LightOS Tips

October 2025

Below are some tips that might make using the Light Phone a bit easier. Most of these are relevant to both the Light Phone III as well as the Light Phone II. We also included a list of third party tools that some users have found useful too.

LightOS Tips from The Light Phone on Vimeo

The video walks through some shortcuts for easier navigation throughout the phone. We point out that long pressing the menu button can be used to jump back to an active tool like music/podcasts/directions as well as a connected call. There is a tip for using the notes tool to bookmark links you might want to share via the Light Phone. We also highlighted a few less obvious settings.

Third-Party Options

We have pulled together various resources outside of the Light ecosystem in the hopes that they might be useful for other users as well. Thanks to everyone for sharing these with us.

NOTE: we are not affiliated with these platforms; we're simply sharing some helpful options presented by other users.

Rideshare:
While we do plan to have some native ridesharing tools in the future, a few options in the short term include using 1-800-USE-UBER service or Go Go to call a car over the phone.
Note: You can make a free call 1-833-USE-UBER (1-833-873-8237) daily between 6:00 AM and 12:00 AM (midnight) Eastern Time (ET). GoGo does not have the same time restrictions but does charge a fee on top of the ride itself.

Alternatively there is an sms based platform called Tremp that allows you to hail a car with options from both Uber and Lyft for a small fee. Setup is a bit manual and handled over a phone call.

SMS Assistants:
There are a few SMS based tools for getting other types of information from weather reports to select email or whatsapp notifications. They also off the ability search the web for quick answers. There is a small monthly fee for the SMS service. Two of the platforms we hear the most about are SmarterDumbphone or Light Friend. While we still have our reservations about searching the web on a Light Phone, these platforms seem to have enough guard rails and limitations that it is unlikely to take away from the ethos of going light.

IFTTT (If This Than That):
IFTTT is a service that lets you create applets to automate tasks across different platforms and smart home devices, many of which can be done using SMS for a small fee. There are a lot of potential options for more specific functionality. Learn more: https://ifttt.com.

Privacy Protection:
While not directly related to the Light Phone itself, mePrism is a platform which scans continuously to find and delete your personal information from hundreds of data broker sites that sell or expose it without your consent across the web. Being that they are big supporters of Light, they were kind enough to offer a 50% discount to our community if you use this link to sign up.

We look forward to sharing more tips on the blog soon. Feel free to keep sending ideas our way too.