The Light Phone III is a phone designed to be used as little as possible — a way to step off infinite feeds and stay reachable.^1 Over ten years, more than 100,000 people have gone light.^1
It is an unlocked 5G and 4G LTE device with a 3.92-inch matte AMOLED display, USB-C, fingerprint ID, Bluetooth, NFC, nano SIM plus eSIM, and a 50-megapixel rear camera.^2 There is no browser, social media, email, news, advertising, or app store.^1 Optional tools — alarm, calculator, music, podcasts, notes, calendar, hotspot, timer, directory, directions, album, weather, authenticator, and rideshare for Lyft and Uber — can be added or removed from a web dashboard.^3 LightOS updates keep adding tools that way, most recently rideshare.^4
Light, based in Brooklyn, was founded by artist Joe Hollier and product designer Kaiwei Tang after they met in a Google experimental program in 2014 and decided the world did not need another attention-seeking app.^5 Hollier calls the result "a very intentional cell phone," adding, "You don't actually have the same FOMO."^6 The Light Phone III began shipping in March 2025, and Light says it does not believe in planned obsolescence.^2
A reviewer for Reformed Perspective who has used the Light Phone III exclusively for almost a year writes that he often goes for hours without touching it or thinking about it, and that it does not distract him from being present.^7 A new pre-order is expected to deliver in late December 2026.^2
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