You win, I canceled my Light Phone 3 pre-order.

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!

79 points · 12 comments · view on lemmy.world

12 Comments

Zwiebel@feddit.org · 12 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Sounds awesome! It's free and you can always add back any functionality in case you need it

citrusface@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y

Def. I'm really happy with my phone now, so I think I will just stick with this for a few more years now.

JoMiran@lemmy.ml · 8 pts · 1y (2 replies)

So I canceled my Light phone pre-order and bought a new synth module instead.

Oooh, what did you buy?

citrusface@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1y (1 reply)

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.

citrusface@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y

I went with the Pluck.

I'll grab the uO_c next month when the fun money replenishes.

HalfAHero@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y (2 replies)

Thanks for this! I preordered a LPIII. Going to try this out and see if this takes care of my needs.

citrusface@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1y

Asleep

Lock screen

Home screen

You get to messages and phone by swiping left or right respectively

App drawer (swipe up)

There are only like 3 other apps in the drawer, I renamed them all put them in sections.

Pull down (swipe down)

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.

citrusface@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y

Gimmie a few minutes and I will take some photos of how it looks since I can't screenshot the launcher home page

Hello_there@fedia.io · 3 pts · 1y (1 reply)

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?

citrusface@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1y

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.

PropaGandalf@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y (1 reply)

great idea! you may also consider Arcticons to get a unified look for all kinds of app icons.

PropaGandalf@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y

Ah I see the launcher has no app icons but it is still a useful resource