From loyalty cards, to restaurant meal deals or simply parking your car – it is getting harder and harder to get by without signing up to a multitude of apps

A guy posted a long thread in Mastodon about how a hospital refused him service because he did not install the smartphone app of the hospital/clinic which (IIRC) was exclusively available in Google’s Playstore.

Credit to soloActivist@links.hackliberty.org

Not related to this post here, but personally I've chosen to go the dumbphone route because I'm sick of the expectation of needing to be avaliable 24/7 amongst other reasons

https://techlore.tv/w/27GRDDRgpbuipGEvkfAwTM

Credit to Techlore

Also, what dumbphone are you using?

https://heind.nl/dumbphone/

Preface

This guide is targeted to the A202KC/A203KC and 902KC/903KC with mentions of info for the KY-42C.

It's mostly a collection of random bits of information I had to research or figure out. And some tips for power users to make the phone more viable for daily use.

If you are new to Japanese flip phones, then know that these phones are a hassle to get set up, and are not really made to work outside of Japan. These two phone models generally work in NA and some parts of Europe from what I can see but you will need to do your own research on if they will work for you, and even if they do work there is a non-zero chance they won't work outside of cities in specific countries, or in other cities. I've also heard that in Australia a lot of Keitai's are blacklisted, but the 902KC seems to work fine.

For context, the A202KC is the successor to the 902KC. The 902KC is well documented and tested online, I do not own the 902KC but have used posts on the phone for the A202KC since they are virtually the same minus a few differences.

This will include info for Features, Troubleshooting, Customization, Rooting, and any other tidbits that I hope will be useful to someone. I will attempt to keep this post updated with any new relevant info, if you have anything to share and add to this post please leave a comment :).

I'll also try to link any guides or comments I found useful throughout this guide.

Versions

902KC / 903KC / 904KC / A202KC / A203KC / A204KC

For context, the 902KC/903KC are the exact same phone but simply with different providers. 902KC is from Softbanks and the 903KC is from Y!Mobile. This is the same situation for the A202KC/A203KC.

As far as I am aware the only difference is going to be what provider shows up when you boot up the phone, but there are rumors that the software on the 903KC is better built to handle international bands (source). However the band compatibility is the same on both providers websites.

Because of this annoying naming scheme I'll just be referring to them as 90XKC/A20XKC.

There is a 904KC that seems to be a camera-less version for businesses. I have also seen sites that mention a A204KC, I assume this to be largely the same situation as the 904KC.

KY-42C

This phone is less well documented on the sub but is very alike to the A20XKC. The phone has different bands then these two phones and I have heard that the compatibility is good for parts of the U.S. It also features an upgraded CPU that can be rooted like the A20XKC (and runs Android 10!).

The bands are on the provided spec page below but in case you can't access it the 4G bands are: (1, 3, 5, 12)

Specs (Requires a VPN connection to Japan)
Blog post from Wiggle on the KY-42C

Differences

Here's links to the specs for both phones:
A20XKC
90XKC

I'd recommend checking out this post from Snoo-98535, they go into depth having had both phones but I'll give you a rundown here as well.

Android:
90XKC runs android 8.1 while the A20XKC runs android 10. This helps a lot with app compatibility, and I have yet to have any significant issues on the A20XKC in terms of apps. I have seen people having issues due to the android version on the 90XKC however. They also both operate on Android go.

CPU Speed:
From what I have heard the A20XKC feels much faster then the 90XKC.

Rooting: Because of the new CPU chip you can root the A20XKC with MTKclient. There is currently no publicly known way to root the 90XKC, however it (allegedly) has been done..

Hardware: A20XKC loses the flashlight and pedometer.

Storage:
The A20XKC will have less internal storage due to a larger system. Both phones have only 8 GB of built in storage, 90XKC uses 2.7 GB while A20XKC uses 4.4 GB. I am getting by fine with this storage restriction however, especially with making use of my SD card heavily.

Network/Bands

If you are not familiar already with bands it's incredibly important that you look into them before buying a Keitai. These phones are made only to work in Japan with international compatibility being an afterthought. If you don't look into it and just buy the phone there is a very real possibility that it will not work at all. And of course you need to make sure that the phone is sim unlocked. For an approachable introduction I recommend this guide (This section is mostly taken from that guide).

Band compatibility

90XKC
A20XKC

(The far right column is international band support, the circle means it supports that frequency. LTE = 4G)

A selling point from Kyocera on the A20XKC is that it has more band compatibility, but comparing these side by side the only difference is that the A20XKC now has access to Band V in the 3G spectrum.

To check if the phones bands are compatible with where you live use this website: https://www.cellmapper.net/map

You can check various providers and the bands that they support. Specifically you will need to make sure it works on the 4G bands. Consider also where you may travel to and if you would get signal there. If you cannot find your provider it is likely because it is a MVNO, look up which infrastructure they operate on and plug that into Cellmapper.

You should aim for at least 2 compatible bands in your area. I would also advise against bothering with contacting your provider about these phones as they usually will just tell you to get a new phone.

APN Settings

In order to get 4G you are going to need to manually input your providers APN settings. To do this search "(Provider) APN Settings". Your provider will have a website with the APN settings for you to input into the phone (look for "Access Point Names"). I really recommend you use screen mirroring for this. After entering this restart your phone.

Troubleshooting

There are various carrier specific issues with this phone, and if you have issues with it you can try looking up your carrier on the dumbphones subreddit to see if anyone's been having similar issues on these phones.

Threads on carrier specific issues:
T-Mobile
Mint

There also seems to be weird specific sim card issues, mentioned in this post.

If you have 4G but are having trouble with VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and mms:

Input a new APN separately from the one earlier and set it as this:

Names: ims
APN: ims
APN Type: ims

And make sure that you keep your carrier APN selected. And restart.

I found that mine only registered after setting APN protocol and APN roaming protocol as IPv4/IPv6 in both the ims APN and my carriers APN.

On the 90XKC it seems possible to access a hidden cellular testing menu with a shortcut maker that will allow you to force LTE bands. In this post they mention that it helped them to force VoLTE to enable. I couldn't get any similar menu on my A202KC however.

If you are having trouble using data here are some troubleshooting steps for you to try out:

Turn off GSM, select 3G/4G instead.

What worked for me strangely was that I re-flashed my phone. Maybe it just kicked it into working, or maybe debloating specific software before setting up your APN's can mess with registration and such. You can also just try factory resetting if you want to give it a shot.

Buying

The A20XKC and 90XKC are not sold outside of Japan by Kyocera or any carriers.

Regardless of where you buy the phone, you will need to make sure that it is Sim Unlocked, or "Sim-Free" as it is sometimes translated. If somehow you end up with a Sim Locked phone, check the troubleshooting section.

To get one of these phones the options are either a reseller that ships to your country or buying used on the secondhand market. For the used market you can go on second hand markets like Ebay and find a variety of reputable sellers there. There is also the option of Japanese auction sites like Zenmarket. You can find mentions of Japanese auction sites to check in the dumbphones subreddit.

Guide for stores in Japan A post on Proxy delivery services

Getting Started

This section will go over setting up the phone and tools you can use for modification.

For a quick rundown of the default keyboard, the button with a cassette is the back button. The hang up button (with a power icon) hangs up the phone, terminates whatever app you are in, and shuts down the phone when held. To type a space with the default keyboard use the D-Pad right key. The bottom right custom key can be held for the cursor, and the II custom key can be held to pull up the notification panel.

The phones do not come with any way to install apps natively so we will need to side-load them in order to install them. We can install an app store onto it though and install apps from the device once set up.

First we will need to set up ADB (Android Debug Bridge) which will allow us to connect the phone to a computer and install apps.

Go into Settings>About Phone, in here click Build Number 5 times (It will say "You are now a Developer!"). We will now have access to Developer options which will be in Settings>More Settings>Dev Options. In here find USB Debugging and enable it. Now we can make use of ADB and Vysor/Scrcpy.

Download ADB here.
Download USB Drivers here

For this version of ADB, extract it and run ADB. Throw your apk files into the folder and in ADB type:

adb install (name of your apk).apk

You can rename the apk to make this easier as well.

Once downloaded just plug the phone into your PC (Make sure your cable supports data transfer) and press allow on the phone. If the option comes up make sure to press "always allow" so that you can have an easier time if you have an issue such as getting locked out. Now we can use ADB to install apps onto the phone. To make things easier I'd recommend using a screen mirroring software for the next parts.

Options I'd recommend for screen mirroring are Vysor or Scrcpy for this, both work on Windows, Linux, and Mac. Vysor is plug and play and just works. Scrcpy is slightly more of a hassle to use but is open source and much faster (plus no paywalled features).

I'd recommend installing F-Droid (For FOSS apps) and Aurora Store (For everything else). Alternatively you can just download the apps you want individually online and just side load them through ADB, this will save on file space but these app stores also make updating simpler.

For sake of mind there are a few apps that I recommend you install immediately.

TT9

TT9 is highly suggested across the dumbphones subreddit due to these phones using multi-tap natively. For multi-tap you tap the key to cycle through letters. Newer flip phones adopted T9 which is a predictive text system. It allows you to just need to press once for each letter by pressing the corresponding key and it predicting the word based on the letter arrangement possibilities. You can cycle through the options and it will remember which words you use most for better prediction. It can learn your word preferences, and you can add your own words and slang into the dictionary. You can get very fast with this.

Make sure to enable alternative scrolling method if you plan on using the lock screen with TT9 or you will be locked out of the device. On my phone this is in the Appearance settings but it may be elsewhere depending on your version. If you do get locked out because of this, check the troubleshooting section.

You can tap "1" to access punctuation, and you may tap "0" for a space or scroll for various symbols, double space for period. You can hold the number keys down to input a number in letter modes. Punctuation is considered in predictions as well so you do not need to manually insert an asterisk, just press the punctuation key it will figure it out.

I recommend reserving a key for swapping input modes, it will make your life a lot easier. As sometimes you will need to swap to Multi-tap to type a word manually. I also recommend having a button bound to add words to the dictionary, it will save you the hassle in the future. Bind a key to backspace, as the built in backspace does not play nice usually and can kick you out of apps while typing.

These are my settings for key-binds in TT9:

• Call button for scrolling through input modes
• Asterisk for Shift/Capitalize
• Hold Asterisk for adding a word
• Hashtag for backspace

KeyMapper

KeyMapper will allow you to change the functions of your buttons, which will allow you to make it a lot easier to use.

When creating a key map you can overwrite any functions already bound to the button, or you can keep the function by enabling "Do not remap" for the key bind in its setting.

You can have have functions bound to single press, double press, and long press. (Or even sequences)

There are no physical brightness or volume controls, and for sake of mind you really should bind them somewhere.

Keymapper also has folders, which you can assign to app constraints to create app specific profiles. For example on my phone I have the a universal profile for functions, and specific profiles for each app. You can bind keymaps to press a certain part of the screen, so you can bind them to in app functions. I've managed to simplify most of my navigation on the phone to eliminate the need for a cursor in apps I use often.

Never set KeyMapper as the default keyboard if you use a lockscreen it will lock you out. If you want to have Keymapper bind buttons to keyboard inputs use key codes (Requires Shuzuku/Sui)[https://github.com/RikkaApps/Sui/].

Note: Unfortunately Keymapper does not work while the phone is closed, as the phone enters a kind of sleep mode. If this was not the case I would love to be able to control music all with the side button, but it only works to disable or enable manner mode. I end up just having to flip it open and pressing skip and closing it again. Thankfully Bluetooth controls for skipping, pausing, and volume control still work like a charm. I am curious whether inline remotes would work with the right setup as well.

C9

C9 is a custom cursor app that I heavily prefer to the built in cursor.

The default cursor can select, scroll by moving the cursor to the bottom or top of the screen (not the sides I'm pretty sure), and when holding down select it will enter a scroll mode to scroll the page with the D-Pad. However with this cursor you are unable to press and hold (which causes you to need to swap to the D-Pad to do so and then back to the cursor again).

C9 separates the scrolling and mouse movement by allowing you to use the numpad to scroll with swipes in any direction, as well as having dedicated buttons for zooming in or out through gestures. The mouse speed can be customized with acceleration, and you can enable an option to have the mouse go past the edge to the other side of the screen. Also it fixes my main grievance with the original cursor which is that it cannot be used to select, hold, and drag. I cannot stress how much easier this cursor makes navigating literally anything compared to the default, I've even been able to use it to access previously inaccessible functions. You can even bind it in Keymapper and overwrite the stock cursor button, and have it tap to toggle instead of hold.

(It also lets you use a custom image or gif for the cursor)

The Dev is actively maintaining and improving the app and has directly addressed some of the issues I have faced with it on the phone. Highly recommend!

Apps/Debloating

Apps

For apps I personally strive to use open source ones to avoid bloatware and to maintain privacy. This will keep file size down and allow the most flexibility.

Texting:

If you are on the 90XKC: I highly recommend using QUIK SMS. It's lightweight and simple with a great UI.

If you are on the A20XKC: There is a very strange issue with the phone receiving SMS on any app other than Google Messages and the default texting app. This issue is strangely linked to the A20XKC CPU itself. The result of this issue is that when the app is killed or force closed the phone will literally delete the SMS.

This issue will only occur if the phone is under strain and kills background apps, or if you close the app with the power button instead of exiting with the back button. Although if you do not wish to deal with the issue at all then I recommend using google messages or the default.

For power users, there is a work around but it requires rooting the device. In my other post I have a section on this workaround.

Github issue thread
Post on r/garahho

WhatsApp and Signal work great on the phone, although I can't seem to be able to direct them on where to store images which has been bloating my storage.

Phone/Contacts:

For FOSS dialer apps I've found they all have issues with the numpad when using TT9. The stock dialer also has the feature of hanging up when you close the phone, I don't believe third party dialers feature this or can implement this.

For contacts I recommend Fossify Contacts. It does seem to have an odd issue with not sharing contacts with sms apps however, I have a workaround in the troubleshooting section later on. There is also Connect You which is more feature rich, but is more difficult to navigate on the phone.

Music:

People have had moderate success with using Spotify Lite on this phone, although it takes up a lot of space.

I'd recommend using a music player app with your own downloaded music in the SD card. There are likely plenty of decent ones on F-Droid.

I personally use PowerAmp (This app has a one time purchase to activate). It's open source, supports my SD card, and has great customization.

In a lot of countries ripping CD's and using the files is legal, and you can buy digital high fidelity music files online from various websites.

Browsers:

Fennec works alright and is less bloated than most. Browsing on this phone is not a great experience regardless though and tends to crash often for me. Doing anything other than basic web surfing is not very easy at all.

Debloating

Thread on apps to remove https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/183mq2l/debloating/_question/_kyocera/_902kc903kc/

Without root UAD can't actually uninstall system apps but effectively disables them instead. This will not save on space but it will help make the phone faster by stopping useless background services. This is a good thing in most cases since you literally can't brick the device because of that. System apps will simply be re-enabled after a factory reset.

UAD can be installed from this source.

Do not uninstall jp.co.omronsoft.iwnnime.ml, this is in the recommended section of UAD but it is the default keyboard and removing it while not having TT9 installed will lock you out.

For a list of bloat check the linked threads, I will also be trying to (eventually) add these and some I have found to the new UAD fork.

Customisation

Launchers

Tip, disable/debloat the stock launcher and it will stop prompting you to select the launcher every time you restart.

Stock: The stock launcher is very comfortable to use if you get used to it, and it has specific button functions natively built in that just work. Also, consider the fact that downloading another launcher will take up more space. OperatorSlayer

Niagara: This is the one I use in the image posted with this.

Nova: milo_1982

Microsoft Launcher: lovetama_5522

olauncher: lilian0030

Dark mode

Dark mode is hidden in the original android settings app, it can be accessed using something like Activity Manager. Just look for General settings and launch from there. You can also turn on auto rotate, but I believe this is a feature that only works on the 90XKC.

If activity manager does not work on the 90XKC you can use QuickShortcutMaker, which seems to work for some.

Here is a guide to do this on the 90XKC with screen mirroring

You can also force it open using ADB

Misc

Phone charms can be added by taking off the back, sliding in the charm string, and pulling it over the plastic nob.

Hiding Status Bar: Some launcher have functions to hide the status bar on the home screen. You can use ADB to disable it using this method.

I recommend using overscan to hide the nav bar, the above method removes it completely. Overscan simply moves the nav bar off screen instead.. Keep in mind this will hide the functions labelled in the nav bar, but you can learn them since they'll still be functional.

Misc/Tips

Audio

Bluetooth on these phones just work. It supports the Bluetooth controls flawlessly even when the phone is closed. I have the Sennheiser Momentum 4 headphones and can switch songs, change volume, and modify my noise cancelling perfectly fine.

The USB C port can be used for audio but it will only work for some cables. The port only supports audio through something called passthrough, which basically just means it only supports USB C cable with no DAC (Digital Analog Converter). This is the same for the Moto Z, and Motorola makes a cable for their phone to address this. Most cables won't mention passthrough, but the biggest thing to keep a lookout for is whether they advertise it having a DAC or not. You can also take a look to see if they mention that they specifically support the Moto Z or another phone with this same requirement.

Charging Cradle

Thanks to salyrus for this info
There is a charging cradle that works for both of these phones. The cradle is made for the KY-41B but is the same dimensions so it works for these phones as well, This cradle only comes in white and is strictly for charging.

Batteries

A202KC: KYBEZ1 Ky-42C: KY01 902KC: KYBAQ1

Could not tell you if these are cross compatible. They also should be the same per model but if buying the a203kc/903kc batteries double check their manuals in case. Also shipping the batteries from Japan seems to be impossible.

Sub Display Date Tweak

(Thanks to HogwashDrinker)

If you go to the sub display settings and put it to small it will add the date to the display.

Updating
These phones update using OTA (Over the air). You cannot update them outside of Japan. I've tried a VPN and had no luck with that either. Also you may need to have an active usim from Softbank/Y!mobile in order to receive the updates even if you were in japan. I do not know much about how that works however and it seems to contradict information from Softbanks update page.

Troubleshooting

SIM Locked

If you forgot to check if it was unlocked first, or if you got unlucky and it was mislabelled then there are ways to unlock the phone still.

Step by step guide:

• Book a flight to japan
• Speed learn Japanese on the plane
• Go to Softbank/Y!Mobile
• Ask really nicely for them to unlock it for you
• Profit

If you cannot speak Japanese, or more likely if you are as broke as I am then there is a cheaper but much sketchier option. I will link it here for you to check out but I have no experience going through the process personally and you should really research it yourself if you are faced with this issue. Although a youtuber I saw named F4mi did say that it worked for her.

I LOCKED MYSELF OUT

I actually faced this issue because I made the mistake of setting KeyMapper to the default keyboard. Thankfully, if you have your phone set to "Always allow connection" you can just plug it into the permitted computer and change the keyboard to the default or TT9.

In the terminal:

adb shell
ime set io.github.sspanak.tt9/.ime.TraditionalT9

Alternatively if you can't use TT9 for some reason, you can reset the keyboard to the default:

adb shell
ime reset

I'm stuck in infinite bootloop hell

I haven't faced this personally, but here are some threads with people that went through a similar issue:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/184f2jm/comment/mf7janb/?utm%5C_source=share&utm%5C_medium=web3x&utm%5C_name=web3xcss&utm%5C_term=1&utm%5C_content=share%5C_button

If you're on the A20XKC it could be possible to flash someone elses boot image onto your device. This would use MTKClient. If this does happen to you and you would like to try send me a dm and I can send my image files.

Opening Dev Options crashes Settings

Had this weird issue after rooting the phone and re-flashing, this thread fixed it for me.

Fossify Contacts won't share contacts to other apps

Weird issue with this one, Fossify contacts does not make its own contacts directory, and because of that you need to make it with another app. I believe that you can do this with the stock contacts app but an easier solution for me has been installing this alternative FOSS contacts app. Just import all your contacts into it, download Fossify Contacts, and then delete the alternative contacts app. Fossify will now continue to use the new folder and share contacts to the other apps.

Resources

Digino User Guides:

A202KC
902KC

Kyocera Open Sourced Builds:

http://android-dev.kyocera.co.jp/source/source.html

I have not heard of anyone successfully using these files to update the phone, and I have heard that a "Factory Signature" may be required and that the phone would not boot properly from a boot that you created

crossposted from: https://lemmy.world/post/31014032

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30999335

Just got my Minimal Phone last week after two years between a LightPhone II and Sunbeam F1. Ask me anything.

I recently got my Light Phone II set up and i'd like to get a case for it. I've heard the official cases fall apart pretty easily. I was planning to order one from Saddleback Leather, but it looks like they discontinued it before my phone arrived.

What other cases are good? Are the silicon ones in the Light Phone shop better than i've heard?

CARD #: 6039537205083924622

PIN: 211028119480

Wasn't enough to activate a plan, so just getting rid of it ✌️

I'd like to get a dumbphone and stop using smartphones, but i'm forced to rely on the latter for work and finances and various things that really shouldn't be limited to just existing in mobile apps but are. How practical would it be to use a simple dumbphone (i'm currently looking at a Light Phone II) for calls and do everything else in an Android or /e/OS emulator on my Linux computer? Has anyone else tried this before?

I came across this video yesterday that I really liked, kind of a mini-documentary about people who've stuck with flip phones this whole time, never made the switch. I'm one of them.

I like technology, but every time I think about getting a smartphone, it does not spark joy. I feel much happier when I look at flip/feature phones (currently using a Coolpad Snap flip phone and thinking about pulling the trigger on a Sunbeam F1).

Watching this video has strengthened my resolve to avoid using a smartphone for as long as I can get away with it. Do you identify with any of the people in the video?

Hi all,

I saw this question posted about 4 months ago but didn’t see an answer. Is there a way to clone an esim to a sim. I’m looking to utilize an old Sidekick for the physical buttons and keep the iphone 14 as a back up for data if i need it. Thank you!

As the title says, I'm looking to upgrade to a dumb phone. I feel like I get too easily distracted by a smart phone, and I need something that can help mitigate that while still being functional in the modern world.

My research has led me to a few options, but I'm new to this and it can be hard to figure out if they have what I actually need.

I'm looking for a phone with a camera. It needs to be able to send images through text. I also need a 4g connection, GPS, and the ability to use a navigational app. If the only available phones with Maps must have a touchscreen, that is fine, though I would prefer a phone without pretty lights I can touch.

So far, it seems like the Nokia 2780 Flip and the Cat S22 are what I need.

Does anyone have experience with these? Is there a better option that fits my needs?

Found this really cool and minimal Android launcher the other day.

For the past few months I've been using a side (smart)phone where I only installed Whatsapp and Spotify. Just an old Android I found in the bottom of a drawer. This has worked well for me, and Olauncher is a nice touch that makes it feel even more minimal. I sometimes go out only with the side phone or leave the main phone on my bag. As a result I get much less distracted than before.

I know this doesn't qualify as a dumphone, but I thought I could share in case someone who is not ready yet to make the switch to dumbphone finds it interesting.

I've been dumbphoning since March 2023, but my wife isn't 100% on board. She has shown some interest in going dumb for certain outings though.

Unfortunately, she has an iPhone 14 Pro which (in the US at least) is eSIM only. I looked into Verizon's numbershare, and picked up a Palm phone, but in addition to being a complete piece of trash, it's also not entirely dumb.

Is there a method for switching Verizon accounts from eSIM to physical SIM or temporarily forwarding all calls/texts to a new number easily? Like the kind of thing that might be as quick as physically swapping a SIM?

Hey there! I plan on switching back to a dumbphone once my current phone bites the dust, which will be sooner rather than later. I am on Xfinity for bundling purposes, and I definitely want a full qwerty keyboard, preferably slide. What are my options right now, that would be under the 500 dollar range? I'm totally open to blackberrys, too!

All I will be wanting it for is text and calling, but having navigation is nice, too.

Hi folks, as a way of giving back to this community, I just wanted to share my experience of setting up an F21 Pro phone in the UK on Smarty and GiffGaff services. I guess O2 or 3 will also work as these sit on the back of those networks.

After spending a whole day on this, hopefully I can save you the time to get this working and also encourage more people to use these phones and get away from doom scrolling.

Personally, I thought they are the best of going 'dumb-ish'

The phone is a 4+64GB F21 Pro. Please check carefully if you are using the 32GB one that the firmware I have here works with that too! You can buy them here and get them delivered in about 10 days! https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003829459139.html - Go for the non google play versions as they are cheaper and you can just follow the steps below to add play store to it.

The below is an updated version of the guide from an original here : https://xdaforums.com/t/guide-xiaomi-qin-f21-pro-custom-firmware-root-playstore-certified.4405615/

I tried various different methods of using aurora app store but google apps didn't always work correctly. Using Google play store appears to be the best way to get all google apps you need working - but that is just my view.

This guide is from 28th July 2024. I have included all the recent apps in the zip that I used.

Link to zip file download: https://mega.nz/file/FU0zxSjA#tkPfpWnvCSowTN0q6AW2CKV4CkOJHwin0HFw2IVmG9U

Setup PC (windows) and Flash phone: Install DriveInstall.exe

Open "SP_Flash_Tool_V5/flash_tool.exe"

select scatter file from the Main Firmware folder = MT6761_Android_scatter.txt (this is the source to use)

turn phone off

unplug usb, then plug back in to the PC via USB.

click download to flash the phone.

Congrats! You now have chinese free apps firmware with TWRP Installed

Getting into TWRP Bootloader: Turn off your phone and boot into TWRP, you can do this by holding the heart key (top left) and the * (star, bottom left) key [then press the power button], you will see the Douqin Logo. Keep holding keys until TWRP boots.

Change TWRP language to English ...

https://droidwin.com/change-language-twrp-recovery/

Copy all files needed to phone -> boot to TWRP and plug in to computer and transfer from "All files to copy to TWRP Folder for installing off the phone" folder

FLASH IMAGE "boot_2.img" to BOOT partition

IMPORTANT! boot is an IMAGE FILE not ZIP FILE. by default, TWRP is set to check for zip file and will not see IMAGE FILES in the directories. YOU NEED TO TAP THE INSTALL IMAGE BUTTON so image files will appear).

I flashed it to both slots.

Reboot into main OS.

Install Magisk-v24.2.apk by clicking on the file. If you are having difficulty, install it from a plugged in USB into the phone to bypass any security blocking you.

Open magisk then click Install Magisk > Select a patch file > choose "boot_2.img" in your directory (path where you transfer it). This should generate a patched version of the magisk boot img. READ where it says it dumped the output file on the console data!

Boot back into TWRP

Locate the patched magisk file and flash it to the BOOT partition. Use the location from the console output.

Reboot to main OS

open MAGISK app go to settings and enable MAGISK HIDE

open MAGISK app, search module (bottom right button) and install "MagiskHide Props Config" (in the zip file provided) then reboot to main OS

Install the Android Terminal app.. so we can spoof our Phones Identity so Google Play works ok:

open Terminal emulator app

type "su" enter (grant permission)

type "props" enter (to run the magiskhide Props config app)

type "1" enter

type "F" enter

type "30" enter

type "25" enter

type "2" enter

type "y" enter

type "y" enter (phone reboots)

Before it has a chance to start reloading, hold the keys to enter TWRP.

Flash open_gapps-arm64-11.0-pico-20220215 to the BOOT partition.

(you may be able to install this earlier in the process but I did it at this point)

After reboot wait gapps to update (around 5-10 mins) then sign in to playstore. You may need to authenticate the login on another android app if you have 2FA.

==

Then install apps via google play so they are all official and working well on the phone:

gboard keyboard TT9 keyboard

Essential Apps you may want: Android Auto

Google Maps

Google Photos

Spotify

Gmail

Calendar

Contacts

Uber/Bolt Taxis

... done!

Hopefully this helps you too!

Some other things I will probably look at :

How to remove some of the stock call/message apps in favour of the Google ones.

Possibly a minimalist launcher... suggestions welcome.

This might not be news to everyone, but since 2021, they stopped offering an alternative to the app. You can no longer print or screenshot the barcodes because they roll.

Super lame.

Came across this paper the other day. I'm yet to read it fully, but its existence is interesting already. Dumbphones have now gathered attention from the media and the academic world too.

Stumbled upon this article about the rising popularity of dumbphones.

Hope this community starts getting more traction :)

As for my journey, I am still on a "dumb smartphone" phase, an old phone with only Whatsapp and Spotify. I've been considering making the switch to a dumb phone or at least a candybar smartphone like the Qin F21.

Hi, I'm currently interest in a flip phone right now and considering if I should get KC903 or the LG X100. I currently find the KC903 very expensive (via Kyoex).

Coming Soon! F1 Pro Sometimes life can deal out some hard knocks. You need a phone that can keep up.

We’ve heard your feedback and are introducing a new F1 Pro series of flip-phones in October. The F1 Pro will have a battery that’s nearly twice as large, is water-resistant, and is much more rugged. We’ve also built in a better screen and camera, but are still focused on keeping life simple and making time for the things that really matter.

Come back soon for more info!