dumb.co Launches $20 Revamped Dumbphone, Folding 300-User Month Offline Into Its Business
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 28
dumb.co Launches $20 Revamped Dumbphone, Folding 300-User Month Offline Into Its Business
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 28
Summary
At a 1 May event, dumb.co formally absorbed its Month Offline program into the company and rolled out an upgraded flip phone built to work alongside, not fully replace, a smartphone.
The new device adds WhatsApp, iMessage, Google Maps, Uber, Microsoft 2FA, weather, music streaming and Yik Yak-style messaging, reflecting the startup’s pitch that users need a lower-friction path away from constant smartphone use.
More than 1,000 active users now pay $20 for the handset and from $15 a month for service, while about 300 people joined Month Offline over the past year; the program itself still runs at a loss.
Founded by Danny Hogenkamp and Grant Besner after phone-free experiments in Washington, the company says most users are women, mostly in New York and DC, with an average age of 24.
The launch highlights dumb.co’s broader bet on “harm reduction” from screen addiction rather than full abstinence, even as its CEO predicts the startup could one day challenge far larger US wireless carriers.