Don’t listen to those who say, “Why don’t you just not use the troublesome apps on your smartphone?” These things, especially social media and gaming apps, are designed to be addictive.The gym-goer’s trying to eat healthier doesn’t invite temptation by leaving open bags of potato chips everywhere. Neither would it be wise for a person trying to wean themselves off their smartphone to keep one within reach all day.Taking the smartphone out of the equation entirely and swapping in a dumbphone removes the constant need for willpower to stay off social media and the web. It’s peace and relaxation. Out of pocket, out of mind.quick look at our favorite dumbphonesBest Touchscreen: Light Phone IIISmartest Dumbphone: Wisephone IIFor Button Lovers: Punkt MP02Must-Have for Keeping Your Smartphone: Unpluq TagFast Phone With a Powerful Camera: Ghost Phonehow we evaluated DUMBPHONESThere’s more variation in dumbphones than in smartphones. It’s as if breaking with the universality of designing a smartphone gave their designers free reign to indulge their wildest ideas for how a phone could look and function.Whereas the smartphone format has standardized around a rounded-off candybar, all glass on the front, the dumbphone comes in all sorts of forms and philosophies. Buttons or touchscreens? Everything a smartphone has but the internet apps, or a phone that does barely more than tell the time and make calls?Not one to forget that “dumb” is a key part of the word “dumbphone,” I realize some of you may scoff when I say that I heavily considered features when judging dumbphones. Just because you want your phone to be free of the tyranny of unrestricted app stores, web browsers, and social media apps doesn’t mean you necessarily should also banish yourself from touchscreens, capable cameras, and the ability to listen to music.The best dumbphones didn’t make me feel like I was punishing myself by trying to be a 21st-century Puritan. They made me feel, well, smart.best touchscreen: Light Phone III(opens in a new window)The Light PhoneLight Phone III(opens in a new window)Available at Light PhoneBuy Now(opens in a new window)I may as well have called the Light Phone III “most pleasing to hold,” because it’s truly a gorgeous chunk of metal and glass. No iPhone or Galaxy has anything over the Light Phone III, because it’s made just that nicely. The touchscreen is responsive, and when it’s in my hand I feel like I’m holding a premium phone that occupies the same shelf as Apple’s and Samsung’s best. That’s good, because at $699 it’s priced like one.An owl coos out of the phone’s speaker when I start it up. Why an owl? Because owls signify nighttime, and nighttime is associated with quieting life’s distractions, like a dumbphone? Is it just because the companies like owls? Whatever the reason, it brought a smile to my face.credit: Matt JancerAs far as dumbphones go, the Light Phone III is pretty clever. You don’t have the connect to the built-in WiFi to use the phone, but you will need it to install software updates. You can connect earbuds, headphones, or speakers to the Bluetooth 5.0 if you feel like listening to music.There’s also built-in GPS, which you don’t see on many dumbphones, either. That’s for directions, since you can’t download Google Maps or Apple Maps. In fact, the Light Phone III is so full of features that it’s less like an old flip phone and more like a regular smartphone with the unrestricted app store, social media apps, and internet browsers stripped out. This is the phone to get if you love everything about a smartphone except for its internet access.The Smartest Dumb PhonE: WISEPHONE II(opens in a new window)TechlessWisePhone II(opens in a new window)Available at TechlessBuy Now(opens in a new window)I didn’t get to test the WisePhone II (yet), but our writer Adam Rothbarth did a while back. Back in 2024 he brought up that WisePhone was calling it the “smartest dumbphone.” The Light Phone III has stolen away that crown, but the WisePhone II still looks more indistinguishable from a typical smartphone than the Light Phone III.It’s got a dual-lens camera on the rear, its own maps app for navigation, and an advertisement-free music player, along with the same separation from unrestricted app stores that means social media and internet browsers are unwelcome on the WisePhone II.If you like the idea of a smartphone with all its irresistable, addictive internet-connected apps stripped out, but also don’t feel like dropping $700 on a Light Phone III, the WisePhone II will run you barely over half the cost. And it’ll keep those pesky questions (“Why do you have a dumbphone? What can it do?”) from your friends at bay, who won’t even recognize that it’s a dumbphone at all.For Button Lovers: Punkt MP02(opens in a new window)PunktMP02(opens in a new window)Available at PunktBuy Now(opens in a new window)Available at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)Do you get all hot and bothered when you remember how phones used to be covered prominently not in touchscreen glass, but in physical buttons? You’re in the right place. I’m old enough to remember the cell phones of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and even though most of them were made from the sort of crappy plastic they use to make bathroom stalls, the button presses were divine. The tactility of pressing them just felt so good. The Punkt MP02 nails this feeling. It gives me nostalgic callbacks to the Motorola StarTAC my dad owned.There’s no 5G support, though. No navigation app, either. There is texting through the Signal app, but you might find yourself texting less since there’s no full keyboard. You text the old-fashioned “back in my day” way, where you cycle through letter selections by pressing the corresponding buttons.credit: Matt JancerIt did, in fact, make me type less. In a dumbphone, it was brilliant. I was still able to have texting for those times I really needed it, but it was just clunky enough that I found myself skipping the more frivolous reasons to text. When typing is so mindlessly easy, as on a smartphone, you end up doing it a lot. Sometimes too much.Those who prefer a touchscreen but still want a Punkt should check out the Punkt MC02. Just know that the bezels are larger than on the Light Phone III and WisePhone II, and it looks more like a mid-tier smartphone than those two, which skew much more closely in build quality and looks, respectively, toward iPhone quality.must-have for Keeping Your Smartphone: Unpluq tag(opens in a new window)Unpluq Tag(opens in a new window)Available at UnpluqBuy Now(opens in a new window)It’s easy enough to say that the solution to your addictive phone habits can be solved by just going out and buying a new phone. And it’s something else entirely when that’s not a realistic or wise use of your money.Or maybe you just want your phone to be a little dumber during certain times, such as during work hours or on vacation, and then when the time is up you want your full-fledged smartphone back in action. That’s what Unpluq does. And you can keep whatever phone you already have.credit: Matt JancerThe Unpluq lets you select which apps on your existing smartphone you want to block (unlimited on Android, up to 49 on iOS). They’ll only unlock when you hold the yellow Unpluq tag near the phone, which communicates with the phone’s NFC, say at the end of the work day. When you want to block the apps again, just leave the tag at home. While you’re away you won’t have the temptation of unblocking them because without the tag, you won’t be able to.The cost of entry is $79, which comes with a one-year subscription. Yeah, I said the S-word. After your first year is up, you’ve got to shell out $65 for another year’s membership. Still, it’s a lot cheaper than buying a new dumbphone.Fast Phone With a Powerful Camera: Ghost Phone(opens in a new window)Ghost Phone(opens in a new window)Available at SnellBuy Now(opens in a new window)Once sold under the brand name Sn3ll, the Ghost Phone is another smartphone-lookalike dumbphone that I haven’t yet gotten my greedy paws on, but from the specs alone it’s worth a look: a 4K rear camera with 8x digital zoom and 120-degree wide angle capabilities, 60Hz default (and optional 90Hz) display refresh rate, 128GB of internal storage, and 8GB of RAM.Those are specs that any smartphone could be proud of. Even if the Ghost Phone won’t be embarrassing any $800 smartphones, it outperforms plenty of budget and mid-tier smartphones even in this day and age.If anything, the specs are overkill for a dumbphone, even one with a touchscreen and 4K camera. Without unrestricted access to the internet or a Google or Apple app store, you won’t be using the kind of resource-hogging games or streaming 4K movies that make high-performance components necessary.The Ghost Phone does have text messaging, music streaming, and GPS navigation, but these are hardly likely to push the performance envelope.before you buy, consider thisYou’re going to become a much better navigator when you’re robbed of Google Maps, especially if you choose a dumbphone without its own navigation app. But first you’ll become much worse, as you need to recall or develop map orienting skills that you haven’t used since Mapquest and Gmaps became a thing.Friends I’ve known here in New York City who’ve gone the dumbphone route have, after a period of adjustment in which they were chronically late to events (if they made it there at all), developed an almost superhuman ability to navigate Brooklyn and Manhattan without any technological help at all.Most dumbphones allow you to text, but you’ll be without WhatsApp and, except for the Punkt, Signal. If that’s how your friends communicate, you’ll need to figure out alternative ways of staying in the loop. “Did so-and-so fall off a cliff? We haven’t heard from him in a while,” is a phrase that got tossed around a lot in my circle of friends.RELATED: Best VPNs for Dodging Trackers, Snoops, and Data Vampirescan I use it on my cellular network?The good news is that all these dumbphones (most dumbphones, actually) are sold unlocked. That means that unlike a lot of smartphones, you’re not tied into using your dumbphone with a particular cellular provider for a period of time.Most dumbphones also use physical SIM cards. You sign up your new phone with your cellular provider, receive the SIM card, and pop it into the SIM card tray. Of our recommendations, only the Light Phone III has an eSIM (alongside its SIM card tray), but this is still in beta testing and hasn’t had a full release yet.the bottom line: PLENTY OF OPTIONS, BUT ONLY A FEW STAND OUTDeciding to give up your smartphone for the dumbphone life isn’t a step to take lightly. In the grand scheme of things, sure, it’s a first-world problem. But you’re considering the purchase of another phone. None of these options cost inconsequential money.The Unpluq Tag is the clear winner for the most commitment-phobic, but whether you’re a diehard dumbphone user or a shakily convinced first-time convert, you’ve made it to the end of this guide because you’ve noticed that your unrestricted, Wild West smartphone is robbing you of something. Time, attention, self control.Options today are much more varied than the days of buying an old flip phone with 2000s technology. You don’t have to go cold turkey and wander around town without navigation or give up listening to music on your phone in the gym. The dumbphones we looked at were, in actuality, pretty smart. Just not too smart.The post Best Dumbphones for Smarter Phone Use or a Digital Detox appeared first on VICE.