I switched to a flip phone to fix my screen time. Did it work?

I hate the way I use my phone. 

The problem isn’t the sheer amount of time spent on my smartphone, although an average of around three hours a day (plus eight hours on my work laptop and around two in front of the TV) isn’t exactly healthy. 

More so, it’s how I’m using it: mindlessly checking news sites, email, social media or even the weather, all for that quick hit of dopamine. During any moment of downtime, I reach for my phone almost unconsciously. 

I’ve tried all the usual things, including setting app limits and uninstalling social media apps. I leave my phone in another room when going to bed, and I even disabled the YouTube app, which can’t be uninstalled on Android. 

However, nothing has reduced the irresistible urge to check my phone throughout the day. I could, of course, swap my handset for a basic feature phone, but I don’t want to do without all the great things a smartphone offers.  

It wouldn’t exactly be ideal for my job either, which involves testing many of the very best smartphones you can buy. And, to be honest, I’m worried I’d get lost all the time without Google Maps. 

With all that in mind, I was quite excited to review a flip phone for the first time. In theory, they offer the best of both worlds: key functions and information via a small cover screen, then access to a full smartphone experience once unfolded. 

And I wasn’t just any smartphone that I was testing. It was the Galaxy Z Flip 6, the latest version of Samsung’s market-leading foldable. However, I ran into a couple of big problems soon after setting it up. 

Where are all the apps? 

After transferring my data, I went straight into Settings, eager to install all the apps that I found useful but not distracting. Unfortunately, I left feeling bitterly disappointed. 

By default, the Z Flip 6’s cover display is limited to just a handful of basic widgets, including those for Samsung’s Calendar, Reminder and Weather. 

Adding apps is what Samsung calls a ‘Labs’ feature, with the company warning that “some apps may not work as expected”. Even then, you only have five available: Google Maps, Google Messages, WhatsApp, Netflix and YouTube. Gmail and Outlook are on the way via a software update. 

As a result, the notification functionality is very limited, with only basic preset responses available for most apps. Unless you follow the weird method for getting any app to run, that is. 

Here goes. Download Samsung’s ‘Good Lock’ app from the Galaxy Store. Open the app and tap the ‘Life up’ tab. Download and install ‘MultiStar’. Open it and tap ‘I ♡ Galaxy Foldable’. Select all the apps you want to add to the cover screen. Tap ‘Enable Launcher Widget’. Phew. 

To use the cover screen most productively, I wanted access to key messaging and audio apps, plus Google’s Wallet, Calendar and Keep Notes. In theory, this would mean I didn’t need to use the internal display at all during the day. 

Unfortunately, as I soon discovered, there’s a reason Samsung doesn’t make it easy to install them. These unoptimised apps proved more frustrating than functional. A tiny keyboard made typing a chore, while crucial text was often cut off or missing completely due to bugs. 

Most of the time, I opened the phone to get a key task done, which defeated the point of having the cover display. If anything, interacting with two screens meant my screen time went up slightly. 

Bigger isn’t always better…but it is here

Would a larger cover display have avoided these problems? To an extent, yes, so Motorola’s Razr 50 Ultra (also known as the Razr+ (2024) in North America) would perhaps be a better choice for a screen time experiment. 

Its 4-inch cover screen is significantly larger than 3.4-inch one on the Z Flip 6, while a squarer design means apps display more naturally.  

As a result, Motorola lets you run any app on the Razr 50 Ultra’s cover display without any complicated workarounds. My colleague Hannah Cowton even noted in her full review that it “helped me manage my screen time better”, although there’s no guarantee it would’ve had the same effect on me. 

A Samsung problem, or a flip phone problem?

Ultimately, I think we need to wait for more developers to optimise their apps for cover screens before flip phones can be a genuine screen time solution. 

In the meantime, they can be a useful way to introduce a little more friction into your smartphone usage. But I wouldn’t suggest buying one with the specific goal of reducing your screen time – you may be disappointed. 

Technically, my experiment with the Z Flip 6 has been a failure, with no significant change to my smartphone habits. However, it has made me more mindful of the way I use a phone, which can only be a good thing.

Read our full review of the Galaxy Z Flip 6 to learn more about the device, or see our guide to the best foldable phones for some great alternatives.