A dumb phone that still has maps.
I made this phone for myself a long time ago, because I was wasting so much time scrolling. It's a real smartphone — calls, texts, maps, music, a camera, whatever you decide it should have — and nothing else can ever be installed on it. For you, your kid...maybe your parent!
Reserve a founding phone
The first batch is 25. No payment required. When your phone is ready to build, I’ll write to you personally.
How it works
Three steps, and then you stop thinking about it.
You choose the apps.Calls and texts, obviously. Beyond that, you pick: maps for the bus route, music for the ride, a camera, email, an ebook reader, your bank, the weather. Whatever the phone should be able to do. There is no wrong list, though I have opinions and will share them.
I build it and ship it.I set up a brand-new phone by hand so it runs your list and nothing else. No app store, no way to install anything from the phone itself, ever, and it holds through a factory reset.
Changes go through me.There is no settings menu to find, no PIN to guess, no toggle to wait out. If you want an app added or removed later, you email me and I change it remotely, usually the same day. Nobody can change it from the phone itself. Not your kid. Not you.
What it has
Whatever you chose. A typical list: calls, texting, contacts, a camera, maps, music, podcasts, email, an alarm for the morning. A real screen, a real battery, an Android operating system, covered by the manufacturer's warranty. It looks like a normal smart phone because it is one, just with all of the nonsense removed.
What it doesn't have
No app store. No social media. No feeds, no short videos, no streaks, no autoplay, no games unless you genuinely want games, in which case you'll have exactly the ones you named and no others. No browser — you can have one, but the browser is how everything sneaks back in, and I'll tell you so at setup.
And there is nothing on the phone to delete, disable, or outlast. No setting to find, no passcode to guess. It survives a factory reset.
Price
What it costs
$199for the phone — a brand-new Android device, configured to your exact app list
$10a month for the service
The monthly covers three things: keeping your phone locked down, which costs me something every month for every phone out there; app changes if you need a productivity app added; and support from an actual person. When you email support, it's me.
Your carrier, your SIM. The phone is unlocked and works with your existing carrier like any other unlocked phone — move a SIM over or add a line to the family plan. Cellular service is not included, and I have no ambitions to sell it to you.
Reserve a founding phone
Email only. No payment required. I’ll write to you personally when your phone is ready to build.
Who this is for
Kids getting a first phone
Your kid needs to reach you, you need to reach them, they need maps and something to listen to on the bus. That is the entire point of a smartphone.
Maybe you've tried the other way. Screen Time, Family Link, app timers, the router that shuts off at nine. Then you've stood in the kitchen at 9:40 explaining, again, why the answer is still no, you won't turn this or that back on. Parental-control apps are a nightly argument. This is not an argument. The phone can't do the thing. There is nothing to argue about.
If you're thinking about Christmas: so am I. A first phone is a good gift, and a first phone that doesn't need supervising afterward is a better one. The proper rollout is aimed at December. The founding batch ships well before it.
Adults who want their attention back
This was my case. I built the first one of these years ago, not as a product — as a correction. I had noticed what my phone use actually was: checking it in line, checking it at red lights, scrolling, scrolling, endlessly scrolling and reacting. Hours, days, weeks, maybe months of my life...gone forever.
Screen-time limits, app timers, grayscale mode, deleting the apps, reinstalling the apps, deleting the apps, the phone in another room, the phone in a drawer. These are all negotiations with yourself. Some you win, some you lose. I stopped negotiating. I kept the useful apps — the maps, the music, the camera, the people I text — and removed the rest. There is no toggle, no override, no "just fifteen minutes." The phone can't do the thing. So you do something else.
The honest result is that I have nothing interesting to report about my phone anymore, which is everything I wanted from it. It sits in a pocket. It gives directions. It takes pictures of things I am actually looking at.
The first batch
The founding 25
The first batch is 25 phones. I set each phone up by hand, and I am one person. This is not backed by venture capital, it’s my own money, so at first I’ll be doing small batches.
Founding customers get:
- A phone configured by hand to your exact list, about a week from order to shipment
- A direct line to the founder — unavoidable, since the founder is also support, shipping, and quality control
Reserving takes an email address. No payment now, no card on file. When your phone is ready to build, I'll write to you personally, we'll work out your app list, and you can decide then.
Reserve a founding phone
25 phones. Email only. No payment required. Add a note if you like — what you'd want on it, or who it's for.
Before you ask
Questions
Why not just use Screen Time or parental controls?
Because you can turn those off. So can anyone who knows the PIN, guesses the PIN, or waits until you're tired. Screen Time is a negotiation — with a fourteen-year-old, or with yourself — and both negotiations end the same way. This one doesn't happen. The controls aren't on the phone at all. There is nothing on the device to find, disable, or outlast.
What if my kid is smarter than the software?
Doubtful. You can technically hack anything, but this is a good deal stronger than anything in the parental-controls aisle. There is no passcode on the phone to find, and the lock survives a factory reset. The usual ending: the kid resets the phone, waits through the progress bar, and it comes back exactly as configured — same phone, same apps, minus an afternoon.
What if I need a new app later — for work, for school, for the team chat?
Tell me. I add it remotely, usually the same day. It works in reverse too: if an app you chose turns out to be a problem, I remove it and it stays removed.
Can I have a browser?
Yes. I'll also tell you what I tell everyone: the browser is how everything sneaks back in. Every feed you're quitting has a website. It's your phone, and I'll install it if you tell me to. I would not.
Does it work with my carrier?
Yes. It's an unlocked phone: put in a SIM or add a line with the carrier you already have — the big ones, the prepaid ones, whichever. Cellular service is not included, so your plan and your number stay your business.
What if I stop paying the $10 a month? What if you get hit by a bus?
Then you own a normal phone. Cancel and I release it — that means a factory reset, and what comes back is an ordinary unlocked Android phone with the app store and everything else. I set every phone up with backup switched on for exactly this reason, so your contacts, photos and messages come back with it. Same if DUM ever winds down: every phone gets released before the lights go out. The lock is a service, not a hostage.
What about the warranty?
The hardware carries the manufacturer's standard warranty, because it's a brand-new phone. The setup, the configuration, and keeping it that way is covered by me.
Why is it called DUM?
"Dumb phone," with the b dropped.
What's the return policy?
Thirty days. If it isn't working — for you, or for the kid — send the phone back and I'll refund the $199. You cover return shipping; the monthly fee isn't refunded, since the service happened. I'd rather have the phone back than your grudging two hundred dollars. After thirty days there's a different exit: cancel the monthly service and I release the phone, and it's an ordinary unlocked Android, yours to keep.