I swapped my iPhone for the distraction-free Balance Phone to curb my social media habit, and it wasn't quite the digital detox I expected

Date:
Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:50:00 +0000

Description:
I spent a week with the distraction-free Balance Phone, but it left me
feeling conflicted about blanket social media bans.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Are you keen to spend less time staring at a screen, but don't want to sacrifice the practical benefits of owning a smartphone? The balance of the Balance Phone is that its about halfway between the dumbphones of yesteryear and the attention-grabbing overload of todays best phones .

Crucially, it is still a smartphone (a basic Samsung one, to be specific), so it solves all the usual dumbphone issues of lacking WhatsApp , maps, and music, but runs a limited operating system called Balance OS thats designed
to help curtail your scrolling habits. I just spent a week using the Balance Phone as my main device to get a feel for how effective its digital detox features are. Would it help me reclaim my time, be more present, or be more productive? Or would this glimpse into a post-social-media-ban future for
kids leave me bored and left out? The answer is complicated. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: What is the Balance Phone, and what
does it block? (Image credit: Future) The Balance Phone is essentially a Samsung Galaxy A37 running Balance's locked-down Balance OS. Balance also offers the lower-spec Balance Phone Kids (a Galaxy A17) and higher-spec Balance Phone Pro (a Galaxy S25) , and all three phones cost a touch more
than their non-restricted Samsung counterparts. The model I tested for this article was a previous version of the Balance Phone based on the Galaxy A16.

Much like the UK's impending under-16 social media ban , the Balance Phone blocks social media platforms (including X, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube , Instagram, and Facebook) while exempting messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal. You may like Minimalist Light Flip phone launches with 5G and distraction-free OS Do you reach for your phone as soon as you wake up? I spoke to psychologists to find out why doing so is really not good for our brains I've spent hours researching the best phone for my child here are the safest options I've found, from iPhones to 'dumbphones'

It puts pretty aggressive limits on your browsing behavior, too, by not only blocking access to adult content, but also stopping adult image searches altogether and even blocking various news websites and blogs (you cant even use browsers that arent Chrome imagine!). (Image credit: Future) Does it
help with your screen time? Yes, Id actually say that the Balance Phone is
one of the most effective solutions for getting you off your phone that Ive experienced so far. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
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You cant remove or alter the OS even if you wanted to, so I reckon itd be a great phone for getting kids off social media, too. It would make an ideal first phone for younger users, and is super simple and intuitive to use.

In many ways, its a phone thats made not to be used. In the past, Ive felt Nothings handsets were designed to be used less , with their minimalist designs and purpose-driven OS, but the Balance Phone takes the latter to another level.

If you pick the Balance home screen during setup, its just a customizable black screen with the names of eight apps (of your choosing) on display. You can get to an app library view with a couple of swipes, but its limited by default. What to read next iOS 27's Screen Time update looks impressive but it didn't wow me like Android 17's Pause Point Commodores retro-inspired flip phone could break your smartphone addiction I spent a month testing the privacy-focused GrapheneOS and it almost made me ditch my Android phone entirely (Image credit: Future) I compared the amount of time I spent on the phone to the previous week on my iPhone 17 Pro and the difference was huge. My screen time dropped from around 5 to 6 hours a day to under an hour (about 30 to 45 minutes of use). While Ive been mainly working at home and not using the Balance Phone for navigation, Ive mainly found myself on emails or
reading on the device, as I can still load up apps like Instapaper and Kindle . Ive not been able to retreat to my usual distractions of TikTok, Instagram or Reddit.

Did it make me more present or productive, though? I think thats much more debatable. The Balance Phone can force you to change your habits, but that doesnt mean you automatically change or become more efficient; I found myself still picking up the phone to try to scroll or just do something, even if there was nothing to do on it. And, yes, I found I got a bit more bored
during one week of using it. If youve been using smartphones for a long time, youll find the habits are pretty ingrained. What I missed in my week with the Balance Phone (Image credit: Future) While I used the Balance Phone, I felt I kept up with reading articles Id saved in Instapaper or cracking on with the book Im reading in the Kindle app. But the lack of Reddit and relatively poor browsing experience meant I didnt read quite as much news, and I did notice all the extra friction for social media apps in both positive and negative ways.

A self-imposed social media ban is great at stopping you from scrolling away your days, but I also found I missed out on some of the more fun aspects of social media. I was out of the loop on some entertaining memes, and my wife ended up gathering a long list of TikToks and Instagram Reels that she wanted to send me during the week. I got these in one big batch at the end of the experiment!

Of course, its all just random House of the Dragon commentary and silly cat videos, so arguably nothing serious or important, but it feels like I missed out by not being able to share these things in the moment.

It makes me wonder: we can all agree social media is addictive, but a blanket ban ignores that its something enjoyable in moderation, too. I expect that if I actually used the Balance Phone full-time, Id still want to use a normal tablet or laptop where I can reply to messages on Instagram and watch YouTube videos, to be honest. Who is this phone actually for? (Image credit: Future) If you want your phone to be restricted to the apps you need to communicate, listen, read, plan and navigate, the Balance Phone does the job well. You can load up your calendar, books, messaging apps, music, email and maps, but no video apps, social media or anything with infinite scroll.

And, because the Balance Phone is ultimately a phone thats not meant to be used, it really is best for digital minimalists. If youre already trying to give up social media and are comfortable with the extra restrictions, youll get on with the enforced digital detox. I think it also could function well
as a work phone. You can put Slack, Gmail, Outlook, and the like on it, and then just stick to using it in the office.

We can all agree social media is addictive, but a blanket ban ignores that
its something enjoyable in moderation, too. Overall, I found it highly effective at limiting my screen time. And thats why Id also recommend it for kids. As a first phone, the Balance Phone is ideal and mirrors the coming social media ban and adult content restrictions for children. So, it works
for kids and serious detoxers (for more child-friendly phone recommendations, check out our guide to the best phones for kids ).

However, the lack of adjustability to its limits makes the Balance Phone harder to recommend for everyone else. It would be interesting if it had a little more nuance for app time limits or focus modes at particular times of day, for instance. (Image credit: Future) And a quick word on the phone's hardware: while the fingerprint scanner, underlying OneUI base software and simple Balance OS are all solid, the weak performance of the lower-end models makes the Balance Phone a little harder to recommend. The Samsung Galaxy A16 phone I tried was seriously slow and laggy, even when simply opening and switching between apps, and while the newer Galaxy A37 version will almost certainly offer better performance, I'd keep your expectations low.

Still, even for kids, Id recommend the Galaxy A37 option over the cheaper Galaxy A17, as its just that bit more likely to keep you going for longer. Adults should consider the Balance Phone Pro, too, even if just because the cameras on the Galaxy S25 are leagues ahead of those on the other two models (it also has a slightly smaller 6.2-inch screen size).

Would you consider using a distraction-free phone like the Balance Phone? Let us know in the poll or comments below. Follow TechRadar on Google News and
add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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