What are /r/digitalminimalism's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

I would stick to the 3-2-1 backup method to avoid ransomware, theft etc… but for cloud storage take a look at Cryptomator or Boxcryptor which does individual file encryption.

https://cryptomator.org https://www.boxcryptor.com/en/

Google Play Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.declutter.adeclutteredlauncher&hl=en

Google isn't the only evil entity out there to look out for. Facebook, Microsoft, I'd say Apple too, maybe even your ISP. A VPN would protect from practically everything, not just Youtube tracking. I've heard Hidemyass keeps logs so I'd go with something like Nordvpn or Mullvad which don't keep logs of your activity. Also instead of Youtube you could use Vimeo or Dailymotion.

As an aside to my normal duties, I'm an ergonomics consultant at my university, which includes workplace performance (from both a physical and mental context). I suggest that folks use a system to force intentional breaks to support both contextual performances; personally, I use (and recommend) Stretchly.

Nextcloud, you don't have to self-host it you can buy it from a host. You can either find one yourself (just search for nextcloud hosting) or see a short list from the nextcloud website.

An app called bouncer gives temporary permissions to an app and revokes it when you don't need an app to use it! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samruston.permission

A tip that i can give is to avoid joining user experience programmes of any app or service as these programmes meant to 'enhance the user experience by collecting some data for improving the service' Often take a lot of your personal information away!

Social Media is a privacy nightmare and so I try to use alternatives from here - https://www.privacytools.io/providers/social-networks/

They are often quite minimal as well

Nice! DM is a journey, not an overnight success.

About computers, I strongly recommend Freedom.to, they're one of, if not the best website/app blocker out there. Its a paid software, but I got it with the Christmas discount for around $2/month.

I'm not on Facebook anymore but I recently found this app the helps prevent Facebook from tracking you across the web: Facebook Container by Mozilla.

SpiderOak Share and Seafile both offer free solutions with paid upgrades to storage. They are also both encrypted on your machine before uploaded to their servers so they have no idea what you're storing.

It won't be fun. There are apps that just won't work, and people won't be able to contact you if there are emergencies (I do not imagine you want to keep it open 24/7?).

If you want to do it anyway just for the heck of it, I'd suggest using Genymotion.

Still, I don't think it's practical to not have a phone these days. I tried using just a tablet once. It was hell...

I have an android so I’m able to install different launchers (changes the front page of the OS, basically). Slim Launcher gives me a list of max. 7 apps I selected, so I just have whatsapp, my public transport app, a maps app, and Spotify, in addition to the alarm clock, calendar, camera and phone.

If I want to scroll I have to whip out my ipad or computer.

Was going to add to clean up bio, and remove photos not needed anymore. I use jumbo for cleaning out old Instagram photos that 2 or more years old. Go though and unstar photos not relevant anymore. Finally check app permissions and see what has access to instagram and remove any you don't use.

I think so, it bothered me so much I create an app to stop myself using social media. I think it's helped

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.goldfish.friction&hl=en

I believe it was this one, but any similar device should do.

https://www.amazon.com/OBi202-2-Port-Adapter-Support-Service/dp/B007D930YO/

Sounds exactly like what I was thinking. I'll check it out, thanks. FDroid link https://f-droid.org/packages/com.aaronhalbert.nosurfforreddit/ Google Play link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aaronhalbert.nosurfforreddit

On iOS, this is already part of the operating system. It's called Screen Time in your settings, and you can set App Limits, Communication Limits, Downtime, etc.

On Android, you can download "Digital Wellbeing" which is an official Google application. The one OP mentioned is a rip off of the app which they are trying to charge you for. Don't do this. Use the free, official apps from iOS or Google (the one linked in this comment).

I have ProtonVPN which includes some ad blocking that works on a networking level (so all browsers). Personally though I use Firefox with uBlock Origin, but I believe r/privacy folks may have a good rec for a safari ad blocking plugin.

For iPhone I’ve found the app Lockdown to be good. it has in app purchases but thats only for thr VPN they sell. The ad blocking itself is totally free. You’ll have to enable it under Safari extension settings, but other than that, it blocks on a system level so ads are blocked in all apps (except YT because those are very difficult to block)

There's an app on the android play store called BlockerHero. It's primarily a porn blocker but there's an option to block the explore and reels pages on Instagram as well. Works like a charm.

Weird.

Maybe it is an Android OS-related issue? I have Samsung s20 fe with android version 12.

If alarmy issue doesn't stop then you can try using this app. It's pretty similar to alarmy and is even free. It has an option that disables the phone power off button similar to alarmy.

https://www.amazon.com/TQ140-Travel-Alarm-Clock-Red/dp/B000NG45WU/ref=sr\_1\_8?crid=YQ1J5ON7B09Y&keywords=small+red+alarm+clock+analog&qid=1644200956&sprefix=small+red+alarm+clock+analog%2Caps%2C488&sr=8-8

This is the alarm clock for you (potentially can get it without the glow in the dark letters if that's your preference). My alarm clock is basically the same but an older style model with only the hands that glow.

It has a single button on the top that you pull up to set the alarm and and single button on the back that you turn to set the time and pull out and turn to set the alarm time (the smaller hand that's pointing to the 6 oclock) in the picture. It's cheap as chips and the battery lasts forever (I change it monthly just to be on the safe side).

When you go to bed you pull up the little tab and your alarm is set and you don't need to worry about it. If you wake up at 11pm and think shit did I set my alarm for tomorrow you can run your hand over the top of the clock and feel the raised button (no need to look at a bright screen or turn a light on). If you wake up before you alarm and think is that thing going to actually go off you can hear it ticking away and know the battery is working and alarm is set so it will go off. It's also good because it gets you in the habit of waking up at the same time every morning (it's easy enough to change but you just don't).

Only problems are it goes off at 6pm and 6am so if you set it straight away when you wake up in the morning it will go off at night for a minute or 15 mins or so which isn't ideal.

It's not the most accurate to set initially so you might have it set for 6 and it will go off at 553 (but after that it will go off at 553 forever).

Seriously just buy one of these or one like these today it's like $20bucks and it has sorted this exact problem for me.

I think you are already a lot farther than me. But here goes nothing.

I use LeechBlock NG as a chrome extension to limit my internet use. I can always see the remaining time in the corner of the screen which makes me budget the time so hard that I usually only use half

I don't have a cable package and stream all tv so this is managed by the chrome extension.

Bon your phone I would recommend setting your phone to grayscale which can be done in settings on most phones (except Samsung galaxy).

I also have grayscale turned on on my computer whenever possible. On Windows this can be done and undone by pressing windows+Crl+C, I am sure it can be done on mac as well.

I find going all or nothing makes me break and give up so it is small steps at a time

Achieving total internet privacy/anonymity is practically impossible these days. Even modern CPUs have low-level backdoors (Intel Management Engine for example). Some more realistic measures to protect your privacy as much as possible could include:

• Having a separate email account you use when registering on websites

• Not giving your real personal information if not absolutely necessary

• Using a VPN if you don't want your ISP to know which pages you visit or if you're downloading torrents (use a VPN that doesn't store logs)

• Buying/building your own server to self-host Nextcloud instead of using Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.

• Using Firefox instead of Chrome, Duckduckgo instead of Google and in general trying to de-google as much as possible

This is just stuff I can remember off the top of my head. You can visit r/Privacy, r/degoogle and https://www.privacytools.io/ for more info.

Most privacy guides also recommend staying off social media and messaging platforms like WhatsApp, and it's good advice, since they are the worst offenders when it comes to collecting data from their users. But you can't expect all your relatives/friends to change platforms only because of you. My advice is to be mindful of what you post and send to people on these platforms, and use them with an assumption that everything you do can be seen by someone else.

the HOSTS file on your computer does exactly what you are describing, it takes a request and maps it to a different IP address. Here is a much more in-depth article:

https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-find-and-edit-a-windows-hosts-file/

I'm assuming you use iMessage? (Since you said "Third-party")

You know that iMessage can't run on any non-apple product right? iMessage is basically a exclusive feature. All the while apps like Signal work on almost all platforms and thus accessible to all people

Cold Turkey Writer does exactly this in a totally complete and badass way. Your computer won't let you do anything except type on an essentially featureless word processor. It turns your computer into a typewriter.

Their Blocker and Micromanager are both cool tool. Only problem: it doesn't work for phone so you need to use other solutions there (Freedom app for me).

I have two suggestions.

• If you don't need to share your manuscripts but only consume them yourself, I recommend a 1990s PC with DOS software. Incidentally, this is How George R R Martin writes.
• If you need your manuscript to be online or easy to share, I'm very happy with Joplin. Free. You can sync it via dropbox with any other device you might have. It's very distraction free.

I use ColdTurkey, but check out this website:

https://alternativeto.net/software/moment/

And this app seems like it could be useful for you.

Can I suggest using a password manager to help keep track of which sites have your login details? Bitwarden is open source and free, all my passwords are unique, every site I use is stored and it's a lot of excess digital work done for me.

I was reading Dr. Joan Donovan's statement before the US senate regarding social media and I found this quote:

> Over the last decade, social networking (connecting people to people) morphed into social media (connecting people to people and to content), which resulted in exponential profits and growth. Most people don’t know the difference between social networking and social media, but this transition was the key to products like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube dominating global markets in mass communication.

Looks to me like one of the core values of your project is to revert to social networking from social media.

Perhaps, if that is the case, it would be wise to address "growth." In social networking, the people are the customer. In social media, the advertisers are the costumer and the users are an asset. If you're not going to allow people and corporations to pay to get their content into your user's eyeballs, then there isn't much potential for growth; Your network will reach a maximum amount of users at a certain point, and thus any profit from subscriptions will plateau..

I'm no expert, but the corporate world doesn't care about profit, they want growth. You might struggle to find investors. I don't know what country you're operating from, but maybe you should consider running as a non-profit organization, much like Signal.

The Word documents by themselves don't take up that much space. If the program size is your concern, I can recommend LibreOffice or AbiWord. The latter is spartan, but does the job. And it's tiny, probably smaller than the space taken up by a single modern smartphone photo. They work offline too, which is a bonus.

you could use this for android to hide the whole info-bar: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.draco.immersive&hl=de&gl=US

if you still need some other information (network, battery...) you could use klwp /r/kustom

I don't know if this is applicable to IOS, but I've installed a minimalist launcher on my Android phone, called Slim Launcher.

It basically allows only seven apps to be accessed, but many more to be installed. The apps on my homescreen are the ones I need out in the world, phone, maps, notes etc. The rest I can only open from a command on my laptop - forcing me to do work-related things only when I sit down at my computer.

Here is mine with Olauncher app.

• Swipe up - App list (same style)

• Swipe right - Phone

• Swipe left - Gallery

• Double tap lock - Camera

It's Android launcher called Niagara. The dots are applications icons replacement, to not disturb you. There is free and pro version available, pro is a little bit more customizable.

And wallpaper is taken from Unsplash site - Timothy Meinberg is listed as the author.

If you need more alternatives, then check this page.
https://alternativeto.net/software/activitywatch/
It's a good software to find alternatives to any software/app.

I don't know where you write your notes now or keep them stored digitally, but I would recommend some software to keep it all straight

1. slite.com is a powerful tool to document all your notes that I currently use the free version of. You can only add so much to it on the free version but it is instantly available anywhere on any device. It has a desktop app and mobile app and the file structure is phenomenal. it has a lot of built in tools and its search bar is super powerful. It is marketed as a business tool but I use it as my personal note taking/Knowledgebase for everything I do. you can also make it as public or as private as your want. I support a knowledgbase for a nonprofit inside my site account and they can only see the pages I organize for them.
2. or www.notion.so Notion is something similar to slite In a lot that it does, but it markets itself to the masses vs just to companies. it claims to be free forever for personal use and has a lot of similar tools and even has templates. I haven't explored it much but it will probably be what i switch to if i ever hit the pay threshold on slite.

I have a Macbook Air, iPhone Xr, airpods, and an Apple Watch SE. Actually, I find that having the Apple Watch cuts down on my phone use interestingly enough. Though I'm considering replacing the Macbook Air with an iPad Air as my "primary" device. I also have a Kindle Paperwhite, which these days I use mostly to read library books and stuff from Standard Ebooks.

Regarding the software to help you manage the books, totally recommend Calibre. You can drop books onto the app, or have it scan multiple directories. It will then copy the books to it's file based database. Stay away from that, let the app manage it.

It's pretty damn good at picking out the information for the document from the metadata. However, anything that doesn't have metadata, you'll have to sort out. Could take a long time if most of the files don't have decent metadata.

Supports a very wide range of document formats, which sounds like something you really need.

What I would recommend, but from the tone of your questions you might find to radical for yourself, is don't put the documents on to your machine after the reinstall. Leave them on the backups, and when you want a book, copy it to the PC by dropping it on to Calibre. You'll quickly find out what's really important to you.

So I wanted to share this little Hidden feature in Windows 10 call "Immersive search" its just like spotlight on mac

if you want to activate it follow this tutorial : Winaero | Immersive search

I hide my task bar most of the time, because i don't use it and most of my app are in UWP (Universal windows platform)

and finally if you want the title of the music its : AK - Wanderlust

Intro to Time Blocking. We all need a time management system, that is why time blocking can be an excellent resource for those who need more organization around their days. I recently started this system and wanted to share some of my thoughts and the way I do it. I am planning for 2021 to be a great year and I want to control my time and not let others do so. Time blocking can help you, so give it a try!

You can watch on Odysee as well: https://odysee.com/@JoseBriones:d/Time-Blocking:4

Nice write up. Well thought out and constructed.

Disagree with you on parts 3 and 4 of the passwords.

Recommended practice now is to use passphrases over complex passwords. Passwords that are shorter but use letters numbers and symbols is actually quite easy for a computer to crack and harder for the average human to remember. Computers have a harder time the longer the password is, hence the move to passphrases.

eg using https://howsecureismypassword.net/

D00RB377 - 1 minute to crack

"Easter Bunny Doesnt Knock" - lets just say its a really long number.

There are plenty of programs (many free) that will block certain websites for a predetermined period of time. Here's a good start for what you may need.

8 Website Blockers For Studying, Productivity, & Focus

Nice. I find the mobile version of Reddit so uncomfortable to use that deleting the app and simply sticking to the browser version actually helped me cut back. I've gone a step up and actually even have that version of Reddit blocked on my phone using Freedom but that's another story.

Hello,

another one to try is Freedom. It allows you to create filters you described and manage them accross all your devices.
https://freedom.to/

​

btw: I am not associated with that company but I do use the product.

I'm not sure about social media managers but I'm a moderator of this subreddit and I'm figuring out a way to make it work. I need to be here a few times a day but it seems I've gotten into bad habit of checking for intermittent variable rewards regardless. I'm currently using Freedom to lock me out of Reddit excluding three 20 min sessions per day.

• I try to keep one or two windows open, not more
• I close things systematically as I am done with them
• Whenever there's an 'irreducible' set of tabs that I can't close because I need to refer to them in the near future I use OneTab and convert them into a "section" https://www.one-tab.com/
• Every few months I delete OneTab sections I haven't used in a while

Feedly pairs up very nicely with Pocket (getpocket.com) which is also a free service and allows you to save articles to read later.

If you're on android, check out the feedly classic app. I find it much easier in use than the new feedly app and saving articles to pocket is much smoother!

Here is my suggestion:

Read ONE website for each interest. Trust those websites that they will inform you sufficiently. Ignore the rest. You will never be able to find and read everything anyway.

Essentially what you are trying to do is to be your own editor - find all information you can get, filter by what is important, present it in a searchable/readable manner. But why? There are people (websites) that do it for you.

As for storing articles that you have read and found interesting, you could just use getpocket.com.

I for one partially went back to reading printed media. I still feel informed, and I physically have it for when I need it again. That's ultimate digital minimalism ;)

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I'm not a doctor so I don't know if this is feasible for you. At least for me it seems to work.

If you like Chrome (or like specific Chrome extension you can't replace), check out Brave

r/brave_browser

It's a security-first browser build on Chromium. All Chrome extensions work and it pretty much feels like Chrome. Just faster and more secure. It certainly feels a lot faster.

They have good mobile clients as well. Just some things are missing there like sync between ios and desktop

This! Calibre is super useful. Might I add that some android e-reader apps, like KOReder, have calibre support.

If your specific ebook app does not support calibre you can set up syncthing, however this only works on Android.

I use Dash (https://kapeli.com/dash) or Zeal (https://zealdocs.org/) and have most of the things I'm using pre-downloaded. As for if I don't know how to code something, I learn how to code it by stepping through it. I come from an era before stackoverflow though, so a lot of the things I've learned to do happened without that as a crutch. Most of the algorithms in software engineering are ancient and so are contained in reference books, but in reality we tend to use very few of them.

I hate to be that guy .... but, um actually Markdown is not meant to be constantly compiled to be "human readable", you could even get away with never compiling at all.

The co-creator of markdown said in his blog:

> Markdown is intended to be as easy-to-read and easy-to-write as is feasible. > > Readability, however, is emphasized above all else. A Markdown-formatted document > should be publishable as-is, as plain text, without looking like it’s been marked up > with tags or formatting instructions. > > Source.

Example

Take for example this comment itself, here is the source:

I hate to be that guy .... but, um actually Markdown is not meant to be constantly compiled to be "human readable", you could even get away with never compiling at all.

The co-creator of markdown said in his blog:

> Markdown is intended to be as easy-to-read and easy-to-write as is feasible. > > Readability, however, is emphasized above all else. A Markdown-formatted document > should be publishable as-is, as plain text, without looking like it’s been marked up > with tags or formatting instructions. > > Source.

link-url: https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#philosophy

Example ----------

Take for example this comment itself, here is the source:

Analytics means tracking your use of an app: which buttons you press, how far you scroll, what time of day you use the app, IP address, your geolocation, creating separate profiles for each person's use of the app.

Here's a tiny taste of the analytics service this app uses: Session Recording.

To be honest, I am not really sure. I am using a platform called blot.im. It allowed me to do it by uploading a picture. It's a really interesting blogging platform. Give it a look!

So far, Facebook does not have any third party clients (that I could find), due to that their API is discontinued (hence only a few developers ever use it or develop.)

Messenger has one but its only for Mac/Windows. I haven't tested it out, but I will soon (will edit this). Its not an official nor is affliated and its just a wrapper for that speicifc site.

~~Sadly, its not safe to use a Third Party Client for WhatsApp (Source).~~

Oops, that's for android but that does give a good indicator they don't like third party clients. Either way, there is none as well that I could find mantained.

For things found online, mainly Pinboard.in, basically a bookmarking service. I pay the annual fee for archiving, which means if a web page disappears I can look at the cached copy on Pinboard. It makes me feel less pressured to store copies of things on my own computer.

I also use an iOS app called Pinner, so it's just as easy to save items from a phone or ipad as it is on a computer. I read blog posts in an rss reader app, and if there's something I want to explore further or keep, I can call up Pinner on the share sheet thing and get it into Pinboard.

I use OneNote, but more for making lists, organizing my thoughts about projects, etc.

My top three habits.

1. Meditation: Helped me become aware/conscious of when digital distractions are taking over my attention (e.g. mindlessly surfing Reddit)
2. Analog activities: I've noticed that when I'm engaged in my analog activities and dedicate more hours to them, it leaves less room for digital activities.
3. Optimal use of digital: Finding ways I can use digital tool to meet my goals. For example, I use Beeminder to track my habits. This was much more effective for me, than keeping an analog habit tracker.

Hey, I wouldn't worry too much about any damage you've done to yourself. If something really did change permanently then by definition there isn't any way to revert it so it's best to let it go. However, from my experience, a lot of the side effects of excessive internet use (struggling to enjoy offline time and low stimulus activities, being easily distracted while working on a computer, increased social anxiety etc.) start to go away once you get back to normal computer usage habits. In addition to using blocking software like Cold Turkey, it's also important that you retrain your brain to be comfortable without lots of internet access also. This is where the digital detox part comes into play. Finally, most people who deal with compulsive internet use, usually have a lot of life problems which cause them to retreat to their screens so much. You kind of noted this in your post even: My extreme social anxiety/lack of confidence and insecurities... I'm way more depressed. I'd argue that these things not only are these things a symptom of excessive internet use, but they're also a cause of it too. Because of this, I would recommend that you do whatever is necessary to help you overcome these issues too. All of this and the digital detox, should be more than enough to get you back to normal eventually.

I noticed that you're worried about detoxing getting in the way of your schoolwork but there are many ways you can start small. Here are some examples:

• You could decide to walk around without your phone during your study break instead of taking a quick look at Reddit
• You could decide to not use your devices in your room
• You could decide to take just 30 mins - 1 hour a day where you try out some offline activity to pass time instead of going on the internet
• Switch to a pen and paper productivity system like bullet journaling

Best Wishes.

I've come to the same conclusion in the last months. All these Notes and Todo apps trap you in a walled garden. Exporting your data is sometimes impossible or you will get the data in a format which doesn't make it easy to switch to a different service.

As others already mentioned, txt-files will be usable 20 or 50 years from now, as it's the simples way to store content in a file.

Last year I thought I needed to switch to Notion and it would help me sort my notes and help me get work done. The app looks nice, but I've spent way to much time fiddling with settings or the layouts of my notes (1 column, 2 columns, 3 columns?).

Last December I had enough and made the switch to Apple Notes. Not pure txt-files, but I like the simplicity of the app. It works on all my devices. Sync works without problems. And Apple probably doesn't kill the app in the next 5-10 years.

One day I will make the switch to pure txt-files, I'm sure. I follow the development of notable closely. It's a cross-platform app which is just a holder for all your txt-files. There's currently no mobile app, but sooner or later one will emerge.

You’re welcome.

I agree with you context switching in short periods can be detrimental to some. There are many variations on the Pomodoro framework. For example there is the Flowstate framework which you may find more suitable.

Here is a link to a really good explanation https://zapier.com/blog/flowtime-technique/

I've been using Activity Watch for a few days and it's open source, free, and really good. However, it requires some basic command line skills to use.

The Alcatel GoFLip 3 has both bands 66 and 71. But it's brutally priced at Amazon for $97. https://www.amazon.com//dp/B08MT7VDM9/

I own the LG Classic Flip phone. It has band 66 but not 71, but it's a cheap but decent flip phone. Unfortunately apparently it was only made for Tracfone and locked to tracfone companies. You can get it for $30 or less but Tracphone won't unlock their phones until after your 12th month of paid service. Real bummer.

If you have an empty cupboard / closet you could use something like this with that lock. https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Security-Products-Refrigerator-Padlock/dp/B00722PHSO/ref=sr\_1\_3?dchild=1&keywords=fridge+lock+padlock&qid=1634252590&sr=8-3

I switched to this thing for a year and a half and I LOVED IT. Unfortunately it only knows how to do calendar years through 2020, so don't buy one. I learned that in January 😂 and went back to a smartphone for now.

I had fun figuring out workarounds. I bought an old-school GPS for driving. For podcasts in the car I loaded up a USB stick. I'm 50 and married so managing a social life on Messenger isn't a priority, but I can see how that aspect would be a problem. I've actually done most social media, Messenger etc. in a browser on a computer because, well, 50.

for example, this?

Android is far better for minimalism due to custom launchers you can get from the play store. Personally I use Niagara and absolutely love it. iPhone is full of bloatware you can't uninstall and zero minimalist customization. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bitpit.launcher

Our android app was in review with Google when I posted this, overnight it went live!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.sundayy

Will be updating the website to reflect android availability, but in the meantime feel free to install from the link above!

I'm not sure if I do understand your question (I'm not a native speaker). But the only app (I'm aware of) that you can compare to mine is acutflow (which does ask you why you unlock your phone). My app asks you when you start an app, which makes more sense, bc you can choose this apps. Also there is an waiting period in which you can only close the app, a cool feature in my opinion.
I'm pretty sure there is no other app doing the same, I searched for it for hours bc I really did not want to program it by myself xd

I really love the idea but it sounds too much like what actuflow does.
My app allows you to set a custom message for the blockscreen: Just write down the questions you have "What made you open this app?" and if you then decide to close the app you can write it down in some notepad app or on a piece of paper.

Don't get me wrong - the idea is good, but for others it'd be a unecessary functionality and I want to keep my app as minimal as possible :)

Hey, I discovered this awesome app after reading your post. Give it a try and see if it serves your purpose.

Link: Birthday Calendar

You may try Before launcher for that https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beforesoft.launcher&hl=en_GB

this is the one I bought originally but ended up returning for the smaller one below

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RKTVQDR?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PFGG8C9?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

just realized though there's no ability to change alarm tone (and this one is quite jarring)

Puzzle Alarm Clock: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wroclawstudio.puzzlealarmclock&hl=en_US

Its free, and for an additional chip of 5$ you can buy a step that makes you scan barcodes (e.g. you can set it for it to make you walk around your house scanning certain barcodes)

Although willpower is probably the most effective way, there are ways to reduce your access to it without depleting.

I've used a tool like this, while it still gives you room to make decisions for yourself. Personally, I realised if you start managing to push it aside for a large majority of your day you start not to trigger your need to return as much!

I've tried to find one to no avail. Flip phones seem to only be produced to be super basic or accommodate seniors. Japan seemed to have embraced flip phones more but I have no idea if they would be usable elsewhere. I just don't think you will find one that will be as basic as you want but still be able to have Uber or good texting ability. Maybe try one with a full sliding keyboard.

I ended up getting a standard flip phone and just dealt with T9 texting. It's fine if only texting short, practical messages but not for conversations.

The other option would be to look into 'minimalist' phones, but I think they generally are meant to be paired with your smartphone as a secondary option.

Personally, I've done the whole flip phone thing and it was fine, taught me some things, but ultimately I want to be able to easily communicate with friends and family and engage with group conversations.

I've enjoyed the declutter launcher on my smartphone, if you're interested in something that visually pares down your phone to 4 apps of your choice.

The Before Launcher is amazing. It's just a text-only list of 8 apps on your home screen, and you swipe left and right to view notifications and full app list.

More minimalists should know about this! :) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beforesoft.launcher&referrer=utm_source%3DIn%20App%20Sharing%26utm_campaign%3DSharing

I'm using the stock one just because it looks better, but I used KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) launcher for quite a while and it's pretty good, it's perfect for keeping distractions away and staying focused because the main way to find your apps os through a search bar, the search suggestions are quite good so usually you just have to type one or 2 letters to find the app you want, it's actually way quicker than scrolling through a list of colorful apps calling for your attention, also, it's open source if that's important to you, you should give it a look:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.neamar.kiss

I'm leaning towards the Pixel 3a for these reasons:

- excellent camera

- headphone jack (can still use my earbuds without need for adapter)

- can use a minimalist launcher if I want, I don't think you can do that with apple products if I'm not mistaken

- general preference for Google suite over Apple, especially since owning a PC

I would pick it over the upcoming 4a for budget reasons and also for the headphone jack.

I used to have iPhone 5S and the battery and speed deteriorated a lot. If you want to stick with an iPhone, the SE is probably a good option. I've heard a lot of good things about Pixels though.

I always use Evie Launcher. It's lightweight, doesn't overwhelm you with unnecessary features and has all the essentials. It has a very fast search function similar on iPhones by swiping down. I really recommend trying it.

Ap15

Indistractable Launcher

It's just a black and white text interface with two pages: a customizable quick access page, and an alphabetical app list. You can turn off the app icons too, so their designs don't draw you in.

I looked through a bunch of "minimalist" launchers before settling on this one. I feel like this one is one of the most barebones (and therefore, the least mentally intrusive) one out there. There are others like it, but I've found their text scaling to be downright ugly at times, and not being able to hide app icons was a non-starter for a few of them.

r/vectorwallpapers are good place along with wallpaper changer for reddit to choose random wallpapers so your not looking at the same picture each time.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bryanwalsh.redditwallpaper2

Typo - Siempo. Grayscale alternative launcher for Android. It's really helped me, along with removing social media apps from my phone.

Smartphones have a lot of great stuff to offer, provided we know how to use it. What I do is limit the amount of time that I cam spend on it. I have been using this app for quite a few weeks now, and this is working for me perfectly.

For android there is a launcher 'Indistractable Launcher' that makes the home screen and app launcher text-only. Looks like it is in Early access.

Indistractbale Launcher

Edit: Sorry just noticed you were looking for iPhone options.. :(

This is a great guide, I just want to point a couple of things from my point of view that will help you improve your digital minimalism and increase your security around the Internet (I'm a cybersecurity engineer, and I hope this will add to what OP already created):

• You should not have a physical copy of your passwords, instead, let the password manager manage all of them. For ease of mind, you should only remember your master password and never write it down. I recommend the same 2 passwords manager OP posted in his guide, 1Password or BitWarden.

• Use 2-Factor Authentication whenever it's possible. It could be a hassle at the beginning but in case one of your passwords gets pwned, the second authentication step will stop a hacker in most of the cases. Apps like Authy, Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator are recommended to manage these codes.

• Never use a free tier VPN, always use a paid service and investigate if you can trust your VPN provider. For example, OP mentioned NordVPN and they've been found to have been hacked for months and disclose it until it blew up.

Overall, for everything else OP has a great guide here you guys, remember to give each device you own a purpose and you'll be golden with digital minimalism.

Mini Smartphone ,Child Phone Sudroid SOYES The World's Smallest Cell Phone 2.5 Inch Android Small Phone Quad Core 1G+8G 5.0MP Dual SIM High Definition Mini Phones Unlocked 3G Mobile Phone (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BN983B1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6HPfFbR6K9BV5 check this out

Nice article, I certainly find facebook quite addictive, have found this smartphone app has helped me use it less though

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.goldfish.friction&hl=en

I think this is a great solution, but part of me feels its the wrong approach, maybe we should be looking to get the best of both worlds by repurposing our smarphones in better ways. I think apps like this can help.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.goldfish.friction&hl=en

I may not be a very typical case. I do VERY little editing to pictures and don't use the album's feature very much either. But when I have, yes, it's been annoying. I try to download all of the collages, videos, and animations that Google Photos automatically creates and put those on the external drive as well. It's all separated into year folders and then months. Not great, but good enough for now.

By the way, Phone Saver is a good Android app to save photos when Google Photos doesn't give you the option. Just share to it and it'll download to a predefined location. Sounds like the dev may have recently abandoned the app, but it works well enough.

I use:

Moleskine Cahier Soft Cover Journal, Set of 3, Plain, Pocket Size (3.5" x 5.5") Coffee Brown - for Use as Journal, Sketchbook, Composition Notebook

u/ThatsJustUn-American suggested,

Moleskine Volant Notebook (Set of 2), Extra Small, Ruled, Black, Soft Cover (2.5 x 4)

but I personally find those too small, and I prefer plain to ruled. I also prefer brown to black: brown feels more earthy, classic, and leathery. But they're cheap as hell, so buy both and try them out. A lot of digital minimalism, being so novel, is trial and error to find out what you like.