Light Phone III Is a Delightfully Minimalist Smartphone Alternative
The boxy, black-and-white device could cure your screen-time problem, but it’s a big investment for just a few features
It’s far faster to list what the Light Phone III can do than all the things it can’t.
On this minimalist device, you can call and text, listen to music or a podcast, and get directions. There’s a simple camera, a notes tool, and a few basics like an alarm and timer. But that’s about it—and that’s also the point.
Boxy Design and Black-and-White Display
The bare-bones Light Phone III is laser-focused on function, but its form is a big part of the fun. The boxy device looks distinct from the sleek, slim smartphones we’re used to, with their large screens primed for scrolling.
Instead, the Light Phone III has a 3.9-inch touchscreen display (wider and more responsive than the one on the Light Phone II) housed in a charmingly chunky frame. It feels like a cross between an iPod and a calculator. I found that the sturdy design made it more fun to use, perhaps simply because it’s so different than what I’m accustomed to.
The interface is also pleasingly minimalist. There’s no personalized wallpaper on the Light Phone’s home screen. No clutter of colorful apps. In fact, there’s no color at all. (The only time the Light Phone’s display adds a dash of color is when you’re taking photos and videos or screening the images and clips stored in your album.)
Photo: Courtney Lindwall/Consumer Reports Photo: Courtney Lindwall/Consumer Reports
The home screen plainly lists the phone’s few tools in white text on a black background. This sparseness gave me the same ping of pleasure as, say, a just-organized closet or a cleared-out inbox. Certain clunky “dumb” phones offer a similar suite of features, but the Light Phone’s intentional design makes the downgrade feel like an upgrade.
You can add or delete tools from your home screen via your Light Phone dashboard, which you access in a web browser on a separate device, like your computer or tablet, after setting up a Light Phone account. If you want to make calls and send texts, you’ll want to set up cell service, too. (More on how to do so below.)
Which Carriers Can the Light Phone III Use?
The Light Phone III comes unlocked, meaning you can use it with any compatible carrier. The device currently works with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, as well as Mint and U.S. Mobile. If your carrier is compatible, you can keep your existing phone number and service by simply inserting your SIM card into the device. (At the time of publication, you could only use an already-active SIM card from Verizon, not a new SIM card from Verizon.)
You can also opt to set up a new phone line. I chose that route and signed up for a new plan using Light Phone’s own cellular service, which runs on the AT&T network. The Light plan costs $25/month for 1 gigabyte of data or $45/month for unlimited data. While there’s clearly not much on the phone that would rack up data, you can burn through gigabytes using the Light Phone III as a hot spot.
Straightforward Calling and Texting
With service set up, texting on the Light Phone—which uses a familiar touchscreen keyboard—is simple but slow. Compared with my iPhone 13, the screen isn’t as quick to load, and the spell check isn’t nearly as efficient. (I realize now that I type so fast on my iPhone because I’m free to misspell nearly everything as I go, leaving iMessage’s auto-correct to quickly clean up behind me.) The Light Phone does have a voice-to-text feature that works well if you want to speed things up.
The messaging app can still handle the basics: sending photos, a handful of emojis, group texts, and even short voice messages. But it’s also simpler than Apple’s iMessage. For example, you can’t conveniently react to a message with a heart or thumbs-up, and links arrive as unclickable plain text. (Remember: No web browser.) Instead, those links get forwarded to your email, which you can check on another device with internet access.
With those limitations, you may be more inclined to just pick up the phone and call a friend when you have something to share. And if that’s the case, know that basic calling on the Light Phone III works great. You can also save some time by importing existing contacts via your dashboard. (Video calling using the front-facing camera may be coming down the line, the manufacturer says, but it isn’t currently available.)
Can You Listen to Music and Other Media?
The Light Phone III ditches streaming apps, so no Spotify or Apple Music. Instead, you add music and podcasts through the dashboard, which you access from a web browser on another device. Once your phone syncs—you’ll need to be connected to WiFi or have cell service—the media appears on your phone, ready to play.
In practice, the setup is straightforward. I could drag and drop MP3 files into the library, which supports up to 20 GB of music (roughly a few thousand songs), and subscribe to podcasts, which you can download for offline listening, without too much trouble. The system searches within the large iTunes podcast library, so the shows I wanted were all available.
Image: Consumer Reports Image: Consumer Reports
Overall, I found the Light Phone’s bare-bones setup to be perfectly functional and fairly fun to use. It feels reminiscent of the way I explored music as a kid in high school, finding and downloading individual albums on the computer in my bedroom and then carefully rearranging my song collection into playlists.
Still, for all its nostalgia and intentionality, building and managing a music library is obviously less convenient than instantly accessing a world’s worth of songs, podcasts, and audiobooks on a streaming app. Other minimalist smartphones, like the Wisephone, have chosen to integrate music streaming platforms into a limited set of third-party apps.
As far as actual listening, you can connect headphones via Bluetooth or play music through the phone’s speaker. And the sound quality isn’t too shabby!
Simple GPS and a Useful ‘Directory’
The Light Phone III has a GPS navigation tool that’s easy to use, especially compared with non-touchscreen flip phones. Searching for destinations and orienting yourself on the map feels straightforward. I didn’t do any driving myself while using the Light Phone III, but the navigation tool has robust enough features, like turn-by-turn navigation and voice directions, to be a useful driving companion.
I still missed some nice extras I rely on in Google Maps, like real-time traffic updates or transit trackers that show when the next train is arriving. And because there’s no web browser, you can’t quickly search for more information about a destination, like its hours of operation or contact info.
Photos: Courtney Lindwall/Consumer Reports Photos: Courtney Lindwall/Consumer Reports
To fill that gap, the Light Phone offers a neat “Directory” feature, which works a bit like a simple Yellow Pages. After entering my location, I could search for nearby restaurants, businesses, and other destinations and view basic details, such as an address, phone number, hours, and a rating. It doesn’t give you every detail—there are no photos, customer reviews, or, say, links to restaurant menus—but the essentials are there, which is still plenty helpful when you’re on the go.
How's the Camera?
The Light Phone III has a 50-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel selfie camera, and photos and videos appear in color on the display—a contrast to the otherwise black-and-white interface. There’s no zoom, but the rear camera does have a flash and brightness adjustment. I did like the handy camera button on the side of the phone, so you can open the tool and snap a photo quickly.
The photos—like the one below of my neighborhood’s springtime blooms—won’t wow you, but they certainly beat out the ones I took with a cheaper flip phone. They’re not comparable to even my years-old iPhone 13, though. If photo quality is a top priority, you may find yourself wanting to carry a separate camera. (The retro pink digital cameras continue to call to me on eBay.)
Photo: Courtney Lindwall/Consumer Reports Photo: Courtney Lindwall/Consumer Reports
You can send photos (though not videos) via text and browse both in the album, but managing your library isn’t as seamless. There’s no automatic cloud storage, so if you want to transfer files, you have to plug the phone into a computer. You can also email photos to yourself through your Light Phone account, though that’s not a practical long-term storage solution.
Is a $700 ‘Dumb’ Phone Worth It?
If you’ve ever found yourself scrolling on social media sites you just swore off or regularly ignoring self-imposed screentime limits on your smartphone, it could be worthwhile to invest in a stricter solution. The question is how much you’re willing to pay for it.
At $699, the Light Phone III is undeniably expensive for what it offers. It costs more than Apple’s latest budget iPhone 17e ($599) and hundreds of dollars more than basic flip phones with similar features, like the Nokia 2780 Flip or the Cat S22 Flip. It’s also far more expensive than other screen-time fixes you could try, like app-blocking tools or simple habit swaps.
But, unlike some of those alternatives, the intentionally minimalist interface and delightful design of the Light Phone III make it more fun to use, which could help it stick as a solution. And while there were still a few features I missed, the phone managed to find a sweet spot in terms of practicality. So instead of thinking about the Light Phone’s cost per feature, you might want to consider its less tangible rewards—like the time, calm, and sense of control you just might gain back.
