Okay.
I had a good long think. I was doing the ADHD thing to try to fix the ADHD thing.
I was searching online for an alternative and I found a free launcher for android (I have a pixel 6a) called Olauncher. (Olauncher is FOSS btw)
Long story short - my phone is now a Light Phone Pro
Here’s what I did:
1: install Olauncher.
2: color correct my phone to grayscale.
3: delete all of superfluous apps (ie things I can get to from the browser- duckduckgo)
4: use Olauncher to hide all the baked in apps and duplicate apps (apps that show on the home screen/pull-down shortcut and in the applist (mostly system apps))
5: turn off ALL my notifications save for txt and phone (and Instagram - my wife sends me things there, I don’t use it, but I like to see the things she sends me.)
6: installed a matte screen protector
7: Turned on Night Light and Extra Dim, and keep them on always.
After all of that… I have gone from a phone trying to grab my attention from 100 different apps to a distraction free phone black and White eye safe phone with 20 total apps between the home screen and launcher.
So I canceled my Light phone pre-order and bought a new synth module instead.
If this sounds cool or helpful or you want a more detailed write up with screenshots, I’d be happy to detail it further.
Okay bye!
Sounds awesome! It’s free and you can always add back any functionality in case you need it
Def. I’m really happy with my phone now, so I think I will just stick with this for a few more years now.
So I canceled my Light phone pre-order and bought a new synth module instead.
Oooh, what did you buy?
Actually 2 modules.
Super Synthesis PHRSR and 20PFM
But I think I might also get an After Later Audio 1u Ornament and Crime or a 2HP Pluck.
I went with the Pluck.
I’ll grab the uO_c next month when the fun money replenishes.
Thanks for this! I preordered a LPIII. Going to try this out and see if this takes care of my needs.
You get to messages and phone by swiping left or right respectively
There are only like 3 other apps in the drawer, I renamed them all put them in sections.
This is where I get to settings and a few other apps I hid.
Other things to note:
You get to the clock / alarm by tapping the clock, same for the calendar.
You get to hidden apps by doing a long press and then tapping Olauncher at the top, but I means, you should try to get rid of as many apps as you can - once you start deleting it gets easy to keep doing it.
Gimmie a few minutes and I will take some photos of how it looks since I can’t screenshot the launcher home page
With all of that - you can also save money on a replacement phone. Why pay 800 when a 200 dollar phone can do all of that easily too?
Honestly with the changes made, I see no need to replace this. When the time does come I’ll buy a used phone that’s a couple of generations behind and wear that one out.
I can easily get another 2-3 years out of this now.
great idea! you may also consider Arcticons to get a unified look for all kinds of app icons.
Ah I see the launcher has no app icons but it is still a useful resource
