Dumb Phone Prescription

Pixel, how to turn your phone into a dumb phone

Pixel (Android 16) / OS version Android 16 / Checked on 2026-09-15

Everything worth trying before you buy a flip phone. Calls and texts stay as they are.

This app cannot block other apps. What it can do is show you the shortest way to turn the phone you already own into a dumb phone, using settings it already has.

Taken from the maker's own support documents. We have not held these handsets ourselves, so if a menu name differs, search for the word below.

  1. 1. Open Digital Wellbeing

    Settings > Digital Wellbeing and parental controls

    Everything below lives on this one screen.

    Type this into the Settings search box: Digital Wellbeing

    Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 16 / Source Google, Android Help, manage how you spend time on your phone (from the official document)

  2. 2. Put an app timer on everything you reach for

    Digital Wellbeing and parental controls > Dashboard > hourglass next to everything you reach for > set a time

    The icon locks when the budget is spent and unlocks at midnight. It is a daily allowance.

    Type this into the Settings search box: App timer

    Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 16 / Source Google, Android Help, manage how you spend time on your phone (from the official document)

  3. 3. Schedule bedtime mode

    Digital Wellbeing and parental controls > Bedtime mode > Schedule

    At the hour you set the screen dims and Do Not Disturb comes on with it. Alarms still ring.

    Type this into the Settings search box: Bedtime mode

    Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 16 / Source Google, Android Help, manage how you spend time on your phone (from the official document)

  4. 4. Turn the screen black and white

    Bedtime mode > Customise > turn on greyscale. For all day, Settings > Accessibility > Colour and motion > Colour correction

    Without colour, thumbnails stop pulling at your eye. Turn it back off in the same place.

    Type this into the Settings search box: Colour correction

    Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 16 / Source Google, Android Accessibility Help, adjust display colors (from the official document)

  5. 5. Set up focus mode

    Digital Wellbeing and parental controls > Focus mode > choose distracting apps

    While it runs the chosen apps pause and their notifications stop. You can set an end time up front.

    Type this into the Settings search box: Focus mode

    Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 16 / Source Google, Android Help, manage how you spend time on your phone (from the official document)

  6. 6. Turn on Do Not Disturb

    Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb

    What pulls you back is usually a notification. People and apps can be kept as exceptions.

    Type this into the Settings search box: Do Not Disturb

    Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 16 / Source Google, Android Help, Do Not Disturb (from the official document)

  7. 7. Take the icon off the home screen

    Press and hold the icon and choose Remove. The app stays in the app list

    It empties the spot your thumb remembers, so opening it needs a search first.

    Type this into the Settings search box: Home screen

    Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 16 / Source Google, Android Help, manage how you spend time on your phone (from the official document)

Every change here can be undone in the same place. That means it is not enforcement, and we are not hiding that.

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Dumb phone comparison

If the settings are not enough, the next step is a different handset. Here is what each one costs you.