Set up a phone

Every phone has its own cryptographic key, made on the phone and never shared. Setting a phone up means three things: getting it online, telling it which server to use, and pairing it, which tells your server which household or team that key belongs to.

A browser phone (any old phone, tablet or laptop)

No hardware yet? Open <your server>/device/ in the device’s browser (on the public hub: hub.openloungephone.app/device/), choose Add to Home Screen, open it from there and pick Kids phone, My own phone or Lounge phone. It’s already online and already knows its server, so skip to Pair it. Tap the big Lift handset button when the steps below say to lift the handset.

A hardware phone: first start

1. Plug it in (USB-C, any phone charger). The screen shows the Open Lounge Phone mark, then SET UP: / CHOOSE A SERVER. A new phone connects to nothing until you tell it to.
2. Open the setup network. Press MENU, then 3 (Network), then 1 (Change). The screen shows a QR code and, in words, a Wi-Fi network name and password.
3. Scan the QR code with your phone’s camera (or join that network by hand and open 192.168.4.1). A setup page opens.
4. On the setup page, pick your home Wi-Fi and enter its password, then choose a server:
   • My own server: type its address (for example phone.example.com);
   • Public hub: free, to try it or if you’d rather not run anything.
5. Save. The phone joins your Wi-Fi (it needs a 2.4 GHz network) and connects to the server.

If Wi-Fi won’t join, the screen says why: WRONG PASSWORD?, WEAK WI-FI or NETWORK NOT SEEN (usually a 5 GHz-only network). See Using the phone.

Pair it

1. Lift the handset. An unpaired phone shows a six-digit code, PAIR 123 456, with three short beeps (the browser phone also reads it aloud). The code is valid for 10 minutes.
2. In the companion app choose + Pair a phone and enter the code. The app shows four words. Check the phone shows the same ones under MENU, then 0 About. Different words mean it’s a different phone: don’t pair it.
3. Pick how it will be used (what the phone was set up as is preselected):
   • Kids phone: for a child; only the people you allow, plus quiet hours (households only, set up by a guardian);
   • My own phone: a desk or bedside phone that is always you (anyone can add their own);
   • Lounge phone: shared; idle until someone signs in (guardians and admins).
4. Give it a name, for example “Maya’s phone”. It comes online in the app, and its screen shows whose phone it is (KIDS: SMITH HOME, JESSE'S PHONE).

On a kids’ phone you’re added automatically as its first contact, on speed-dial key 1, and you can always ring through quiet hours. Next: choose who’s on its keys.

Afterwards

• Key labels. Manage phone → Print key labels prints a sheet of names to slip under the clear keycaps.
• The phone’s page (Manage) shows when it was last seen, the software it runs and its four words.
• Moving it to another Wi-Fi or server: MENU 3, then 1 Change opens the setup network again. A new server means pairing again.
• Updates. Official firmware checks for signed updates and installs them itself (MENU 9 to check now); firmware you build yourself has updates off.

Note

Remove and wipe (on the Manage page) makes the server forget the phone, and the phone wipes itself: at once if it’s online, otherwise when it next connects. Nothing stays on it. To use a phone another way or give it to another household, remove it and pair it again. Holding MENU and BACK for 10 seconds while plugging it in also erases it completely.