I Built My Own Iphone “dumbphone” Setup That Cured My Phone Addiction — Looking For A Few /r/nosurf To See If It Actually Works For Others

I read the thread about what stops people switching to a dumbphone. A lot of it boils down to: I don’t actually want a new harder-to-use device — I want the iPhone convenience without the iPhone addiction.

Maps. Tickets. Banking. 2FA. Camera. Calendar. Rideshare. Messaging. Shared data. Those are real reasons to stay. And a lot of “dumbphone” options are either unreliable, missing basics, or end up becoming another project to manage.

So I’m trying a quieter approach: keep the iPhone, strip it down to essentials, and add friction in the exact places where I personally break. Two small apps I’ve been building for myself:

Roam — a minimalist browser with a deliberate long pause before each navigation so you can access the web when you need but there is enough friction to stop you doing it mindlessly.

It’s there for “I’m in a store and need product info” or “I need to pull up a ticket.” Not a comfortable place to wander.

Glass — uses Apple’s existing Screen Time / parental controls as a way to “parent yourself.”

The point is to stop the familiar loop: lock things down → memorize the code → undo it when tired → start over. Glass stores the passcode securely and makes access possible only when you’re genuinely stuck (and then nudges you to re-lock and rotate the passcode so you don’t end up knowing it).

This assumes the baseline most people here already aim for: deleting the time-sink apps and keeping only essentials like calls/messages, maps, authentication, payments/tickets, camera, calendar, clock, and maybe a specific-query lookup (no feeds).

It's broken my own phone addiction with the least friction possible (I've been a lurker on this board for a while and my dumbphone was too annoying to actually use).

I’m not trying to turn this into a business. I just want to see if it’s useful outside my own life and brain.

If you want to test early builds comment BETA.

If you beta test, you’ll keep both apps free forever.

And would love to hear your thoughts, questions and ideas!