You'd have moved to a basic phone already.
The problem was never willpower. It's your bank, your login codes, your tickets, and the group chat where the plans get made.
Cut those and you're not free. You're stranded.
So Taper cuts in an order. The things that only cost you, first. The things that hold you up, last.
Nothing is deleted before there's something in its place.
Twelve weeks. One at a time.

Week 01

Contact audit

Nothing is cut. You're mapping what you'd lose.

Their phone numbers, on paper.

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Taper

Twelve weeks off your smartphone.

The actual problem

Most people who want off their smartphone try it in one jump. Buy a basic phone, put the old one in a drawer, last four days, give up.

They don't fail from weak willpower. They fail because the phone is quietly load-bearing — banking, two-factor codes, maps, tickets, the group chat where the plans happen. Nobody plans for those, so the first practical thing that breaks ends the attempt.

And because leaving a platform means losing the people on it. That cost lands immediately, and it's scarier than any of the logistics.

Taper solves the migration. It assumes you already want to go.

How it works

Every cut names its substitute. No week says "delete this". It says here's what you do instead, prove it works, then delete it.
Gradual, not cold turkey. In a trial of 619 people, cutting an hour a day beat going without entirely for a week. Four months later the reduction group was down 45 minutes a day against the abstinence group's 38, and their gains in anxiety and life satisfaction held better. Brailovskaia et al., 2023.
The basic phone arrives halfway. The problem was never that the smartphone exists, it's that it's in your pocket. From week six it lives at a desk, and the rest of the programme removes your reasons to walk back to it.
Repeating a week is normal. Nothing resets. There are no streaks — streaks are how one slip turns into quitting.

The twelve weeks

Prepare

Contact auditWho you'd lose, and their numbers — while you still have them

Purge

RecreationSocial and video down to once a day. Greyscale on, notifications off

The bookendsNo phone in the first or last hour. An alarm clock, and a charger in another room

Relocate

MediaMusic and podcasts move to something that isn't in your pocket

Browser and newsLooking things up becomes a slot, not a reflex

The second phoneBasic phone in your pocket. The smartphone becomes furniture

CommunicationThe people who matter move to calls and texts

Sever

MapsRoutes planned in advance. The first genuinely uncomfortable week

MoneyWeb, phone and branch banking. Cards, not wallet

Two-factorSmaller than its reputation — a basic phone still receives texts

Getting aroundTickets, transport, parking, and whatever's left

Switch

The switchBy now it should be an anticlimax

Nearly there

Taper is built by one person. It's with Apple for review now, and it'll be on the App Store shortly.

Leave your email and I'll tell you the day it's live.

And say something if you've got something to say. If you've tried this before and it didn't stick, where did it break? If you think a week is wrong, or one's missing, say that. Ideas, objections, "this bit wouldn't work for me" — all of it is more useful to me than a signup.

Your email is stored so I can tell you when it ships. Nothing else, no list, no tracking.

Support

Something broken, a purchase that didn't unlock, or a question about the programme — email support@taper.page and you'll get a reply from the person who wrote it, usually the same day.