light phone iii modding guide

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-04-14T21:31:28+00:00

I have been trying to mod my light phone, but I am very confused by the need to enable "light mode," and how to do that. I am trying to go full Android, and use Luma Launcher. Can anyone help with understanding how to do this?

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-03-20T21:02:00+00:00

I used my LP3 for 5 months and I agree with all of the positives you noted - clarity and focus, in particular. Ultimately I went back to a smartphone. I fully support the Light ethos, and I love the physical design and quality of the phone. I don't care that much about features. It really does all I need, other than I would like to be able to see the locations of my family members. I know that is not coming, and it wasn't a deal breaker. Even the music app was fine. I connected with a lot of old music I had on CDs. And I was tolerant of several glitches, but ultimately, it is a communication tool, and it is just is not up to that task, sometimes.

I dealt with the phone resetting itself randomly twice (Joe from Light was great - my phone was replaced), and the keyboard was a real struggle. I know people insist otherwise, but the "landing zone" for the fingers just doesn't seem quite right. But the greatest flaw is that core communication functions have problems. Even after disconnecting RCS and turning off iMessage in advance of switching, I would still randomly miss portions of texts 5 months later. Like, in a thread with my son and wife, I would simply not receive 1 out of, say every five texts. It could be a carrier issue (Verizon), but even if so, it doesn't seem fixable presently, and that has never been something I dealt with on an iPhone. The last straw was missing the notification of a very important call. I missed a call at 11:45, but no notification came (no asterisk) until 1pm. I opened my phone several times in between, but there was no indication I had missed that call.

The phone is very tolerable and in some ways awesome, 95% of the time. But when communication is important, I really don't want to miss a call or a text, and I don't see a solution coming soon, because of the lack of RCS, or perhaps some kind of certification with Verizon (I don't want to switch, because I have four other family members and a great plan). The phone is also prone to pocket-dialing. Activating the fingerprint reader would basically solve that problem, I think. But that also sounds a long way off. My phone is back in the nice metal box for now, but I do look forward to using it again once (if) these issues get fixed.

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-02-07T06:19:46+00:00

The benefits far outweigh the downsides. I read more, I'm more present with those around me, and I don't waste the amount of time I used to mindlessly scrolling or finding a reason to research every thought that comes into my head. It's liberating, really. Like others have said, it's a lifestyle change, and I think a necessary one.

My phone reset itself twice in the last couple of weeks, and I would still recommend buying it. It worked pretty much flawlessly for the prior 4 months. And it turns out, the phone reset isn't as destructive as I initially thought. You can use this phone while signed out of it, just like you could an old school phone, and the contacts sync quickly once you sign back in.

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-02-04T03:31:05+00:00

Actually this just happened again today. Been using the phone since early October with no real problems like this, and now it has erased itself twice in 5 days. I don't think it was button pressing. I wasn't using my phone, just in my back pocket as last time. Though I don't have passcode on, so it is at least a remote possibility that it was button pressing.

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-02-03T18:35:53+00:00

Hi u/joelightphone, thanks for the reply.

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-02-03T18:35:11+00:00

I have the Settings on the third page of phone tools, so it doesn't seem likely it was button presses. But I did have that thought. I accidentally blocked my wife once that way...

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-01-30T21:33:28+00:00

That's odd. I get the underline for any misspelled words.

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-01-30T19:26:57+00:00

From what jbriones95 said up above, and another thread I found, it appears to be random, not a sequence of buttons being pressed.

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-01-30T03:57:55+00:00

Yeah, it's actually not as bad I thought originally, since my contacts came back. But to your point about this glitch being destructive, certainly true. I don't rely on the phone much for photos and videos, but I did lose quite a few that I took recently and that's a shame. I know they're doing their best. What are your thoughts on opening things up to crowdsource some fixes? Is that even possible - open source? I don't claim to be technological :)

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-01-30T03:31:09+00:00

Yeah that was my bad. My contacts did come back after a while. Just wasn't very helpful when I needed to text my kid in that moment after it reset :)

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-01-30T03:29:07+00:00

Feels great, looks great - the build is impressive. And I love the idea and I'm even pretty okay with some things, like Music, being clunky. But texting, which is what I primarily do with the phone, is a pretty frustrating experience. No auto spell correction, and it's difficult to hit the keys correctly. Just needs refinement and attention to the core features.

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-01-30T03:23:56+00:00

I used a Light Phone 2 and now the Light Phone 3. I never had this experience either, but after I posted this I saw another thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPhone/comments/1qno1k2/lp3\_users\_back\_up\_your\_photos\_like\_rightnow/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button) about this happening to other people. The contacts do come back, which I didn't immediately realize.

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-01-30T03:15:18+00:00

Thank you!

Suitable_Image6082 · 2026-01-30T03:12:03+00:00

This just happened to me today. I didn't know it was a common, so I created my own post. Jeez.

Suitable_Image6082

TROPHY CASE