Totem cofounder Carter Fowler says the creators of Totem never seriously considered building an app to do what the device does because, at a fundamental level, a phone cannot do what Totem is designed to do.
Smartphones rely on centralized infrastructure – cell towers, Wi-Fi, satellites and power grids – but Totem’s technology is the opposite, he explains. It is decentralized, operating independently of those systems.
That distinction matters most when connectivity fails, Fowler says. Without service, a phone is reduced to short-range communication – roughly the limits of Bluetooth, often less than 100 feet. Totem devices, by contrast, communicate over far greater distances with significantly higher accuracy, without relying on any external network.
And that gap is widening, according to Fowler. Population growth is straining already congested networks, while outages continue to rise. Cell disruptions have increased in recent years, and grid reliability has declined, with more than half of Americans experiencing power outages in 2025.
Natural disasters, which often disable communications infrastructure entirely, are also becoming more frequent, Fowler notes. In those moments – when coordination and safety matter most – app-based solutions fail because the systems they depend on are no longer functioning. Totem is built specifically for those gaps, operating where phones cannot.
But the decision wasn’t only technical; it was also philosophical.
“We see smartphones not just as tools but as environments engineered to capture and hold attention,” Fowler says. “Over time, that design has had measurable consequences. Screen time now consumes a significant portion of daily life, particularly among younger generations, coinciding with sharp increases in reported anxiety and depression.”
That concern is increasingly shared, Fowler adds. Growing scrutiny from policymakers, courts and public health officials has begun to frame social media and smartphone ecosystems similarly to other regulated, habit-forming industries. Against that backdrop, building “just another app” would reinforce the very dynamics Totem aims to counter.
Instead, Totem is positioned as a deliberate break from that cycle, Fowler says. As a stand-alone device, it removes layers of distraction, dependency and behavioral conditioning tied to smartphones.
“Its purpose is not only to function reliably when infrastructure fails, but also to encourage people to engage more directly with their surroundings and with each other,” Fowler adds.
In that sense, the absence of an app is central to the product’s identity.