Custom OS Concept - Social Media Blocking (E.G The Balance Phone)

mmw1988

Hi everyone.

Lifelong iphone user here.

Like many of you on here, i am constantly in pursuit of the perfect ‘minimalist’ or ‘dumb’ phone. You know the one… The phone with no social media - youtube, instagram, tiktok, facebook etc - but DOES include whatsapp, emails and all the other ‘essentials’. I’ve tried all the self-imposed restriction options - deleted social media apps, bought an old Nokia phone, installed minimalist apps to turn my iphone into a dumb phone. But.. like any toxic relationship, i always got sucked back in.

Until recently, when I discovered The Balance Phone.

For those who don’t know, The Balance Phone is a phone with a custom OS installed that completely restricts access to social media apps and other harmful or ‘toxic’ content i.e adult sites etc but still allows access to essential apps such as emails, messaging, whatsapp, maps, banking, apple music, spotify etc.

The big difference here is that THEY block access to these apps and websites. Not you. There’s no getting around them. You are fully committing to these restrictions.

You can either purchase the phone with the custom OS pre-installed or you can buy a Subscription for the OS and install it on your own phone. The trade-off for this ‘privelidge’ is that it is only compatible with Samsung phones. Currently, they have two phone options - A16 (budget option) or S22 (Pro option). If you want to install the software yourself, you will need a Samsung phone that is compatibile with their OS. Older Samsung phones are not compatible. In addition to this, the subscription model is currently £69 per year, which adds up over the years…

Nothing Phone are clearly turning heads with their branding, unique designs and company ethos. Mine included. But i truly believe that if Nothing Phone adopted The Balance Phone concept and intigrated a Custom OS into their system AS AN OPTION for users, they would absolutely dominate the smart-phone industry.

So the purchase process would be as follows…

You find the phone you want e.g Nothing Phone 3a - then select whether you want the regular/unrestricted OS installed or Custom/Restricted OS installed and then away you go. You now have a Nothing Phone taylored to your needs.

The Balance Phone concept is currently the best approach to smart-phone minimalism and the only affective option for people who really want/need to have all the benefits of modern technology without the distractions. But let’s be honest, we don’t want a Samsung phone, we want a Nothing Phone!

Interested to hear your thoughts.

Amudhan_Sundararajan

mmw1988 I think you’re overestimating the market for this. The reality is that most people buy smartphones specifically to consume content.

If Nothing moved toward a digital detox model (and block everything behind a paywall), they’d be chasing a tiny niche and losing the mass appeal they’ve worked so hard to build. If you truly want OS-level integration, you’re better off porting a custom ROM and flashing it yourself. But if you want a ‘quick fix’ that doesn’t involve a £69/year subscription, there’s a much easier way to lock yourself out.
Just create a Google ‘Parent’ account with a complex password, use a password manager to generate it, and then don’t save it. Set up your phone as a child device managed by that account, block every app you’re addicted to, and then log out. Since you no longer ‘know’ the password, you’re effectively locked into your restrictions unless you factory reset the whole thing. It’s free, it works on any hardware, and you don’t have to switch to a Samsung just to have some self-control.

megatomic

My thoughts are no thanks and I think Nothing should also say no thanks.

SambhramaKhushi

Use a custom filter on next dns and add it to ur private dns settings there are options for blocking social media, ads, all other crap

Fluct-ligth

probably a little bit more self-control (?
you are in control of your phone bro 🤨

sean (1)

Set up parental controls?

mmw1988

Wow. These responses are so cynical and short-sighted it’s hilarious. However, i can’t say i’m surprised…

@Amudhan_Sundararajan i’ll respond to you but i should re-clarify for everyone else on here that seems to have either misread my post or completely ignored my key point…

This Custom OS that i am proposing would be AN OPTION for users (i put it in block capitals in my original post). I am not suggesting that Nothing Phone should adopt this digital detox concept and block social media access on ALL phones for ALL users for ALL eternity.

So @Amudhan_Sundararajan perhaps i would be overestimating the market for this had i thought ALL nothing phone users (or any smart phone for for that matter) want to block social media apps. But i’m not. And the fact is, there is a market for ‘minimalist’ or ‘digital detox’ apps and ‘dumb’ phones which block access to social media and other content. And, according to yourself and others on this post, it sounds like a very simple proceedure to implement these filters on an existing phone or OS.

SO… from a technical point of view, we have established that it’s fairly easy to apply these filters onto a phone or OS. From a marketing point of view, we know that there is already a market for minimalist/digital detox apps and phones. So with that in mind, surely it would be wise for Nothing Phone to adopt this model as an OPTIONAL ADD ON for customers in order to expand their appeal? By not having it as an option, you could argue that they are actually limiting their marketability.

I would also like to point out that we should never underestimate the appeal of Nothing’s design aesthetics alone, as a selling point. Surely it is the main attraction, or, at least, the initial attraction? For some, a phone’s internal tech-specs are vital if they intend to use the device for gaming, videography, photography, streaming etc. For others, the phone is - first and foremost - a simple communication device, as originally intended. Whatever your preference, the love and appreciation for beautiful and iconic designs like Nothing Phone is shared. My point being… people will still pay top dollar for something that looks great, provided it does what they need it to do for them.

“What’s that? You love the design of Nothing Phone but you only wish it had social media blocking like The Balance Phone? No problem, just click ‘Custom OS’ option at check-out and we’ll make sure you don’t have access to any of those distractions. Now you have the phone you’ve always wanted!”

Don’t worry guys. I’m not here to take social media away from you. Relax. Whatever your opinions are of digital detox apps and dumb phones, or the people that use them…The fact of the matter is, they exist. There is a market for them. And there is a gap in that market that i feel Nothing can exploit with this optional Custom OS add-on.