Lightphone makes his stupid phone more useful by using third party “tools”.

Time and time Once again, guys Stupid phones— or simple phones — are turning to their niche communities asking for additional features for their shortcut devices: an authentication app, an Uber, or a way to view hiking trails. They have turned to these phones to reduce the time they spend staring at the smartphone screen and reduce the anxiety caused by it Modern attention economy Of their lives, but it turns out that we are You still need applications.

“I can’t tell you how many people come back to us and say, ‘Hey, if you had this thing to scan a QR code; If you just had this translated app, they would be able to use Light Phone more often,” Caiwei Tang, CEO and co-founder of Light Phone, told WIRED. “We’re a smaller team, we’re not Apple. We don’t have app stores with millions of apps.”

But now a Brooklyn company is taking a step to fill that gap. Light Phone is launched Developer program In May for LightOS, a new operating system Third phone light. Now anyone interested in the platform can more easily create the “widgets” they want to use on the phone.

Courtesy of Lightphone

Light Phone is one of the most prominent players in the niche phone market, which has witnessed many new players in 2025, such as Minimum phone or Modita Compact. Light has been making its utility-focused devices since 2014 for people who feel overly dependent on technology. The first Light Phone could only make and receive phone calls Second added perks Like step by step directions. The latest iteration, and Third phone lightsignificantly updated the hardware while maintaining its basic nature.

But for people who Still They want their basic stupid phone to do that little extra thing, the ability to add widgets is good news.

The Light Phone community has already modified and hacked the company’s devices. While Light only offers a few first-party tools, such as a calculator, alarm clock, calendar, and podcasts, The members of the community have created themselvesincluding a Spotify client, an app for storing tickets, such as gym membership cards, and even an app for checking bus and train schedules.

Now, with an official SDK, it will be easier for interested parties to create the applications they want. You don’t even need Light Phone III to create a widget for the platform, although those third-party widgets exist only Available on newer phones, not older Light Phone models.