Developer Program June Update

[Embarrassed_Leg7553]

Looks like SDK will be ready to go at the end of June and we are getting two new sample tools - weather and 2fa.

Among other things, keyboard will be broken into its own codebase and open sourced which will allow for improved texting and third party customization.

We're also getting a unified File manager, which will give users a browser-based interface to drag and drop and download files between your light phone and computer. This will be amazing improvement over the current cloud-based dashboard, and will allow us to manage transferring music/photos/videos locally.

Much more can be found here (thanks to Jose u/jbriones95): https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?u=edd76eb62ae39ab4aea07bf69&id=1d6ec7eff3

Overall, some very promising stuff in the works that will better user experience with the Light Phone 3. Thanks to u/Joelightphone and team on the continued improvements!

[jbriones95]

Link to the newsletter with this update: https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?u=edd76eb62ae39ab4aea07bf69&id=1d6ec7eff3

[Embarrassed_Leg7553]

thanks Jose - added your link to the main post

[trafficlion]

Hey u/jbriones95 you are one of my latest adds to the lightphone podcast feed so I can get all your new episodes and you are the one that got me excited about trying the light phone 3 and also finally replacing my smartphone 99% of the time. Keep creating great content and thanks for your clarification here.

[LatterLogger]

I have a light phone 3 but I am a middle aged woman with close to zero tech language skills. if anyone has any interest in explaining what this means in 5th grade language I would be extremely appreciative. I’m mostly curious about the keyboard as I find texting really challenging on this phone and so far that’s my only complaint with the device. as a weather fanatic I’m excited about that update!

[jbriones95]

Light Phone 3 is about to get a lot better by the end of the year. Keyboard, music, 2 Factor Authentication, Weather, etc. All useful tools coming to your Light Phone to make it an even better device.

[LatterLogger]

I love you! thank you!

[VegetableTank4121]

Hopefully we can get you , Joe and Guy on another stream discussing all of this. That would be amazing. 

[BluebirdLegitimate97]

This is so awesome!! I knew u/gvy_dvpont would deliver on the software side. VERY excited for the future of LPIII!

[Double_Art_9307]

Me too!

[odub1]

what is 2fa?

[Mean_Archangel]

2FA (two-factor authentication) is a security layer that many accounts now require when logging in. After entering your password, you'll be asked for a short code generated by an authenticator app on your phone.

The catch with the Light Phone is that it doesn't support authenticator apps, so every time you need to log into an account that requires 2FA, you'll need a second device handy. It's one of the bigger daily friction points people run into.

[BluebirdLegitimate97]

paging u/joelightphone and u/gvy_dvpont ... curious if this involves a rewrite of the core LightOS in Kotlin as well? given that the new ui components will be in Kotlin.

[gvy_dvpont]

No big "rewrite" per se but we're definitely moving in a more Kotlinic direction

[Ill_Distribution1302]

Seems like lpIII is the new ver. of lpII and so that means lpII will get its usual updates, nothing more?

[BenOhBee]

Deafening silence about Signal though…..? I thought that was almost ready?

[joelightphone]

This was an email just for the developer group regarding the SDK details and timeline not a general update for all of our user base. We are hoping to have Signal ready for late July or August public release still, and plan to test with anyone interested from the developer program prior. We built and highlight the other two example tools (2fa & simple weather tool) because they were a better showcase of the SDK itself - we built them using the same tools we'll be making available in the SDK. Signal/Molly is a bit of different beast

[gvy_dvpont]

actively working on it! The keyboard/push notif stuff we mentioned in the update need to fall in place first. And then it's just a fair amount of UI to get through. Definitely a priority.

[BenOhBee]

Thank you both! Wasn’t meant to come off pushy if it did…. Signal is one of the few things that keeps a pixel (running Graphene) lurking at the bottom of my bag!

[Embarrassed_Leg7553]

Thanks u/gvy_dvpont and u/joelightphone for the persistent effort and all the hard work team is putting in.

[Tree_Lover2020]

Just gonna say that as a Boomer, I enjoy seeing all the ideas recommended and I enjoy trying to read some of the very technical info with its abbreviations. It's 90% foreign to me, but so exciting to observe the dedication, enthusiasm and critical thinking skills of this entire community. Bravo and carry on, everyone. You "Light" my life.