TWO WAYS TO GET DUMBER

Which stupid phone do you need?

01 THE APP

Stupid Dumb Phone

FOR YOU

Choose your own timer, keep your essentials, and make quitting just annoying enough to reconsider.

You start it
You choose what stays
You can end early—with friction

TRY THE APP PROTOTYPE

02 THE FAMILY APP

Stupid Dumb Phone: Family

FOR THEIR FIRST PHONE

A parent-approved setup that keeps calls, texts, maps, and photos—and puts the early exit behind a parent PIN.

A parent approves it
Four essentials stay available
A parent PIN ends it early

MEET THE FAMILY APP

Stupid Dumb Phone / Prototype 01

The Pocket Brick

THE RESEARCH Why a dumber phone can make you more connected. READ WHY THIS MATTERS →

A temporary phone with four jobs. Pick a body, set a duration, and try to quit.

Start Dumb Mode.
Tap the four essentials.
Use the hang-up control to end early.
Type why, then hold for 30 uninterrupted seconds.

This is the interaction and visual prototype. The native iPhone build connects the same controls to Screen Time, Phone, Messages, Maps, and the camera.

stupidDUMB PHONE

READY ▂▄▆█

DUMB MODE

01:00

USE ▲ ▼ TO SET

DUMB PHONE ENABLED ▂▄▆█

01:00:00

ESSENTIAL

END EARLY

WHY DO YOU NEED OUT?

0 / 10 MIN NOT SAVED

COMMITTED ENDING

KEEP YOUR FINGER DOWN.
LIFTING RESETS IT.

THIS SHOULD FEEL LONG.

SCORE 0 BEST 0

WORM PRESS OK

ARROWS MOVE • EAT THE DOT

SESSION COMPLETE

YOUR SMARTPHONE HAS RETURNED.

DUMB EXCHANGE

THE VERY SERIOUS REASON

The smartest object in the room keeps interrupting everyone in it.

Your phone can summon any fact, any song, any restaurant, and an effectively infinite number of short videos. It is less talented at noticing when the person across from you just said something important.

Stupid Dumb Phone gives your iPhone four jobs and a bedtime. Keep calls, texts, maps, and a camera that cannot become a gallery. Let everything else wait outside.

Keep the people.
Lose the feed.

THE RESEARCH / A JOKE WITH PEER-REVIEWED FOOTNOTES

Making a smartphone dumber has actually been tested.

We are not promising enlightenment. We are offering an off switch that is harder to negotiate with.

2 weeks

Without mobile internet

A 2025 randomized trial preserved calls and texts while blocking mobile internet. Participants improved on well-being, mental-health measures, and sustained attention.

Read the study ↗

20 hours

Less friend time per month

The U.S. Surgeon General reports that time alone rose while in-person social engagement fell from 2003 to 2020. Phones are not the only cause. The disconnection is still real.

Read the advisory ↗

One phone

Just sitting on the table

Experiments found that a visible phone can reduce perceived empathy and relationship quality during meaningful face-to-face conversations—even when nobody uses it.

Read the study ↗

Results across the broader “digital detox” literature are mixed and vary by person. This is a voluntary experiment in attention, not medical treatment and not a moral purity test.

OUR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

New feature:
eye contact.

Calls. Texts. Maps. Camera. Outside.

Some notifications are called friends.

Touch grass. We will not track it.

Your phone can be smart tomorrow.

STUPID DUMB PHONE: FAMILY / THE FAMILY APP

Their first phone should be dumb.

Family is the parent-approved version for a child’s iPhone. It keeps the four things a first phone is actually for, then shields the rest during a Family Dumb Mode session.

FIRST TESTFLIGHT: SETUP HAPPENS ON THE CHILD’S PHONE. REMOTE CONTROL FROM A PARENT’S SEPARATE PHONE COMES LATER.

WHO STARTS IT: Parent-approved setup
WHAT STAYS: Calls, texts, maps, photos
SESSION LENGTH: 1, 4, 8, or 12 hours
ENDING EARLY: Requires the parent PIN

STUPID DUMB PHONE / THE APP

Make your phone stupid.
Be where you are.

This is the self-directed version: you choose the timer and the allowed apps. The iPhone beta is in TestFlight now, with the public App Store release next.

TRY THE STUPID VERSION COMING TO THEAPP STORE