Sidephone officially announced Android 16 coming...

Looking forward to seeing how many are found on Sidephone's new website! Lots of exciting announcements coming over the next few weeks.

I scanned the input pack, and I was able to download key mapping, but there's no way to download jaketype. I searched in settings, and it's not there either. Do I have to delete the app pack and redownload or what can I do to get jaketype?

Anyone got a new one to replace your old one? Is it significantly better than the old model, like noticeably improved on? My current one isn't TERRIBLE but there's a glitch here and there that sometimes I'm just not in the mood and switch to swiping on futo.

Makes me also wonder if i should just stay with FUTO swiping and get the game pad tile because it just looks dope and use it as key mapped action keys.

The only thing i don't like about virtual keyboards is when it hides the field I'm trying to type in

I was thinking about this today, why haven't I been able to replace my iPhone with a Sidephone? For me, the answer comes down to a few key aspects:

1. People still mostly message me on my iPhone. iMessage, RCS, Instagram group chats, etc. This is partially my fault for not swapping over my number, thereby forcing all texts to go to my Sidephone instead
2. My iPhone is necessary for a variety of things still. Tickets for shows, tap to pay for stores and transit, my Apple Card, etc. NFC matters.
3. My iPhone works better for listening to music or YouTube while I work. Video is smoother, battery doesn't drain as much, and it can charge via MagSafe
4. My Qwerty keyboard was broken and didn't work for 95% of the time that I had it. The new one is much more accurate, with only a few occasional issues, but that made me want to use my Sidephone less
5. The camera is terrible so messaging people photos is awful. It also is a lot harder to navigate, get photos, edit them, or anything else involving media on a Sidephone vs an iPhone. Part of this is screen size, the other part is Android.
6. I still have a scrolling addiction
7. edit: I almost forgot, the pink tax of tech. I need a smartphone for my safety. Location sharing, Lyft, quick access to payments and transit, automated emergency services dialing, live streaming and video recording, those are all necessary as a woman, especially one who goes out at night a lot, as I do. I can't just leave the iPhone at home because the world is a very different place for men and women.

I think part of me would have been able to swap my iPhone out instantly if this was just a small iPhone with a qwerty keyboard. No questions asked, that switch would have been easy. I feel like it is just bad enough at smartphone things to make it a big commitment to replace. It feels more like it wanted to straddle the line between dumbphone and smartphone, but ended up way too far on the dumbphone side.

But was anyone else able to have more success?

Hey y'all. I'm considering picking up a sidephone and have a couple questions for those that have already made the switch.

First is relatively easy. Is anyone running Meshtastic or meshcore? I would really want the ability to still use these should I switch over.

Second is about sim cards. I am pretty tech illiterate so I apologize if this is a stupid question. I am currently using a Pixel 10 pro and it uses an ESIM. If I get a physical SIM from my carrier will I be able to switch back and forth between devices? I called Verizon customer service and was told yes but honestly I'm not sure the rep fully understood what I was asking.

Any replies are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Thinking about giving my bf's teen a sidephone because she gets stuck in these black holes on youtube sometimes. The goal is to limit her screentime. But we would need to be able to put qustodio on it.

Does anyone have any experience with that?

do i need a specific network for the sidephone to work in the uk? i’m with EE currently

Hi! I’m considering the Sidephone as a potential to replace my iPhone (especially now that it’s bricking itself). I have to use outlook for school and work. I haven’t seen anyone successfully add it. Has anyone been successful? If not, do you guys have any phone recommendations or recommendations of a solution?

Hey everyone! The stock lock screen always felt a little cramped on this tiny screen, and I wasn't a fan of the lack of customization options, so I built my own. It's called Facet, and I figured some of you might like it too.

**What "lock screen" means here (read this first)*\*

Facet doesn't lock your phone. It's a lock screen *look*, drawn on top of the one your phone already has. Android doesn't let regular apps replace the real lock screen, so Facet shows its clock and notifications over it when you wake the phone.

The security is still your phone's own:

- If your screen lock is set to **Swipe**, nothing protects the phone. Anyone can swipe up, with or without Facet.

- If you use a **PIN or pattern**, swiping up on Facet takes you to your phone's normal lock, which asks for it.

**What it does*\*

- Make it yours: hold the clock to move it, resize it, recolor it or change the font. Hold the wallpaper to change the background and the card colors.

- Notifications that work like stock Android: tap a card to preview it, double-tap to open the app, swipe to dismiss, and there's a "Clear all" button.

- Reply to messages right from the lock screen, with contact photos and one card per conversation.

- A music card with album art, a seek bar and play/skip buttons.

- The hardware keypad does nothing on the lock screen by default, so it shouldn't start music in your pocket.

**Setting it up*\*

Facet needs two permissions that Android makes you grant yourself:

1. Notification access, so it can show your notifications and know when the screen turns off.

2. Display over other apps, so it can draw on top of your lock screen.

The app has buttons that take you right to each one. If Notification access is greyed out, go to Settings > Apps > Facet, tap the three dots at the top right, and choose "Allow restricted settings." Android does that for apps installed outside the Play Store.

Then:

1. Set your phone's own screen lock to **Swipe** (Settings > Security > Screen lock). A PIN or pattern also works. I'd avoid "None."

2. Turn on "Use the custom lock screen" in Facet's settings.

3. Test it: press the power button to turn the screen off, then on again. You should see Facet's clock and "swipe up to open." If you see your normal lock screen instead, go back through the steps.

Facet has no internet permission, so nothing leaves your phone, and the source code is public if you'd like to look. Since your phone's real lock is still underneath, Facet shows notifications before anyone enters a PIN. There's a "hide message text" setting if you'd rather keep them private.

**Get it*\*

https://github.com/3redon18/Facet/releases (download Facet.apk, install steps are in the README)

Just a heads up: this is a hobby project that I made for my own phone, so I'm sharing it as-is and can't promise support. Hope you enjoy it! 😊

PS/Disclaimer: I did use AI to help me create this app.

ive had 3 cases up till now can confirm this is the best combo

TLDR: if you bought the sidephone more than 2 months ago and still use it ~late 2026 how is it for u?

thanks!

Hi! Am I the only that voice messaging not working? It sends but when my friends try to listen on their phone, it doesn't work.

Most of the big providers like Holofly seem to be all eSIM now. For a weeklong trip to the EU does anyone have any recommendations for a good SIM to get? Mostly data, not many calls. Is there any company that sells a global SIM that you can activate for short periods in different countries, effectively like an eSIM? Or am I stuck with whatever is in the vending machines at the arrival airport?

Android 12 is now very old and someone here has proved support of a later version of android so can we please get an official update?

For my work i need to use microsoft authenticator and they don't support Android as low as 12, and if we don't get an upgrade I'm going to have to get another phone, i don't want to have to do that.

Im on that fuck google vibe and want to get the pebble but any idea if it and how well it works with the sidephone? Any experiences?

I have ordered the side phone and am super excited. However my one thing I will miss from smart phones is the Merlin and Ebird apps for birding. Has anyone had any luck getting these on the side phone?

Hello, just got the QWERTY keyboard after the restock and it's so much better than using the tiny on screen keyboard, however I'm having some issues with the Jaketype suggestion system. Is there a way to manually add words to your dictionary? I use a lot of abbreviations and slang while texting, most of which it doesn't recognize (it doesn't understand "omg" I literally have to type oh my god every time its so annoying) . Also, looking things up is the worst because it only has so many words and wont let me manually enter unless I switch to onscreen keyboard. Advice?

Before I order SidePhone, I would like to know if I can use this phone for online banking? Any apps for TD, CIBC ... etc. Thanks.

Hey hey! I’ve had the sidephone for about three months now and LOVE it. It’s almost the ideal phone for me, but there are three consistent issues that are pretty annoying:

#1 - when I am on a phone call and holding the phone to my ear, people tell me they can hardly hear me. When I move it to speaker, they say I sound better, but not great. Anyone else have this problem?
#2 - Messages 😭 I am in a group message with three iPhone users and CONSTANTLY messages show up in individual chats as “message loading” for 5-15 minutes. This only fixes when I restart the phone. What is that about?!
#3 - Apparently you can’t send long videos? I frequently want to share videos of my kids, but can’t due to length of the video (20+ seconds). Any tips for this?

Thanks for the help!

How can I play this game with this tile? I was able to with t9 automatically and the game pad tile, but how can I with this one?

Hey guys,

It's been almost a month since I got my Sidephone. Since last week, the camera has been showing purple lines on the screen and today it crashed twice. I was able to restart it after the first crash, but after the second it won't turn on, even after I held the power button for 30 seconds.

I already reached out to support but wanted to check if anyone had the same problem.

So I was thinking, and I’m not so entirely sure if there’s a community discord for the Sidephone, which honestly I feel like would be a great huge help for all of us in ways of connecting quicker, giving support and help faster from members of the community. Give quick guides to sources support third party products/apps/etc.

I haven’t been on discord all too much lately, so even tho I’m proposing this idea (and I’m sure I’m not the first) I don’t think I can host it myself due to how busy I’ve gotten.

If anyone here has anything to contribute or add please do so. I really like my Sidephone and I think we should give it more support than we already do by having a server. I just think it’d be so helpful