally can't remove the restrictions unless you plug your phone back into the laptop and remove the profile.
I've tried the no dumbphone thing more than once. I really like the disconnected number voicemail thing.
There are a few apps that prevent me from using a dumbphone (essentially mapping and gps software for biketouring).
That’s why I’m really happy with the Mudita Kompakt.
It is essentially a dumbed down Android with e-ink screen. Lot of stuff don’t work. Which is fine. My phone GPS workts on it. Molly-foss (Signal client) works on it. That’s basically all I need and I’ve stopped even thinking about it.
https://ploum.net/2025-09-02-mudita.html (my review in French)
My main frustration with iOS Screen Time is that you can’t use it to disable apps without also removing the ability to do anything time-related in Settings, e.g., setting time zone.
Also, I’ve learned about the Brick recently, which supposedly does a nice job introducing a physical barrier to using certain apps.
It's inspirational to see, and unfortunate that it is so difficult to get rid of smartphones in this day and age.
I've considered doing this many times, but every time I stop because I realize the only way I'll be able to contact people will be through phone calls. I'm not against phone calls, but I think for 90% of their use cases a text message is much better, the immediacy and urgency of phone calls is problematic when the subject is a trivial, non-urgent thing.
I keep thinking that humanity will still invent something more useful than phones that don't have all its downsides, it would be ridiculous if phones as we have today were the pinnacle of human invention.
Maybe pagers were the best mobile device we had. I wish someone revived them with a twist.
I don't have much hope for stuff like https://daylightcomputer.com/, but at first glance it looks like a step in the right direction. Has anyone tried it?
I have one, and it's pretty okay, but at the end of the day it's just an Android tablet with a semi-novel screen.
Been doing this too. Same general strategy with the smartphone kept at home with no SIM. Changed my life. The rest of you all look absolutely mental to me now walking around everywhere constantly staring down at those things.
What would I do with a dumb phone? Who does phone calls anymore?
Who does phone calls anymore?
I do. Text can only go so far, and I see no reason to use an app for local calls. Especially when that means occasional loss of quality and spikes in latency.
I see no reason to use an app for local calls.
Privacy? I'd much rather use Signal.
Well, I'm not saying that you shouldn't. If it is working better for you, that's great. It's just not the case for me. I value more the quality of the call than being assured than nobody else is listening.
It's a bit like e-mails, I'm not using OpenPGP or equivalent very often (although that's for different reasons).
if 1 minute of safari per day is too much for you, i’ve had success in the past with disabling safari completely via content & privacy restrictions -> allowed apps. although as the author points out sometimes one minute for emergencies can be useful.
What is the point of 1 minute Safari? Can you do anything in one minute?
On my phone at least that's basically the time it takes to render one average webpage once.
It's OK, once the one minute is up you can tap on "One more minute" and get another one. Sometimes, if you do this enough times, it just gives up and removes the time limit entirely. Apple's parental controls are completely useless.