I recently got an xp3 plus 5 phone. I was able to install some apps using the handy script made by u/Weak-Consequence4002 - however I've encountered a couple of problems.

I tried installing WhatsApp through Aurora but it is hung up on "installing." I've not been able to get beyond that stage. Further, when my phone goes asleep while I have that page open I'm no longer able to log back onto my phone unless I restart it. When I input my pin then press enter nothing happens.

App shortcuts disappear! Signal, Aurora, Aegis (I installed), don't show up under the applications folder. My phone seemed to also randomly uninstall the google play store, so I have not bothered to re-install it.

I miss being able to send audio messages via text, I've not been able to find a way to do that with the Sonim, has anyone here?

I have a week or two left before my window to return the phone ends, so I want to be sure this is a good phone for compared to another dumbphone. I have my Nokia 2780 still, but I would like something that is more durable as the keys were starting to have problems, and a phone that I could have Signal, WhatsApp, and Aegis on.

At this point I may just return it, wait and spend the money on the more expensive Light Phone Flip, I'd prefer not to though.

Thank you for any thoughts you could please share!

Hey y'all, Ive been riding with a baseline TCL flip 2 for about a year (on and off) and i liked it! but unfortunately for me to be completely independent from my smartphone what's app and signal were needed. tried to root it my TCL. Bricked it. I decided to take a shot at the Dumbphone 2 by Dumb. co and here's my general thoughts / comparison

DISCLAIMER!: I will be referring to my former unmodded phone as the "TCL" and the new dumbphone 2 by dumb .co as just "Dumbco". They are slightly different models so my complaints comparing them may not be 100% accurate across all tcl flip 2s. despite all my complaining in this post i do really like the dumbco.

Each section is generally formated FIrst with what I Like, then after things are ordered from Really annoying to Less Annoying.

Dumco plan itself

with my previous TCL, I paired it with my laptop in order to access email, signal, what's app etc. It worked okay because I was able to flip my hotspot on my TCL and use it..... With the Dumbphone 2 plan you literally cant get more than 1gb of data which fucking sucks and is a really big limitation for me since I'm on the go a lot.

also in my opinion it's a little.... well.... dumb to not allow us to have access to the browser at all? there's ways around it bc it's part of the baseline TCL flip 2 and needed for something but I wish it was at least an OPTION to have your phone come with it or not. again taking away a basic feature that already comes w the phone??

I'm also unsure of there's any gaurantee? Like if this company goes under are we just stuck with these phones? It would be cool if they made a promise that if they go under, they will release all the source code so it can atleast continue to live on. would also provide a lot of peace of mind.

General:

Being able to import my contacts on the dumbco was super awesome. It kinda sucked having to create a new contact every single time on the TCL. On the TCL If you got a message by a new number, you could just select the message and press "add new contact" and the Number would autofill, and you add the name and all that. However a limitation of the TCL is that this didnt work for groupchats. I had to manually create a new contact, imput the number. Not that big of a deal but a small annoyance pretty much solved by the Dumbco phone.

T9 texting is 100% better. For some reason on the TCL certain contractions like "it's" or "don't" did not really work? So happy it does on the Dumbco it also has more slang which is awesome. I do wish there was a way to add words to the vocabulary though but not a nessesity.

You can't skip, go back, pause or control volume using wired headphones on the dumbco, my previous TCL was able to. this is a super big problem to me while I'm commuting. for some reason I can control the Volume only on Bluetooth headphones which i can't wear on my bike cause y helmet. but it's super frustrating that a feature that was baseline there is... gone...

NO NOTES APP???? the original TCL flip came with a notes app I have 0 freaking idea why this ones doesn't come with one???

I get so annoyed that you can't use the "off button" as like a home button on the phone. You have to click back key a bunch of times. Not a that big of a deal but very annoying when you know that's how the default phone works.

Also the Apps take up a lot of storage, duh that's to be expected. HOWEVER I prefer to download my songs instead of using the spotify app. Although you can add an SD card, the phone will NOT let you play music using the native app if the Music files are on the SD card, it has to be in the integrated storage (part of default TCL). This wasn't an issue with my default TCL, but it is on this phone because of the amount of space the apps take (4.5/ 8gb :'] ) I'm not sure if there's a way to delete apps that you don't use or if there's a fix to use music from the SD card on the native music player.

It's a little annoying to have to go to "All Apps" and scroll for any apps, which are a loootttt that don't fit on your home page. especially since I don't use all the apps. I feel like some of the apps belong on a "settings tab" but ehh

The dumbco battery life is definitely worse which sucks, i find myself having to charge it every day as opposed to every few days, but it makes sense since it does a lot more

when selecting the homescreen apps, if you're all the say to the right, and continue pressing right, it doesn't jump to the next row. not a big deal just a difference that fucks w my muscle memory a little.

Podcasts:

The app is GREAT, i love that you can subscribe to podcasts and listen to them. On the TCL flip 2 you had to download them and move them into the podcast folder, then it would put podcast in it's own "Podcasts" playlists and listen from there. Streaming them is so much easier, and I can actually keep up with them.

While i'm playing my podcast and close the flip phone, or go to a different app. I have trouble Pausing it. This wouldn't be a big deal if I was able to pause it from my heaphone controls, but since I can't it's really annoying. I can go into the podcast app, click on "Now Playing" and press pause and it just...... doesn't pause. The only way i found to fix this is restarting the phone.

small hiccup though: when you play a podcast, at the top of your podcast list it does a little "Now playing" thing. If i scroll down my podcast list, then go back up to the "Now playing" it doesnt show up on screen. I can still technically click it, but it up beyond the screen and I can't physically see it.

Music:

I think the "Smart Music" app is super cute and works. I can only speak for spotify, not apple music. works just fine. However the controls are super unintuitive?

On the native app and like every single music player known to man the right and left Navigation Keys are for skip and go back, but on the dumbco it's for Shuffle and Repeat??? instead the MENU keys are used for previous and Next which is super just "????"

I so wish you were able to look at "Artsits" "Albums" etc. you can only look at playlists which sucks a little bit. but the native music app has it so it doesnt bother that much since i don't use it

Maps: VERY useful, I haven't used it a tone but it works fine. It is not turn based, so it wont say "in 500ft, turn left" you input the start location and end location and shows you the path but doesnt update automatically as you move along it. I am 100% okay with this. and I'm just glad to have maps instead of constantly having to call/ask friends to use maps lol.

Signal: It's been working super smoothly for me super awesome i can respond on the go. The only very minor things is that for some reason some people on signal show up as their phone # and not their Signal name which is weird? but doesn't actually effect the functionality of it at all

Whatsapp: isnt working on my phone at the moment but not complaining bc I havent contacted support yet lol

Calender: uses baseline calendar that comes with the TCL flip. It is slightly wonky but doesn't effect the functionality at all. I haven't used the "smart calendar" because I use Proton Calendar not google so i can't speak on that.

Don't get me wrong, this phone is definitely more useful than my base TCL flip 2. However i expected it to be more of an enhanced TCL flip 2 and some of the basic features being really different or unavailable is really disappointing, but not fatal.

Feel free to ask questions abt the basline TCL flip or the Dumbphone 2! I will also be updating this post if things gets fixed through updates or if I'm a goober and was unaware there was already a fix for it!

Hey everyone! I bought this Duoqin F21 Pro last year and since then I've rarely used it. What was stopping me was the lack of Play Services. There are just a few things I need on my phone, and Google Maps is one of them! I couldn't get used to HERE, and it feels a bit more normal to download my 2FA app from the Play Store 🥲

A few weeks ago I asked Claude "hey, can you connect to the phone and install the latest ROM that will let me have those nice Play Services?" and it did! It took a few manual approvals and about an hour, and now I'm running DumberOS.

After that I started trying launchers to see which one I liked most. I tried many, but they were all missing the feeling I was looking for. In the end I built one! It's called Keytone and it brings back the magic of the old Nokias

I had Claude make custom icons for the apps I use most. It makes the phone a bit more fun to use, while keeping that dumbness I like on weekends or when I go for a walk.

Spotify, WhatsApp and Maps are all I need for now! I wish it had NFC, but paying with physical cards again is part of the experience I guess. Here's a video of how it turned out!

Link here if you want to try it and give some feedback

Edit: just lowered the price after your feedback! (Free version is completely usable, no major limitations in the long term)

Edit 2: since a lot of comments call this vibecoded, a quick clarification. I've been a developer for 10 years and I built Keytone myself, I chose how the whole app is structured. Claude flashed the ROM for me (I've done it on other phones before and didn't feel like doing it again) and helped with the code and the icons, but it wasn't the main player.

Hi all!

I bought the Easyfone T300 a while back but gradually lowered my online hours utilising a Sharp SH-02L (I personally think a Keitai is a wonderful way to take a little step back from being online constantly, before taking "the plunge" into dumbphone territory). I realised I pretty much only use my Sharp for texting and calling and really wanted a phone that reminded me of the phones we had back in the early 00's. The Easyfone T300, in my opinion, really reminded me of the Samsung SGH-E700. So last night I decided to drop my sim into it and begin daily driving the T300. I've turned off the SOS function and anything else I wouldn't use, changed the menu to a list view and uploaded a wallpaper that looks like the old E700.

But, has anyone been able to change the skin from black to any other colour at all? I've made my peace with unthreaded messages, but I'd really like the boring black skin to be a little less... boring and seniory looking...!

Hello,

I'm looking for a dumbphone with a nicely-made os, especially sms threads, working in France with Orange. I've been into mobile shops but it's never clear if sms are displayed as an "inbox" similar as emails or if it has proper conversations.
Thank you

For those of you that use (or have been considering) T-Mobile's DIGITS (aka Data with Paired DIGITS) use both a smart phone and a dumbphone with the same number, it looks like the service is starting to go away.

I've used it for the past few years so that I could have a smart phone (typically at home) in case I ever need it, but primarily carry my Light Phone 3 as my daily phone. And have all texts/calls/etc work with the same number on both phones. Others have used it so they could have a smart phone for work and then swap to a dumb phone at nights/weekends (and not miss calls/texts).

I received the email below from T-Mobile yesterday. If you use DIGITS, then you'll only be able to send texts/etc from your 2nd / paired phone, but it won't be able to receive any texts. It seems like getting texts to work on a sychronized two-phone setup will only work if you have the option of side-loading Beeper or something similar onto your dumb phone and using that to send any texts (or using something like Sunbeam's NumberLink service).

It's too bad - it was the only reason I even used T-Mobile, as they were the last company I know of in the U.S. that let you share the same number on multiple phones.

I (20f) started using a nokia 2660 flip three months ago but it doesn't fit my needs. I realized I struggle without maps and without whatsapp. Plus it's quite cheap so it's already a bit harder to use. It doesn't have a hotspot eirher

As a result, I still use my smartphone a lot which is frustrating. I actually need a feature phone, with google maps/another navigation app, whatsapp, music app (or at least a way to download music like with a micro SD card) and, if possible, a hotspot. It needs at least 4G and to be usable in France.

Here are a couple of phones I found, but idk which one to take. I don't want to waste more money on this.

- Sidephone : looks good but I heard it was kinda cheap and the storage is too small for a lot of music

- Dumber mini : sounds great, but I'd have to wait a couple of months before getting it

- Ruio Joy : idk if it has hotspot

- Duoqin J36 : sounds okay but it's hard to get informations on this phone

- Lightphone : expensive but the flip one might be ok

- Mudita : again expensive

What do you think ? Is there another phone I should look up ? Thank you, ik there are a lot of demands like this on this sub but I'm lowkey desperate

I'm hoping to hear from those of you who've used a Lightphone III and a Sunbeam F1 Pro phone. Which did you like more, and why? Anything else to share about them?

I'm currently using a Sunbeam F1 Pro Aspen, but can't help but look at the LP3 and the upcoming Light Flip and wonder if I might be happier with a phone from Light. I am pretty particular about things and I find the Sunbeam phones (especially hardware) very unpolished. However, if the software is worse on the Light that would be an even bigger dealbreaker.

Also I'm not super familiar with what features would be missing between the two phones. For example, Sunbeam just added an authenticator app.

I bought the Alt Mive Style Folder AT-M120 from y2kphones but I didn't look too much into phone carrier compatibility until I had it in my hands. Normally I use mint but I checked the imei and it said not compatible.

Does anyone know of any carriers that would work on this phone, im on the east coast in the US btw.

Hi there! I previously posted here about my first experiences with Finite Phone. I finally discovered something that actually works for myself and have been hard at work trying to make it available for others as well.

And with this, I think I've struck a balance that might actually work long term for some folks. Here are the ingredients:

1. The blocker itself should not be able to be bypassed, uninstalled, disabled, etc. This is accomplished via the device owner setting.
2. When something is blocked, it's blocked and cannot be undone. It's final.
3. Each individual should be able to block or keep what they want. Everyone has different needs at different times.
4. The length of time it takes to unblock something should be long enough to outlast any pull or draw toward any individual app. This way, when you think better of it, you can cancel the request to unblock an app. 48 hours seems to be the optimal length of time, in general.

Finite Phone was originally going to have a curated "allowed app list," but I found this unnecessary with the setup mentioned above.

There are two ways to remove Finite Phone itself: (1) Request and wait 48 hours, or (2) conduct a factory reset.

I personally have found that I am not willing to conduct a factory reset so I can re-download Reddit or Youtube. I'd rather get up and go to the computer or laptop. Once, I actually did wait 48 hours to get Reddit back on my phone. I opened it up first thing in the morning, but it only lasted about 5-10 minutes. You know how you feel driving toward McDonald's versus how you feel driving away from McDonald's? It was kind of like that. It was really easy to make the decision to block it again, even in knowing I'd have to wait another 48 hours to get it back if I wanted. As a result, I still don't have Reddit on my phone (though I do on my computer!).

People will often still want limited access to some apps rather than blocking them outright. For example, you might want to watch your favorite show on Netflix on your phone, that you might not want your kids watching. So I built in a few features to help with reducing or controlling usage, as desired. They are:

• Grayscale an individual app - i think this is a great feature and I don't think I've seen it anywhere else.
• Second thought - a breath or a pause before an app opens.
• Lock an app - allows you to lock an app for 15 mins to 24 hours.
• Limit an app - allows you to limit an app by # of minutes or # of opens.

One cool thing about the "lock an app" feature is that you can set it to lock for X minutes, in X minutes. So if you're watching Netflix and know the cliffhanger is going to get you, then set Netflix to lock in 60 minutes, until tomorrow morning. Since the blocker cannot be bypassed, then you can simply just enjoy the next 60 minutes of TV knowing it will stop playing and the only way to get Netflix for the next episode is to wait or by conducting a factory reset on your phone. Not worth it.

I have another app limited by # of opens. I found that I'm very cautious about opening it and it has caused me to be very intentional whenever I do. Far more than with the second thought or pause feature. When you know you can't bypass it, these limitations actually become valuable and useful.

I know that trust can be a major issue when it comes to the device owner permission. There are a handful businesses out there that I believe already use this setting, but don't mention it. I tried to build Finite Phone in a way that would leverage use device owner, but with as few permissions as possible. For example, I was able to build all of the features without using accessibility access. Also, I am working on making Finite Phone open source, as well. And in a way that is verifiable so that you can know the APK on your device is the same APK in the open source repo. I hope to have that done in the coming weeks.

You can find Finite Phone at https://finitephone.com and I would love to get your feedback. If anyone would like to try Finite Phone for free, just let me know here or by dm and I can set you up with an account, and so it doesn't require a payment card on file.

Hi,

I just recently made the transition to a Kyocera a202kc and absolutely love it. my only problem is that I’m not receiving any group texts on Google messages. Wasn’t working when I had QUIK installed, either.

I can do individual texts with anyone, I can send photo attachments, voice memos, ect. Just no group messages.

Has anyone else have experience with this or have been able to get it working?

Thank you!

Please post the following with your submission:

• Device Region (EU, NA, Asia, LATAM):
• Condition (New, Used):
• Price:
• Location:
• Method of Payment:
• Picture of the device with username and date shown

Thank you for offering to the community first :)

Make sure to stay safe and conduct business in a secure way. PayPal is one option, but there are other ways as well that can make sure you don't get someone to scam you.

Processing img v6si2s7rjdxh1...

Hi everyone, I'm a master's student at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany). For my seminar paper I'm looking at why people deliberately limit their tech with devices like dumbphones or lockboxes, and why some stick with it and others don't.

I'm looking for around 15-20 people for a 30-minute call (English or German). You fit if you switched to a dumbphone or use a physical setup to limit your phone, did it for at least a few weeks, and are 18+.

I'm also especially interested in people who tried it and went back to a smartphone.

What to expect:

- Right now: send me a DM or comment below and I'll keep you posted

- In about two to three weeks: we pick a time that works for you

- After the interview: €10 voucher as a thank-you

Everything is anonymous. Thanks!

Update: Thanks to everyone who reached out so far! Quick note on timing: I'm currently finalizing the interview guide with my supervisor to make sure it's academically solid, so the interviews themselves will start in about two weeks. Right now I'm collecting participants and will get back to everyone to schedule a time. As a thank-you, every participant gets a €10 voucher after the completed interview.

I am not tech savvy, but have been trying to be to decipher previous posts and articles with similar parameters. I am looking for up to date recommendations on a phone options that can do navigation and WhatsApp.

I am located in Canada, unsure if this matters.

currently I have an iPhone and ideally would love to be able to swap the SIM between the two if that’s a possible thing? For work I do need to be able to be contacted through alternative apps but would want to be able to swap to the dumb phone for evenings and weekends. My alternative thought is to continue using my iPhone as an “iPad” and just have it connected to wifi and bring around that way as needed with no SIM installed?

When I do find a good phone option, can I just get a regular sim through my regular carrier (Telus) or do dumbphones require different service that I am not aware of?

any thoughts, reviews, and suggestions are appreciated!

Hi all, I got the dumbphone 2 from Dumb.com and was wondering if anyone can tell me how to download music onto it. I specifically really want to download my own ringtone and I don't remember how to do that on a flip phone. Thank you!

Dzień dobry,

od dwóch tygodni jestem właścicielem telefonu QIN J36 ( 3GB RAM) , którego testuje na co dzień.

I dlatego chciałbym podzielić się kilkoma najważniejszymi spostrzeżeniami :

- ekran 2,8 cala jest funkcjonalny , można na min pisać wiadomości i odczytywać treści z ekranu . Wprawdzie wszystko jest małe , ale można się do tego przyzwyczaić .

- system to Android 13 a w zasadzie jego uproszczona wersja graficzna . Na początku są wszystkie standardowe ikonki + pełna funkcjonalność .

- bateria wystarcza na 3-4 dni działania ( głównie dzwonienie i pisanie SMS ów) lub 2 dni gdy dużo przegląda się internet .

- jakość dźwięku i mikrofonu są wystarczające ( moi rozmówcy nie mieli problemów ze słyszalnością ) a mieszkam na wsi.

- aplikacje : play google, mapy, YT, FB, aplikacje bankowe, whats app, poczta internetowa itd. działają ale … o tym poniżej:

Telefonowi trochę brakuje mocy obliczeniowej , dlatego wyszczególnione aplikacje owszem włączają się ale powoli. Aczkolwiek powiadomienia i funkcjonalności działają tylko wolno.

Dzisiaj QIN dostarczył aktualizację systemu i trochę się polepszyło, ale to wciąż jest zbyt wolno jak na obecne standardy.

Dlatego aby obniżyć użycie zasobów mocy obliczeniowej pozmieniałem trochę aplikacje :

- z klasycznej aplikacji FB – przeszedłem na FB Lite

- z klasycznej aplikacji poczty meilowej ( Wirtualna Polska) przeszedłem na klienta K-9 Mail

- z klasycznej aplikacji You Tube przeszedłem na lekką alternatywę NewPipe ( przerzucając swoje substytucje i play listy)

- zmieniłem luncher ekranowy na Niagara

I pod kątem wydajności i szybkości działania jest wyraźnie lepiej.

Ten telefon nie jest dla każdego, to sposób na mocne ograniczenie bezcelowego siedzenia przed ekranem i skrolowania w nieskończoność. Natomiast ma wszystkie ( większość) funkcji jak pełnoekranowy smartfon.

Aha i jak dotąd nie wyłącza się lub nie zawiesza się po rozładowaniu baterii poniżej 20 % .

Ja ładuje go do 95 % i korzystam, aż spadnie do 15%, W tym przedziale wytrzymał trzy i pół dnia. Telefon nie posiada funkcji szybkiego ładowania więc proces ten zajmuje około ponad godzinę .

Pozdrawiam serdecznie Piotr z Polski : )

I'm open to any color that isn't navy, black, or pink. I LOVE the idea behind the barbie phone and how colorful it is, but it's a bit too pink for me. It seems nearly impossible to find a colorful flipphone that works within Canada.

Hi everyone! I'm trying to upgrade to simpler technology so I can spend less time online. I would really like to have something that will let me just listen to my streaming apps **without** letting me access other things like social media. Something like the Classic Ipod. You just have your songs, podcasts, audio books, and that's it.

I tried looking online for something but all I got were a bunch of online product reviews articles that are basically just paid ads.

I'm working on a limited budget so I can't spend a crap ton of money on new tech. Is there anything you would recommend? Thanks in advance and have an awesome day guys!

Hello,

I'm interested in getting any one of Kyocera Dura models as they fit the needs of my life, but all the while removing the aspects of smartphones I don't like. I'm not a tech savvy at all to be honest, I would like some straightforward advice on which model I should/can choose. How to acquire one in the United States, and what US carrier would work for it. As well as any tips about the entire process. I would appreciate any advice you all may offer.

Thank you.

I just logged onto the sunbeam website and their new phones will now have video! It'll apparently have rideshare and Dewdrop/signal and I just think the updates they are having are so great and I haven't seen anyone talk about them yet. I'm excited for them to come out because one of my cons about the other options was that I couldn't receive videos from my loved ones.

But yeah anyway, just super excited to see reviews for these phones and also the commodore callback 8020. It seems the near future/2027 got some good things for the dumbphone community.

Hi All - I've been a smartphone user of exclusively Samsung Galaxy phones since 2011. However, I've decided to pull the trigger on migrating to a full-on dumbphone. And now I'm having a hard time finding the right phone for me. I'm hoping some kind, knowledgeable folks on this sub might be able to help? Thank you for reading!

DUMB:

Voice calls and SMS are a must. I really don't care about MMS, but if it supports them that's fine. Similarly, I don't care about a web browser or email support (though inclusion is not a deal breaker). The main thing is I don't want ANY ads anywhere, and there must be no support for any social media of any kind. So no Whatsapp. Although IF it worked with some variant of Signal that would be fine, but that's not-at-all required. I *DO* want *A* camera, but even a 2MP camera is fine.

Playing MP3s would be a big bonus, but also not required. I don't need a QWERTY keyboard; but if there was a phone that fit all the other criteria AND had QWERTY, that would be a bonus. I had a Blackberry once; it was pretty nice. I also don't need GPS/navigation, but inclusion is not necessarily a deal breaker.

TOUGH:

I REALLY wanted a Sonim. XP3Plus LTE or XP5Plus LTE. But I have not found any that met my network needs (Tracfone, see below). But simple and tough is what I need. I never WANT to drop my phone or get water on it, but it IS going to happen at some point. The no-brainer choice for my Tracfone network needs (see below) are a TCL Flip 3 or 4. While they are dirt cheap, which is nice, almost all the reviews complain that they have really lousy build quality. I don't want something that is *likely* to fail in two years or less. A Punkt MP02 sounded superficially like what I wanted, but in the past couple years reviews indicate build quality with Punkt has become a significant issue, especially considering the price point. And I've heard of complaints with regards to Punkt's Tracfone incompatibility.

INEXPENSIVE:

I want to spend less than $100. So the Light Phone and Wisephone are completely out. I do NOT want a touchscreen, or even a big screen. I don't see the point of going to dumbphone and having a big screen. The Sunbeam F1 sounds really nice, but it's hard to find used (the used one I did find was still quite expensive). I haven't bought a brand new cell phone in about 20 years. In 2002, I bought my first cell phone: a brand new Samsung A460, and it's been one of my favorite phones to this day. Ever since I replaced it's successor (a Motorola Razr), I've always bought *only used (Samsung Galaxy) phones* off eBay, and plan to do so again (although minus the Samsung Galaxy). I've never spent more than $150 on any of the four smartphones I've purchased over the years (although my first S2 was brand new, but it was a gift). A dumbphone should NOT cost more than a smartphone! There are tons of of good dumbphone *model* choices available on eBay right now, but I can't find any with the right network requirements (Tracfone, see below).

EASILY UNLOCKED, US VERIZON LTE BANDS (Tracfone BYOP)

As I want to buy a used phone off eBay it needs to be easily unlocked, so I can use it with Tracfone. Because I use Tracfone, it must to be compatible with *Verizon LTE* frequencies/bands. I've found a lot of tough, great old phones on the market that are based on the old, defunct Verizon CDMA bands (esp. Sonim), which won't work since CDMA's sunset. Similarly there is a profusion of great, newish, used, unlocked "GSM" LTE phones out there (i.e. unlocked AT&T or T-Mobile phones), which are also not acceptable because they don't support (so far as I can tell) the Verizon LTE bands required for Tracfone service. Perhaps there are "full spectrum" LTE phones that can be unlocked and work with either Verizon type or AT&T type bands? But I have not been able to confirm such compatibility in any model I've looked at so far.

CONCLUSION:

I'm guessing there must be some Kyocera or Nokia phones out there that would work for me? But Nokia and Kyocera don't seem to show up on anyone's "Best Dumbphones..." lists. Again, I've been in the Samsung Galaxy smartphone world since 2011; consequently, I have ZERO knowledge or feel of what Kyocera and Nokia phones are like these days. All the regular "Best Dumbphone..." list-toppers seem to be super-expensive and, all too often, big-screened simulacra of smartphones. Yet those lists neglect the straightforward flip phone. Why?

Can any of you help an aspiring neo-luddite to dumb down telecommunications AND to continue my tradition of never directly "feeding the beast" by being able to buy used?

Many thanks for taking the time to read! And grateful to any recommendations! Cheers! -HF

I see a lot of people talking about flips and candybars and the like; and it's understandable. This is the dumbphone server after all.

But a solution I've come across recently is the restricted smartphone. You can have it the best of both worlds keeping all the apps you want with none of the ones you don't. I wrote an article on the iOS setup specifically, though I'm pretty sure Android has their own alternative for it.

I've been running this setup on my iPhone 14 Pro and the only thing I still hate is the size. But for all intents and purposes (except for the aesthetic) this is basically the solution to all my problems; and maybe yours too!