The Light Phone

05/26/2026

“The Light Phone III let me rediscover a truth that now feels obvious: there is a place and a time for everything. I do not need to answer emails immediately. I do not need to know every breaking headline the second it happens. I do not need to Google my most recently intrusive thought, and I do not need to carry the emotional burden of the entire internet in my pocket twenty-four hours a day.

Some things can wait.

And when everything no longer demands your immediate attention, something unexpected happens: your mind becomes quieter. Time slows down. The world begins to feel real again.
..The smartphone promised efficiency, connection, and empowerment, but for many people—the great majority, I would argue—it has become an instrument of mental and emotional depletion. We are overstimulated, overinformed, perpetually distracted, and increasingly unable to sit alone with our own thoughts.

Light Phone III isn’t meant to cut you off from technology. After all, you still have access to emails, the internet, and social media on a desktop or laptop. It simply allows your attention to be where it matters in the moment, and restores the boundaries that modern life has erased, and right now, boundaries are desperately needed.

One thing has since become very clear to me throughout this journey: our attention is our life, and reclaiming it is perhaps one of the most revolutionary acts of our time.”

https://www.latinobookreview.com/light-phone-iii-a-device-that-allows-you-to-experience-life-and-the-world-around-you--latino-book-review.html

05/19/2026

We're always talking about how "your time = their money"; how all of the platforms on our smartphones are incentivized to keep us as hooked as possible - more scrolling, more notifications, more screen time. Their business model depends on it, and it will never align with our actual quality of life. That's part of why we're so excited to announce a partnership with Noble Mobile.

While supplies last, you can now get a Light Phone III with immediate shipping through Noble Mobile with no upfront cost on the device and a two-year plan starting at $50/month. Note - this offer is limited to U.S. customers.

Noble is a different kind of carrier, one that genuinely encourages people to use their phones less. Instead of pushing endless engagement, they've built plans around intentional use.

The Noble Light Phone plan includes 5GB of high-speed data on the T-Mobile 5G network, plus up to $5 cash back when you don’t use it all.

We know these phones won’t last long! https://www.thelightphone.com/shop/products/light-phone-iii

We’re excited to see where this partnership goes and grateful to Noble for believing, like we do, that technology should serve people, not compete endlessly for their attention.

05/07/2026

Thank you for including us on a list as a phone that removes distraction from your every day life!

https://www.ft.com/content/a7e9fc86-1c95-4750-8c23-3ac000d923fd

04/30/2026

We are thrilled to invite the community to join our new LightOS developer program, a way to empower users who want to create their own tools for the Light Phone, and to build a platform for them to share those with one another. And you don’t need to own a Light Phone to participate!

Light began with a crowdfunding campaign in 2015 (maybe the first crowd-funded phone ever?), and we have cherished our unique relationship with our users ever since, working closely with everyone over the years to iterate on the hardware and software. The introduction of the Light Developer Program takes that even further.

The Tool Library is a curated, non-commercial, open-source platform of user-created tools that expand the utility of the device – without compromising the Light mission to create technology that doesn't want your constant attention.

For the majority of our users this means that in addition to our Light tools, you can also browse a collection of vetted, user-created tools. Installation is seamless from the dashboard.

The SDK will provide a paired down version of the standard native Android development experience. We’re promoting modern best practices and building around tools that are already well supported and documented. It includes a UI/UX library (Jetpack Compose), an emulator, push notification support and encrypted APIs for media/file transferring.

Building the software development kit serves a dual purpose; we are already using it in our own internal development for things like a re-worked keyboard and camera (optimizations and new features). We’re using these same tools to build out our own Signal tool. Can't wait to share more about that soon!

Visit our website to learn more - developers.thelightphone.com!

04/23/2026

We created a little zine! It's about why you might want to consider going light, and some tips for making the transition easier. You can read the whole thing on our blog or buy a printed copy from the shop for $1. Cheers!

04/16/2026

The AP spent time with the attention activism movement this week. People gathering in brownstone apartments, placing phones in colanders, and choosing two hours of reading and conversation over scrolling.

Our own employee, Dan Fox, is in the piece. He’s been hosting Phone Free Adelphi and living this from the inside.

The movement is growing. We’re glad to be part of it.

Two decades after Steve Jobs premiered the iPhone, a small but intensely passionate movement is rebelling against the omnipresent screen.

03/17/2026

"When I first switched to my Light Phone, I immediately felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I started getting bored more often, but was surprised to find it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. I noticed myself daydreaming and staring out the window at fluffy clouds, the way I did as a kid...

I went on walks without checking notifications and noticed the dusky lilac-tinged skies and cats in windows and the people all around me staring vacantly into their phones. Live music became a transcendent, immersive, quasi-psychedelic experience. As corny as it is to say, it felt like going from black-and-white to seeing in color. I began reading more, writing more. I felt like I had suddenly added six hours to my day or turned into Bradley Cooper in Limitless."

For the last few years, I’ve carried around a primitive mobile device called the Light Phone II, otherwise known as a “dumbphone.” It’s a tiny hunk of gray plastic approximately the size of a credit card, with a backlit e-ink screen and the ability to send texts and make phone calls. Its oth...

03/06/2026

The Verge: the concept of a simplified device that gives you a little vacation from your regular phone's constant nagging seems to be gaining momentum.

We'd say the same.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

02/11/2026

Introducing Audio Messages for the Light Phone III in the latest v556 update that rolls out today. It also brings gesture navigation, full screen preview in Album tool, and optimized hit boxes on the dial pad among other improvements.

12/19/2025

Our latest LightOS v550 update for the Light Phone III brings some new features and a lot of bug fixes and performance optimization. Notably, it adds ‘bicycle’ as a mode of transportation option in Directions, the ability to rotate images in the Album, alternative characters in all keyboards, a ‘data saver’ mode and eSIM (beta). We also made some reliability and usability improvements across the Podcast tool, Directions tool, Notes tool and the LightOS generally.