How to make your iPhone boring without switching to a dumb phone (2026)
Turn on grayscale, move social apps off the Home Screen, batch notifications and remove the feeds; minulo hides Reels, Shorts and TikTok For You while DMs, maps and the camera stay. Hiding is free.
A dumb phone makes scrolling boring by removing everything, including the group chat, maps and your banking app. You can get most of the effect on an iPhone with built-in settings, and keep the parts you need. The settings below come from Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 26.
Written by Ayumu Kitabayashi, the developer of minulo. Sources are linked below and were checked on 2026-11-02. Menu names can change with iOS updates.
| Change | What gets boring | What you keep |
|---|---|---|
| Grayscale | Thumbnails and red badges lose their color | Everything still works |
| Remove from Home Screen / hide apps | No social icons in front of you | The apps, in App Library |
| Scheduled Summary | Fewer buzzes during the day | Notifications, in batches |
| Downtime + Block at Downtime | Social apps are dimmed at set hours | Calls, messages and apps you allow |
| minulo | No Reels, Shorts, Explore or For You | Instagram DMs, following feed and search |
1. Turn on grayscale
Go to Settings › Accessibility › Display & Text Size › Color Filters, turn on Color Filters and choose Grayscale. Apple notes that Night Shift removes color filter effects except grayscale, so it stays gray at night. More detail, including a triple-click shortcut: does grayscale reduce scrolling.
2. Empty the Home Screen
Touch and hold a social app, tap Remove App, then Remove from Home Screen. The app stays in App Library and still works. To push it further away, touch and hold it, tap Require Face ID, then Hide and Require Face ID. It moves to the Hidden folder at the bottom of App Library. Only apps you downloaded from the App Store can be hidden.
3. Make notifications boring
Go to Settings › Notifications › Scheduled Summary, turn it on, set the times and choose which apps go in it. For apps you never need to hear from, tap the app under Notifications and turn off Allow Notifications.
4. Lock the apps at set hours
On iOS 26, schedule Downtime under Settings › Screen Time, set a Screen Time passcode and turn on Block at Downtime. During downtime only calls, messages and apps you allow are available, and blocked apps appear dimmed with an hourglass. Without Block at Downtime, Apple shows a reminder and lets you continue.
5. Remove the feeds, keep the DMs (minulo)
- Turn on grayscale. Settings, Accessibility, Display & Text Size, Color Filters, then Grayscale.
- Empty the Home Screen. Touch and hold each social app, tap Remove App and Remove from Home Screen, or hide it with Require Face ID.
- Batch notifications. Turn on Scheduled Summary under Settings and Notifications.
- Lock apps at set hours. Schedule Downtime, set a Screen Time passcode and turn on Block at Downtime.
- Hide Reels and Shorts in minulo. Install minulo, sign in to Instagram, YouTube or TikTok inside it, and turn off Reels, Explore, suggested posts, Shorts and For You. DMs keep working. Hiding is free.
minulo Pro (US $9.99 a month or $39.99 a year) adds blocks longer than 2 hours, schedules by day and time and Hard Mode.
Limits, so you can decide honestly: Reels and Shorts are hidden only inside minulo, and the official apps don't change. While minulo blocks an official app, that app's notifications don't arrive, and minulo sends none of its own. Posting Stories, voice messages and calls aren't available. minulo is for iPhone, with a Mac version that works in Safari and Chrome, and there is no Android version yet. It is new, with few ratings. See what minulo can't do.
How do I make my iPhone less addictive?
Turn on grayscale, remove social apps from the Home Screen, batch notifications with Scheduled Summary, and block apps at set hours with Downtime and Block at Downtime. minulo hides Reels and Shorts while DMs keep working.
Is there an app that makes your phone boring?
Most of it is built into iPhone settings. For the feeds themselves, minulo hides Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and TikTok For You inside its own view, and hiding is free.
Should I get a dumb phone instead?
A phone without apps also removes group chats that live in Instagram or other apps, maps and banking. If the problem is the feeds, removing the feeds on your iPhone keeps the rest.
Can I hide Instagram from my Home Screen?
Yes. Touch and hold it, tap Remove App, then Remove from Home Screen. Or tap Require Face ID, then Hide and Require Face ID to move it to the Hidden folder in App Library.
Is minulo free?
Downloading minulo and hiding Reels and Shorts are free. Locking the official apps is free for up to 2 hours per block. minulo Pro adds longer blocks, schedules and Hard Mode.
Sources
- Apple: Change display colors on iPhone (Color Filters, iOS 26)
- Apple: Remove or delete apps from iPhone (iOS 26)
- Apple: Lock or hide an app on iPhone (iOS 26)
- Apple: Change notification settings on iPhone (iOS 26)
- Apple: Set schedules with Screen Time on iPhone (iOS 26)
- minulo: What minulo can't do
- App Store (US): minulo