minimalist phone

What is Minimalist Phone app?

Minimalist Phone replaces your Android device's home screen with a minimalist interface. This interface hides nearly all of the apps and functions of your phone to discourage aimless browsing at the expense of more productive or healthy pursuits.

Without screens full of app icons, you won't find yourself swiping through them without actual purpose. Without notifications constantly pinging, you won't be pulled from doing something else into a lost hour of aimless social-media surfing. 

You won't lose the messages from notifications; they'll be filtered according to your preferences and stored for when you choose to read them. After all, how many notifications sent to your phone really need reading immediately?

Minimalist Phone wants it to be a mindful choice when using an app, not a habitual and aimless pursuit. For even more awareness and control of how you use your app, you can set in-app timers. The app makes you aware of how much time you are spending on some apps, and if you feel it is too much, you can make them more difficult to open or even block them for a fixed time.

You won't lose any functionality from using Minimalist Phone. You can still access all of your apps, your notifications will still be there when you look for them, and the phone remains user-friendly. 

What your device will lose are the triggers, prompts, and psychological tricks that apps use to make you want to use them. Many users will likely be surprised at how rarely they choose to use their apps as opposed to the apps enticing them.

If you feel that you or your kids are too deeply dependent on your device at other activities' expense, you should try Minimalist Phone to see if this simple app can improve the balance.

What we love about Minimalist Phone app.

Minimalist Phone solves a problem elegantly and simply. 

You might have an iron will and the ability to park your device and never feel the urge to open your favourite app. But you probably don't.

Whereas we'd normally talk about what an app adds to your device in this part of the app review, the benefits of this app are what it removes. It takes away distractions.

Minimalist Phone does this perfectly so that your phone doesn't lose functionality but that the apps and features you love are hidden away and lose the visual psychological hooks that pull you into browsing and opening apps.

The two key features of a phone stay in place, though, so you can still make calls easily and capture photographs. Nobody wants to miss a cherished moment because their camera app is hidden away, and so it remains on the home screen, albeit much more anonymous than usual.

Minimalist Phone also reassures you that this minimalist process is not a one-way process. You can return to normal by uninstalling the app from the Play Store.

What skills does it teach?

Minimalist Phone's designer has not built it to aid teaching or learning directly, but limiting distractions can help them take place. Without on-screen prompts and icons catching the device owner's eye, they won't feel so many urges to break from their less interesting responsibilities.

What age is it appropriate for?

Anybody with an Android phone could use Minimalist Phone but it is most likely going to be useful for teachers, parents, and older kids who find it difficult to avoid the stimulus of always-on-view social, game, and entertainment apps.

Is Minimalist Phone app easy to use?

Minimalist Phone is straightforward to use. As its purpose is to simplify your phone when you don't want it to distract you, there is only the set-up process to work through. The app guides you through this effectively and describes the gestures you need to access those hidden apps when you want to indulge in their offerings.

How will students benefit?

Minimalist Phone could provide a compromise step between a parental control app and unrestricted phone use. Minimalist Phone might not make kids' phones look as they'd choose, but if they find the standard display too distracting, they might prefer to use this app and use the in-app timers to help control how much time they spend on time-sucking apps.

How will parents benefit?

If you've ever sat with your kids and then realised later that you never gave them your full attention because of your phone's screen, Minimalist Phone could be for you. As a parent, you may have responsibilities that make turning your phone off, or even to silent, impractical 

However, by hiding all the attention-grabbing clutter of your normal display, you won't find your gaze wandering from your kids to your screen. They'll notice this and be more inclined to talk to you, making learning and family moments more rewarding.

How will teachers benefit?

Everything distracts kids, screens especially. You might keep your phone on your desk as a timer because you need to be contactable by your family or because you use apps to help you in your teaching. 

If your phone hides all of those colourful icons and features behind a minimalist façade, your students won't be so keen to catch a glimpse of your screen.

The minimalist display will also help keep your mind on teaching. Teachers are only human, and apps, notifications, and device screens are carefully designed to make people want to look at them. Switching your phone to the distraction-free display of this app will avoid on-screen triggers making you wonder what is happening on social, news, and entertainment sites and apps.

You will also benefit from more efficient use of your lesson planning time if your phone is not trying to distract you. The plainer display of this app will help you divide your time with more discipline. When you need to get work done, the phone is easier to ignore. When you want to check on your social feeds, you can make the conscious choice to do so.

How much does Minimalist Phone app cost?

You can download Minimalist Phone for free and try it with a free trial. Ongoing use of the app requires a subscription.

Is Minimalist Phone app safe to use?

The app requires permission to access certain features of your device; each of those shown in its self-declared list is justified by the app's functions and is required to make it work.

What can Minimalist Phone app improve on?

It might defeat the purpose for some people, but during this review, it felt that having someway to toggle between the standard launcher and Minimalist Phone would have been useful. This switching might be useful for kids who could have the phone set to minimal during the week and normal at the weekend.

Having said that, we can see an argument against exposing users who have become used to the calm simplicity of Minimalist Phone to the brashness of a standard interface.

Overall rating of the app.

Be honest with yourself. Do you choose to use your phone, or does it prompt you to use it? Do you pick up your phone to use it even when you have no use in mind? If so, habit has combined with the tricks of app developers to pull you in. How much more could you do if you didn't lose so much time with so little to show for it?

It won't take long or cost you anything to see if you could benefit from less eye candy and distractions on your phone. Give Minimalist Phone a try and see if you are surprised at how much time you gain.