How to turn your iPhone into a dumb phone

Maybe you’re an elder millennial who longs to return to the “good ol’ days” when all phones did was call or text. Perhaps you’re a curious member of gen alpha who wants to experience phones the way your grandfather did. Or maybe you’re just overwhelmed by every app and feature on your iPhone constantly chiming and buzzing at you when you just want some peace and quiet. Whatever the reason, before you toss that thing into the sea, consider turning it into a “dumb phone” instead. This blog will show you how to turn your iPhone into a dumb phone AKA something resembling a more “traditional” cell phone. Gray screen, no apps, the whole shebang. And don’t worry, we’ll show you how to turn it back too.   

Create a new Focus on iPhone

The foundation of your new dumb phone will be iOS’s “Focus” feature. This will allow you to toggle your phone in and out of dumb phone mode at will.  

1. Open your iPhone Settings app
2. Select Focus
3. Tap the + in the top right corner
4. Select Custom
5. Name your new Focus mode (something like “Dumb Phone”)
6. Choose a color and icon for this Focus mode
7. Tap Next

Allow push notifications on iPhone

The next step is choosing which notifications to allow on your dumb iPhone AKA deciding which people and apps can still get through to you while this Focus mode is active. 

1. Follow the instructions on the screen to select allowed people
2. Follow the same steps to select allowed apps
3. Tap Done 

Remember, the fewer apps you allow to notify you, the dumber your phone will be (complimentary). 

Customize home screen on iPhone

In addition to the new lock screen, you’ll also be able to customize your home screen. You may usually have several pages or apps on your home screen, so we recommend choosing just the essential page for your dumb phone mode.

Turn on automations and grayscale on iPhone

Finally, we’re going to use automations to dumb down the appearance of your iPhone whenever your new focus mode is enabled.

1. Open the Shortcuts app
2. Select the Automation tab
3. Tap the + in the top right corner to create a new automation
4. Scroll down and select the focus mode you just created
5. Select When Turning On and tap Run Immediately
6. Tap Next and choose New Blank Automation
7. Search “color filters” and add the action Set Color Filters when it pops up
8. Toggle turn color filters to be turned on
   • By default, this should enable the grayscale filter. If you changed yours, you can modify the color filter option in Settings
9. Finally, search for “set appearance” and add the action to turn on dark mode

Follow these same steps to create another automation for when you turn off your dumb phone focus mode, making sure it turns color filters off and returning your appearance to its usual mode.

Toggle your new dumb phone mode on in Control Center

There should be an option in your Control Center to switch to different focus modes. This is where you can enable your new focus to switch into dumb phone mode. If you removed this control, you can add it back in with a few steps:

1. Long press on the screen while in Control Center to open editing mode
2. Click on Add a Control
3. Search “focus” and tap on it when it pops up to add the control

Other ways to turn your iPhone into a dumb phone

Your new focus mode and the grayscale filter will dumb down your iPhone quite a bit by significantly reducing distractions. You can take this a step further by actively blocking apps on your iPhone. To do this, you will—ironically—need to download another app. You can find an app blocker in the App Store that will integrate with the Shortcuts app on your iPhone and add it to the dumb phone automation you created earlier. There are also third-party apps that do a lot of the dumb phone work for you, but they may cost money. Read up on their included features and browse the reviews to see which apps make the most sense for you.

Your iPhone is dumber… but you’re not

In an effort to transform your iPhone into a dumb phone, you just learned a bunch of cool tricks—which technically means you got smarter. Funny how that works. Hopefully you’re already feeling less overwhelmed by all the apps and features on your smartphone chirping at you all the livelong day. And if you still feel like throwing your iPhone into the sea, consider leveling up with a full digital detox. On the flip side, we also have a blog that will teach you some relaxing things you can do with your phone, if you just need to clear your mind for a moment. Additionally, Mint Mobile can help you with stress relief by providing premium wireless on America’s largest 5G network at a very affordable price, while also making sure you make the most of the time you spend on your phone. Click below to see why bringing that dumb iPhone of yours to Mint Mobile would actually be a genius move.