1bit --:--
1bit

Dumb phone. Same phone.

You want the quiet of a minimalist phone without buying a second number, a brick, or a whole new life. We put the entire dumb phone inside your smart phone.

1bit is a black and white world on the iPhone you already have. Music, podcasts, maps, camera, notes, games. The essentials. Gloriously retro. On purpose.

Download on the App Store
  • iPhone
  • iOS 18 or later
  • No account
  • No subscription
  • Two colours

What you get

The focus and charm of old-school tech without giving up the apps you still need.

An iPhone home screen with black wallpaper carrying only 1bit widgets: a clock dial, a camera button, today's reminders and podcasts, and the launcher list.
Your home screen, ten minutes from now

The move

Keep the iPhone. Lose the chaos.

Put the launcher widget on a black background and hide all the other home screen pages. Next time you unlock, it feels like a different phone. Setup takes about ten minutes.

Instagram is still there if you need it. Just not staring at you whenever you check the time.

Inside

The essentials, but make them fun

Podcasts you actually subscribed to. Music you own. Maps that get you there. A camera that shoots black and white pixels. No algorithm queuing up the next hit of dopamine.

The list

What is in here

The 1bit launcher on an iPhone: a split flap clock, today's reminders and a list of features, black on white.
Unlock to a list. That is the flex.

Hate a row? Switch it off. The widget follows.

Yours

What stays yours

Ten minutes

Set the phone up

The guide is built into the app, one step at a time, and you can stop after any of them. The short version is three moves.

  1. 1Put the launcher widget on your home screen and leave one page.
  2. 2Black wallpaper. Grayscale if you want the rest of the phone to match.
  3. 3A Focus that only lets your favourites through.
The same 1bit home screen with a square cased clock face on the widget instead of a plain dial.
Pick a face. Every widget wears it.

Set it up ▸

Questions

Real questions

Wait, can an app actually replace the home screen?

Nope. iOS will not let anybody replace SpringBoard.

What you can do is put 1bit's launcher widget on a black page, ditch the other pages, and unlock to a list of words. About ten minutes. Your other apps are still in the App Library if you need them.

So how do I get the dumb phone setup?

Install 1bit, drop the launcher widget on your home screen, leave one page. Black wallpaper. Grayscale if you want the whole phone to match. A Focus that only lets favourites through.

Camera, maps, alarms, podcasts, music: they live in here. The Manual has the steps.

Do I lose my photos, calendar, or messages?

No. Nothing gets moved and nothing gets deleted.

Calendars, reminders and contacts are the real ones. Photos stay in Photos. Messages stay in Messages.

Can I still open Instagram when I need it?

Yes. Everything stays installed. Setup just takes the noise off the page you stare at all day. One swipe to the App Library and you are back in colour chaos.

Why is it black and white?

Colour is how a screen begs for your attention. Two colours ask for less, and they look incredible.

Every shade is a pattern of black and white pixels. Built that way from the first sketch, not a filter slapped on later.

Is there a feed in it?

Podcasts you subscribed to. Articles from sites you picked. Nothing else gets in, and you reach the end of it.

Nothing recommends the next thing. Nothing autoplays while you are putting on a jacket.

Does Spotify work?

Not in here. 1bit plays music you own: files over USB or AirDrop, FLAC included, plus the library already on your phone.

If your whole life is streaming, this music player is not for you yet.

Which iPhones?

Any iPhone on iOS 18 or later.

On iOS 26 alarms are real system alarms (they ring through Silent and Focus). Below that they are notifications, quiet on Silent. The rest of the app is the same.

Are you tracking me?

No. No account, no server of ours, no analytics, no creepy SDKs.

Sync, if you turn it on, goes through your own iCloud.

How much?

$14.99, once. Free for fourteen days first, with everything unlocked, so you can live with it before you decide.

No subscription, no account, and nothing else to buy. It is on the App Store now.

The price

Get it

Free trial, then one purchase

Free for fourteen days with everything unlocked. After that one purchase of $14.99, once, and it is yours. No subscription and nothing else to buy.

Download on the App Store

What you need

ThingThe answer
DeviceAny iPhone. No iPad, no Android, no Mac.
iOS18 or later.
AlarmsOn iOS 26 they are real system alarms and ring through Silent. Below 26 they are notifications, quiet on Silent.
MusicNothing. Drag files in, or play the library already on the phone.
AccountNone. Sync, if you want it, rides your own iCloud.