This is a big part of the reason I carry a flip phone. Instead of explaining that your "otherwise smartphone looking thing" can't run Apple or Android apps, I just have to whip out the flip phone, flip it open, flip it closed, and say "Sorry, my phone doesn't have apps."

... even though it's running Android 11 Go and I can sideload stuff, it doesn't matter because the number of apps that work on a 320x240 screen with keyboard input only are "roughly zero." Even if there's no good reason it shouldn't work, nobody tests or designs for that case, so there I am.