How to Turn Your Old IPhone Into a Cute, Minimalist Phone
If you still have an iPhone 4, chances are it’s in a drawer somewhere and gathering dust. You probably thought to throw it away, but now there is finally something useful you can do with your old smartphone : turn it into a feature phone .
This is what one Reddit user did before sharing a photo of his simplified iPhone 4. After the photo landed on the front page of Reddit, they offered a complete step-by-step guide that includes jailbreaking a phone , redesigning a home screen, and disabling many software functions.
It takes a little work to set up, but it’s ideal if you need a basic backup phone or have a grandparent who is uncomfortable with technology but wants to stay connected.
The main idea here is to remove everything irrelevant from the iPhone 4. This includes iMessage, App Store, all games, GPS, background refresh, backups, sync contacts, and your Apple ID account. The only apps left on your phone are Dialer, Messages, Calendar, Clock, Notes, Reminders, Calculator, Camera, Photos, Music, Settings, and Safari.
The manual notes that the device is running iOS 7.1.2, but it should work with newer software as well. Just don’t bother updating your iPhone 4 if you’re dusting it off for the first time in years.
You will also need to go into your phone’s settings and do a ton of settings. The guide recommends turning off background refresh, location services, iMessage, spotlight search, and most notifications. You will probably also want to disable Javascript in Safari, unless your favorite websites are using javascript.
Finally, you need to jailbreak your iPhone 4 and install some unofficial apps from Cydia (mainly the app store for jailbroken phones). The two most important applications are HomescreenDesigner and Springtomize 3, which allow you to simplify your home screen into a grid of six large icons. You will also need a few other small modifications to customize your Apple software.
For a complete step-by-step guide, head over to Reddit . Just set aside a couple of hours if you want to go through the entire setup process in one sitting.