The minimalist iPhone setup that keeps the camera and Maps

A good minimalist iPhone setup removes distracting apps, replaces the general-purpose browser, and keeps the tools you need: camera, Maps, banking, payments, and ride share. You don't have to buy a different phone. You have to subtract from the one you have.

This is the setup. It takes about 30 minutes and you can undo any part of it.

Why keep the camera, Maps, and banking?

Because a phone with no camera, no directions, and no way to pay for things is a phone you'll abandon in a week. The goal of a minimalist iPhone setup is to make the phone boring, not useless.

Here's what stays, and why:

Camera and Photos. Taking pictures of your kids or a receipt isn't a distraction. Scrolling Instagram is. Keep the camera, remove the apps that feed on it.
Maps. Directions are pure utility. Nobody doomscrolls Apple Maps.
Banking and Apple Pay. You can't go back to carrying a checkbook. Keep your bank app and Wallet.
Ride share and delivery. Uber, Lyft, food delivery. These are tools with a clear end point. You order, you're done.
Messages, Phone, Calendar, Notes, Music, Podcasts. All fine. None of them have an infinite feed.

What goes: social media, news apps, games, YouTube, and the general-purpose browser. The browser is the one people forget, and it's the one that quietly undoes everything else.

Before you start

Before you start, install Anti Browser and any essential apps you want to keep. Set Anti as your default browser in Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Browser. Do this before blocking downloads: iOS requires another browser to be installed before it will let you disable Safari.

Anti Browser includes this four-step guide during onboarding, along with a Screen Time code generator and vault. If you use its generator, Anti keeps the code stored in the vault in case you ever need it.

1. Block Downloads

Turn off new installs so the apps you delete can't come back.

Go to Settings.
Tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
Enable Content & Privacy Restrictions.
Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases.
Tap Installing Apps.
Set to Don't Allow.

2. Block Safari

One browser is enough. With Anti set as your default, links sent to your browser open in Anti.

Go to Settings.
Tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
Enable Content & Privacy Restrictions.
Tap Allowed Apps & Features.
Turn Safari off.

3. Delete

On home screen

Social apps and spare browsers go now. Accounts stay intact; only the app leaves. Keep Anti Browser and the essential apps you chose earlier.

Long press on a social media app or another browser.
Tap Remove App.
Tap Delete App and confirm deletion.
Repeat for other distracting apps.

4. Lock

A Screen Time passcode keeps the settings above out of reach of a bad five minutes.

Open Settings.
Tap Screen Time.
Scroll down and tap Lock Screen Time Settings.
Have a friend or family member set a code, or use the code generator in Anti Browser. Anti keeps the generated code stored in its vault in case you ever need it.

Optional: one Home Screen page

You want a single page with a handful of tools on it and nothing else.

Hold an empty spot on the Home Screen until the icons wiggle.
Tap the page dots at the bottom to see all your pages.
Uncheck every page except one. The other pages are hidden; their apps remain in the App Library.
On your remaining page, keep 8 to 12 apps: Phone, Messages, Camera, Maps, Wallet, your bank, Calendar, Notes, Music, and your browser.

Apps on hidden pages remain accessible through App Library categories or search. A simpler Home Screen reduces visual clutter; deleting distracting apps is what removes access to them.

Optional: quiet the notifications

Go to Settings > Notifications. Work down the list. Turn notifications off for everything except people (Messages, Phone, maybe WhatsApp) and things with real deadlines (Calendar, two-factor codes).

Then turn off badges for anything that's left. A red number on an icon is a tiny slot machine.

Optional: set up a Focus mode

Settings > Focus > add a new Focus (call it "Default" or "Tool"). Under Home Screen, choose "Custom Pages" and select only your one page. Under Notifications, allow only the people and apps you picked above.

Turn it on and leave it on. You can schedule it to run all the time, or just never turn it off.

What a day looks like on this setup

You wake up and there's nothing to check. Messages, maybe a calendar reminder. You take a photo of something. You get directions. You pay for coffee with your phone. Someone texts you a link and Anti opens it. You can read the page and follow its links, without an address bar or general web search field.

The phone is still a great tool. It just stopped being a toy. If you have an iPad, give it the same treatment with the distraction free iPad setup. For more detail, the full dumbphone setup walks through the same four steps in more context, and if you'd rather keep the icons but make them dull, see how to make your iPhone boring.