GoKawiilBlogger Ploum details refusing smartphones amid rising forced app and QR-code demands
Writer Ploum recounts telling businesses he has no smartphone to avoid being pressured into installing apps or scanning QR codes for basic services. He says he had to push back against 18 separate app installation demands in the past year, including for kitchen appliances, a car, and even a toilet with separate apps for its seat, flush, and ventilation.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The essay highlights how everyday products increasingly require smartphone apps controlled by a few tech giants, adding hidden time costs, privacy tradeoffs, and accessibility barriers for anyone without a compatible device, account, battery, or data plan. It's a pointed critique of app-first design becoming a default assumption rather than a convenience.
- Ploum avoids smartphone-app requirements by simply telling people he doesn't own one.
- He counted 18 forced app-installation demands in a single year, from appliances to a car.
- The essay lists nine hidden assumptions companies make when requiring an app, from ownership to battery life and account access.
Nokia 2780 Flip Phone — If you want to say "I don't have a smartphone" and mean it, the Nokia 2780 Flip is a straightforward flip phone for calls and texts without an app store begging for your attention. It's a real escape hatch from QR-code menus and the 18-apps-a-year treadmill the article describes, and the fold-shut design makes ending a call feel satisfying again.
See Nokia 2780 Flip Phone on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: ploum.net, 2026-09-02
Published there as: “I Don't Have a Smartphone”
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