Don’t buy a $500 dumbphone. These apps will keep your Android phone cool

I really like the idea of ​​a “dumbphone” or minimalist phone. These are just essentials. Phone, maps, calendar — just the useful bits. Not a single time-sucking, doom-spinning distraction.

But I don’t like the idea of ​​spending $500 for a Light Phone or Wisephone. Instead, I tried to turn my Pixel 9a into a calming device. The good news is, it works.

Here’s how I did it and the apps that made it possible.

The first thing I do is make sure notifications are off for most apps, or at least limited to the most important updates (Android’s notification channels feature really helps here). But it’s table top at the moment.

I lean in so I don’t divert my attention Changeable. It’s a free, open-source app blocker that’s incredibly customizable and supports NFC tags and QR codes. instead of paying for something like $59 a brickI can get the same functionality with a printed QR code. Switchly has a neat feature that allows you to block only the parts of your social media apps that you’re addicted to, so I set it up to always block Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Generally, I have a profile setup that automatically blocks distracting apps and websites. One tap and silence.

The overall experience of installing and testing utilities was a lot smoother after what I learned BlockAds. It’s a VPN-based global ad blocker that works surprisingly well. It blocks annoying full-screen ads that populate free Android apps. It’s a massive upgrade to the Android experience.

Yes, Android apps can bring some very niche customization, powerful features, and automation. But there’s another side to it that’s easy to miss.

Finding a minimalistic, ad-free version of any app you use isn’t too difficult. In general, I’ve found that free and open-source apps made by independent developers are well-polished, ad-free in nature, and offer options to disable features you don’t use. They generally shout less.

I’ll start with Fossify’s suite of minimalist apps. They have a gallery, file manager, calendar, music player, messages and even an ad-free basic version to replace the phone app. I like the default phone and messages apps, but I find photos, files, and calendar too cumbersome, so Fossify’s minimalist versions help.

As for the weather, I prefer to use the open source and custom Breezy Weather. I try to use NewPipe whenever I can, instead of getting sucked into YouTube’s star algorithm channel. The app has a sorted list of subscriptions and here too I turn off features like Live feed and comments. NewPipe allows me to watch YouTube videos seamlessly, ad-free, and allows me to download videos for offline use (I like using NewPipe on Android even though I pay for YouTube Premium).

As for my keyboard, I switched to a FUTO keyboard and I really like it so far. Gboard is a bit bloated. FUTO is a free and open source alternative that you can customize to show only the tools you actually want to use.

I try to use it as much as I can DillMozilla Firefox is open source. It doesn’t have any telemetry or Mozilla add-ons. Additionally, I can enable desktop-level ad blocking with the uBlock Origin extension.

When I started using the Pixel 9a, I started to customize the lock screen and home screen. I added widgets to the lock screen; I have customized several pages on the home screen. But most of this resulted in decision fatigue and forced scrolling.

Mostly I still use Pixel Launcher. But I turned off the At a Glance widget (thanks Google for letting me do this after years of begging). The Discover channel page is also gone (and with it a lot of distractions).

I’ve removed all widgets and keep a simple, one-page setup with themed icons most days. It doesn’t take long to launch apps with the swipe up gesture on the Pixel. When I’m feeling a little extra, I switch to Niagara Launcher, which has a minimal theme. I’ll pin a few useful apps, maybe a widget to the top, and that’s it.

Some apps you can replace, some apps you just can’t. Chrome is a prime example. Even though I use Fennec, I still occasionally have to use Chrome for testing or because a website doesn’t open properly in Firefox.

I made Chrome as quiet as possible. By default, Chrome is set for adrenaline junkies. The main page opens to shortcuts and channels; Every website wants to send you ads. But I was able to customize the home page by removing almost all the elements except the search bar. Disabling pop-up notifications went a long way in restoring some peace.

I try to do the same with apps like Gmail and Google Maps. Disabling Gemini features and the Meeting tab in Gmail will help. While I support access to Google Maps, I’m not advocating for the Explore page and Maps to be increasingly requested. Disabling offers and suggestions helps here too.

This is my advice to you. Access settings and find customization options anywhere. There is an option to turn off annoying notifications, offers and distracting features.