The Ultimate Phone Cleanse Checklist
A phone detox is not about hating technology. It is about removing the settings, apps, and habit triggers that quietly steal your attention every day.
Start here: the 30-minute cleanse
Set a timer for 30 minutes and go through each item once. You do not need a perfect minimalist phone — you need fewer automatic pulls toward scrolling, comparison, and late-night checking.
Turn off dopamine notifications
Disable all non-human notifications: likes, trends, recommendations, shopping nudges, news alerts, and social app badges. Keep only calls, direct messages, calendar, and banking/security alerts.
Clean your home screen
Move addictive apps out of sight, keep one screen only, and place calm tools first: notes, calendar, maps, camera, reading, breathing, or Aevum. Friction beats willpower.
Create a bedtime phone detox
Set Do Not Disturb one hour before sleep, charge your phone outside the bedroom, and replace late scrolling with a book, stretch, or short reflection ritual.
Reduce tracking and attention leaks
Review app permissions, remove unused apps, block autoplay, disable background refresh for feeds, and clear old widgets that pull you back into checking loops.
Weekly phone detox maintenance
- Delete apps you did not intentionally open this week.
- Review your top 3 screen-time categories and pick one to reduce by 15%.
- Create one phone-free anchor: meals, commute, first hour, or last hour.
- Use Aevum to track recovered time as a positive gain, not a punishment.
Run your phone detox with Aevum
Aevum turns this checklist into gentle daily actions, tracks recovered time, and helps you keep technology useful instead of compulsive.
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