Table of Contents
Dumbphone FAQs
Why are dumbphones popular again?
“There seem to be three factors driving this spike,” says Rob Maule, consumer expert at Currys. “Firstly, you have an increasing number of parents buying brick phones for their children. Various organisations, including some schools, are calling for children to have much more controlled digital access, and brick phones can be a great way to minimise unsupervised time spent online, without severing their connectivity altogether.
“Secondly, you have adults themselves increasingly looking to regulate their own time spent looking at their screens. Whilst smart phones offer a range of helpful tools to help manage – and even block – the amount of time you spend on certain apps, many adults – especially those amongst Gen Z and millennial age groups – are taking things into their own hands and buying phones which simply will not let them connect to apps such as TikTok and Instagram. There are over 400,000 #DigitalDetox ‘farewell’ posts on Instagram alone.
“And thirdly, put simply, we’re seeing a retro revival,” acknowledges Rob. “Brick phones are just one example of a real return to retro products, from point-and-shoot digital cameras to video camcorders. The HMD ‘Barbie’ phone is a particular hit.”
What are the different types of dumbphones?
As the Barbie handset demonstrates, dumbphones come in a variety of shapes and sizes; unlike the increasingly homogenous smartphone market, consisting almost entirely of anonymous black rectangles, dumbphones can be had in standard brick format, or as flip phones, which open like a clam shell.
There are no significant advantages or disadvantages between these two styles, although with a flip phone you can end a phone call by snapping it shut, which is a pleasing flourish to any conversation. Generally speaking, flip phones are shorter but thicker, while brick phones or bar phones are longer and thinner.
How do dumbphones compare to smartphones?
Dumbphones obviously compare unfavourably against even the cheapest smartphones in terms of functionality, apps, compatibility and camera performance. Of the phones we have tested for this article, only one has WhatsApp, and that model isn’t really a dumbphone in the conventional sense.
“We don’t anticipate that brick phones will replace smartphones,” says Rob. “So many of today’s vital services – from accessing medical information, to paying rent, through to staying in touch with friends, families and colleagues – rely on digital connectivity. With that in mind, we expect most adult users of brick phones to retain their smart counterparts and use a combination of both to find that sweet spot between staying connected and not feeling the pressures of notification overload.”
That balance will be different for everybody. There are currently no true dumbphones with WhatsApp, or indeed any other popular apps like Spotify (for playing music) and Instagram (for sharing photos). If you need WhatsApp to chat with your friends, Google Maps to navigate or a banking app to keep track of your money, there aren’t any dumbphones on the market that’ll work for you as your only phone.
Are dumb phones compatible with the latest networks?
All of the phones tested here are compatible with current UK mobile phone networks. But that’s not the case for every dumb phone on the market, which is why buyers should avoid buying cheap handsets that might be approaching obsolescence.
This is where it starts to get complicated. Mobile phone networks evolve in generations, the latest being 5G – the fifth generation of mobile phone technology. Until recently, dumbphones operated on the very basic 2G and 3G systems, which were fine for their limited functions of sending texts and low-res photos. But 3G is being phased out in 2025 and 2G will be switched off by 2033, so for future compatibility you will want a dumbphone that can handle 4G signals.
What are the benefits of using a dumbphone?
There are lots of reasons why you might buy a dumb phone instead of a smartphone. There are young people whose lives have been so dominated by social media and internet culture that they’re choosing to disconnect themselves from the web; there are the “neo-Luddites” who eschew new technologies; and there are older people who have no need for, or interest in, social media, but who would like the ability to make a phone call or send a text message in an emergency.
As dumbphones can be almost as expensive as basic smartphones, buying one can be difficult to justify. Motorola now sells an adequate touchscreen Android smartphone, which can run apps, for just £70, while John Lewis currently sells three models for under £100. Compared with the dumb phones tested here, even these cheap smartphone handsets offer the user a much better experience – WhatsApp, Google Maps, emails, internet browsing, and everything else you might need in today’s digital age.
But comparing a smartphone with a dumbphone is like comparing a car with a bicycle. Yes, a car is more versatile in every measurable way – but some people only want a bike.
Can I have a dumbphone with WhatsApp?
There are no new dumbphones on the market with WhatsApp. There have been those in the past which either came with WhatsApp, or on which WhatsApp could be installed, such as the Nokia 800 Tough or the CAT S22, but these are difficult to recommend. The CAT is no longer being sold and the Nokia’s compatibility with WhatsApp has a limited projected lifespan. All Nokia’s current phones run on their own proprietary software, to which you cannot add new apps or features.
Why the focus on WhatsApp? Because, in the UK and most of Europe, it has become the standard messaging tool, surpassing SMS and MMS messages. Buying a dumb phone means losing access to WhatsApp messages and group chats.
While some enthusiasts manage to keep WhatsApp functional on dubiously-compatible handsets, this can require complex technical workarounds that would be inappropriate for a casual user. For now, there are no dumbphones with WhatsApp that we can recommend. Anybody who needs WhatsApp should get a cheap smartphone, not a dumbphone.
