The problem Link to heading

TL;DR: I need a phone, for a couple of obvious reasons. What I don’t want is a smart phone killing my brain and soul, constantly bashing at my presence and peace of mind. Needless to say I’ve tried countless options and variations, but all my attempts have been less than ideal. My attempts usually fail in one of three ways:

  1. Either it’s too limiting, like using a dumbphone or Lightphone II 24/7, leaving me helpless when I need to pay for parking – or if someone sends me a long text…,
  2. Not limiting enough, like using some screen time whatever setting that I can easily override when I have a good bad reason,
  3. Too much hassle! Like using twin SIMs and changing device based on need/situation. Ah, the mental overhead involved in picking the right device for the occasion is massive, like choosing tie color 5 times every single day. Not that I ever wear ties. Also, things get out of sync (unanswered calls, texts etc) – it’s a mess.

What do I need/want from my phone? Link to heading

Must haves Link to heading

  • Working calls with sufficient coverage and audio quality. Also, bluetooth!
  • Texts! I love the iMessage protocol (with MMS fallback), but anything supporting long texts is fine.
  • A Camera. I thought I didn’t need this, and usually I really don’t. But sometimes, not having a camera at hand really sucks. Seems like the Lightphone guys came to the same conclusion seeing as the Lightphone III features a quite nice one!
  • The ability to completely disable All Evil™ from the phone, whether things being actively intrusive or distracting (like unwanted notifications), or just “open doors” to self imposed rabbit holes of time wasting and brain micro-waving. The hardest one to kill of is actually the built in browser. Doesn’t help much to delete the Gmail app as long as I can just gmail.com my way back anyway.

Going by this list alone, I guess The Lightphone III could be a viable option. But it’s a bit expensive, and I already have an expensive phone. And there’s my second list as well:

Nice to haves Link to heading

  • FaceTime! I could write “video conference capabilities”, but what I really want is FaceTime. Hassle free and convenient!
  • Again, iMessage. Messages synced between mac/phone, just like that.
  • Vipps and online banking! I always wear my Garmin Fenix 7X Pro SS, so in-store purchases are covered without my phone. But it’s so nice to carry Vipps, both for checking my balance and for doing quick transfers, as well as in-person payments for second hand stuff etc.
  • Parking and charging apps: I usually supercharge for free, but in the odd case I find myself outside the edge of the map it’s great to not be totally screwed. And paying for parking without an app is actually very time-consuming these days.
  • School, library and public service apps: Arguably quite a few of these shouldn’t have been apps in the first place. But seeing as they are, I actually need a smartphone for a lot of weekly chores like kindergarten schedules, school pick up times, borrowing and returning books etc.

Previous iPhone solutions, and why they failed Link to heading

Sure, the iPhone can do all of the above. Except disable all evil, or at least that’s what I thought. I’ve tried limiting screen time (but unlimiting it again is just a few clicks away), deleting apps (but I can just re-download them), using a special DNS that disables basically everything online (but I can just disable it again). And no matter what apps and stuff I turn off, there’s always Safari. Safari is more than enough to waste time and eventually become a mindless endless scroll zombie, at least for me.

The Real solution Link to heading

There is a solution. One that works. Lo, and behold, I show you a great mystery: Apple Configurator

A single screen shot pretty much sums up everything:

“Disabling Safari”

Apple Configurator allows you to create custom profiles for your devices, and these profiles can put a quite extensive range of limitations. Whether you want to limit which apps are allowed, which websites are accessible or even disable the camera, Apple Configurator allows you to do just that. Note that there are two levels of restrictions; a few can be put on any profile you can install on your device just like that, while some more severe restrictions require you to “enroll” your device first (this in turn needs a factory reset). Luckily, the non-enrollment restrictions were sufficient for my needs. I now have a black/white phone with only Phone/Messages/FaceTime/Vipps/Parking/Maps/Spotify. Last but not least: no Safari!

Lastly, I made sure to make it a permanent profile as well, which means I can’t remove it in a weak moment – it can only be removed by connecting to my mac and entering Apple Configurator. This is a big deal, and makes it actually work.

“Permanent profile”

Step By Step Link to heading

  • Download Apple Configurator on the Mac App Store
  • Make a sufficiently limited profile
  • Connect your (fairly updated) iPhone to you Mac via USB
  • Either
    • a) Drag ’n’ drop your newly created profile to you iPhone (within Apple Configurator), if it’s not too crazy, or
    • b) Enroll your device first, then apply your extreme profile. This requires full factory reset, so back up your things first.

Finally, a lasting solution to a long standing problem. For me, at least.