We all have that app on our home screen that we impulsively open and scroll through, even when we wish we could stop. You can try to deal with this by making your phone less attractive.

On Android, there are minimalist launchers like 0Launcher, which shows you a list of text instead of icons. The idea is that you only place apps that you need like SMS or Maps, on the home screen. As I wrote for PCMag last year, using this launcher really helped me think of my phone as a tool for specific tasks rather than a pointless way to waste my time.

I’d love something similar for the iPhone, but unfortunately Apple doesn’t allow alternative launchers like Android does. That’s where Dumb Phone comes in, an indie application from developer Micheal Tigas. It gets around Apple’s restrictions by offering a widget that lists your most used apps and also provides instructions on how to integrate it with the rest of the system. It’s a bit of a hassle to set up, but it helps recreate the kind of minimalist launcher I liked so much on Android.

After launching the app, you’ll be given a series of instructions to “minimize” your home screen. The basic idea: add the widget to your home screen, change the background image to a black or white color that matches the widget, remove all other icons, and select the applications you want to display in the widget.

Although it takes some effort to set up, the result is a truly minimalist home screen.

Photo credit: Justin Pot

The widget comes in dark and light variants, as well as a matching background image, and you can align the text however you want. There’s also the option to create multiple launchers that you can switch between. Anything that’s not in one of your launchers can still be opened using the iPhone’s search function, so you don’t lose access to your less important apps.

Dumb Phone has some drawbacks, mostly related to the limitations of iOS itself: opening apps from the widget briefly opens the Dumb Phone app first, which is a bit annoying, and it only supports a pre-generated list of apps. (There are instructions on how to get around this using Apple Shortcuts, but that’s also time-consuming.)

However, if you have problems with impulsive use of your smartphone, this app might be for you. You can start with the free version, which includes all the features. The paid version costs $2.99/month, $9.99/year, or $24.99/lifetime.