Using the phone

An Open Lounge Phone is meant to be obvious to anyone who has used a desk phone: lift the handset, press a key, talk, hang up. This page explains everything else, from what the light is telling you to how to start over. It describes the hardware phone; the browser phone on an old tablet or laptop works the same way, with on-screen keys and a big handset button.

The keys

Twelve keys in two rows:

 1   2   3   4   5   MENU
 6   7   8   9   0   BACK

• 1 to 9 and 0 are your people. Each digit key calls whoever is on it. The names live on the keycaps (print them from the app: Manage phone → Print key labels) and on the screen when you lift the handset. More than ten people? They go on more pages of ten (see More than ten people).
• MENU opens the menu from anywhere, even in a call (then it opens the call screen).
• BACK steps out of a menu, one level at a time. With the handset up it turns to the next page of people, when there’s more than one.
• The hook is the switch the handset rests on. Lifting the handset is how you start a call and how you answer one; putting it down hangs up.

There’s no dial pad for numbers, no Enter and no End key: nothing to get wrong.

Making and taking calls

To call someone: lift the handset. You’ll hear a dial tone and the screen shows who is on each key (two columns, like the key rows). Press their key. You’ll hear it ringing; when they answer, talk. Hang up to end the call.

When it rings: the screen says who’s calling (GRANDMA CALLING) and the light flashes. Lift the handset to answer. If you don’t, the caller may be offered your voicemail. To stop the ringing without answering, press BACK (the screen reminds you: BACK: SILENCE): the light keeps flashing, and the call goes to voicemail at the usual time.

If a call doesn’t go through, the screen says why, so nobody has to guess: BUSY, NO ANSWER, DECLINED, UNAVAILABLE, NOT ALLOWED (that person isn’t on this phone’s list) or CALL FAILED, or CONNECTION LOST when the call’s connection dropped and couldn’t be restored. Press another key to try someone else. On a Lounge phone nobody is signed in to, a public line says SIGN IN TO CALL: only someone signed in can call one.

Leaving a message: when someone doesn’t answer and voicemail is on, you’ll see LEAVE A MESSAGE, then hear a beep. Speak after it and hang up to send it (up to 2 minutes). MESSAGE SENT confirms it.

During a call, press MENU for the call screen:

Key	Does
1	Hold the call (1 again resumes)
2	Transfer: then press the key of the person who should get the call
3	Mute (3 again unmutes): the other side hears silence. Also in a room
9	Volume

While you talk, the screen reminds you how: MENU 3: MUTE takes turns with the caller’s name. Muted, it says MUTED and the light blinks slowly in pairs.

Adding a third person and merging calls happen in the app or the browser phone; the hardware phone carries one call’s audio at a time.

If the connection drops (a Wi-Fi blip), the screen says RECONNECTING instead of leaving you in silence, and the call carries on once it’s back. If it can’t come back within about 20 seconds, the call ends on both sides with CONNECTION LOST.

More than ten people

In the app, a phone’s keys come in pages of ten: Manage phone → Keys → Add page gives ten more (up to ten pages). On the phone, lift the handset: the screen shows page 1 and, along the bottom, PAGE 1/3 - BACK: NEXT PAGE. Press BACK to see the next page and its people, then press a digit to call whoever is on that key of the page you’re looking at. After the last page BACK goes back to the first; empty pages are skipped. Hanging up always starts again on page 1.

To move someone to another page, use Move someone to another key under the keys in the app (whoever is already on that key swaps places with them). The printed key labels show page 1.

Call waiting

When someone calls while you’re already in a call, you won’t miss it: you hear a soft beep in the earpiece every few seconds and the screen says WAITING: MOM / 1 TAKE 2 IGNORE.

• 1 takes the new call. On the hardware phone this ends the call you’re in (it carries one call’s audio at a time). In the app and on the browser phone, the first call goes on hold instead, and you can go back to it, merge the two or transfer one.
• 2 ignores it: it stops beeping, and the caller is offered your voicemail at the usual time.
• Hanging up the call you’re in makes the waiting call ring like any call.

Kids’ phones get call waiting too, with the same rules as any call (only people on their list, and not in quiet hours). It’s on unless you turn it off: for yourself in the app’s settings, for a kid’s phone on its page in the app.

Missed calls

A call that rang and nobody answered (and the caller didn’t leave a message) is a missed call. The ready screen shows it (MISSED MOM / MENU 5: MISSED; with several, 3 MISSED CALLS and each name in turn) and the light breathes slowly until you’ve looked.

Press MENU 5 to go through them, newest first: who, how many times and when (2 CALLS 14:05). With the handset up, 1 calls the shown person back, 2 shows the next one and 3 clears them all. On your own phone the list covers everything that rang for you, on any of your phones and apps; clearing it on one clears it everywhere. A kid’s phone can only call back people it’s allowed to call: anyone else gets NOT ALLOWED.

The app has the same list on its Home screen, with Call back.

Redial

Lift the handset and press MENU 8 to call again whoever this phone called last (a key, an extension or a call back). The phone remembers it even after a restart.

The screen

The screen always shows what’s going on and, on its second line, what you can do next. A few you’ll see often:

Screen	Means
READY 14:05 / ANA'S PHONE	Ready, with the time and whose phone it is (KIDS: SMITHS, LOUNGE: STUDIO)
MISSED MOM / PLAY IN APP	A missed call with a message waiting. On a kids’ phone: ASK A GROWN-UP
MISSED MOM / MENU 5: MISSED	A missed call, no message (see Missed calls)
3 MISSED CALLS	Several missed calls; the names take turns
MISSED CALL BACK / ACME SUPPORT	A public line called you back and nobody answered
QUIET TIL 07:00	Quiet hours: it won’t ring until then
IN CALL 01:23 / name	In a call (REC 01:23 if the call is being recorded, MUTED 01:23 when you’ve muted it)
RECONNECTING / name	In a call whose connection dropped: it’s being restored
WAITING: MOM / 1 TAKE 2 IGNORE	Another call is waiting (see Call waiting)
CHECK IN BY 10:00 / PRESS 1: I'M OK	The daily check-in (see Daily check-in)
OFFLINE / RECONNECTING	Wi-Fi or the server dropped out; it keeps trying by itself
JOINING WI-FI, WI-FI DROPPED	Joining the network (once at power-on is usually just timing), or a working connection was lost
WRONG PASSWORD?, WEAK WI-FI, NETWORK NOT SEEN	Why Wi-Fi won’t join. NETWORK NOT SEEN usually means a 5 GHz-only network: the phone needs 2.4 GHz
SET UP: / CHOOSE A SERVER	A new phone: see Set up a phone
PAIR 123 456	Enter this code in the app to add the phone

Long names scroll. The screen is e-paper: it keeps the last picture even without power, so a phone that’s unplugged still looks “on”. The light tells you whether it really is.

The light

One red light on the face of the phone.

Light	Means
Dim	Ready
Slow breathing	Ready, and you have missed calls or new messages
Pulsing	Pairing, or connecting to the server
Fast flashing	Ringing, or a Lounge phone waiting for you to press the key it shows
A short blink every 2 seconds	Offline
On	Calling, in a call or in a room
Slow blinks in pairs	In a call, muted
Double flash every second	This call is being recorded
Off	No power

The sounds

The ringer is a small piezo in the base: it rings, clicks when you press a key, beeps three times when a pairing code appears, twice when something is done, and once (long) for an error. In the earpiece you’ll hear the familiar tones: dial tone, ringing, busy, a beep when a message starts recording, and a soft beep every few seconds when another call is waiting. Spoken prompts on the hardware phone are planned; the browser phone speaks them already.

The menu

Press MENU, then the number. The menu shows only what applies to your phone and closes by itself after 20 seconds.

Key	Item	What it’s for
1	Volume	Earpiece: 1 quieter, 2 louder. Ringer: 4 soft / medium / loud, 5 the ring style (classic, double, beeps); each press plays it
2	Voicemail	How many new messages. On your own phone: lift the handset and press 1 to play them (1 again, 2 next, BACK stop), 3 to mark them all heard. A message played to the end counts as heard everywhere. On a kids’ phone a grown-up listens in the app
3	Network	The Wi-Fi network, its signal and the server. 1 Change opens the setup network to pick another Wi-Fi network or server
4	Intercom or Chime	When they’re on for this phone: call another room (see House intercom), or send the phone’s chime to every phone (see Chime)
5	Missed calls	Who called while you didn’t answer: 1 call back, 2 next, 3 clear (see Missed calls). On a Lounge phone you’re signed in to: Open to chat, to let people see you’re around
6	Extension	In a team or organization: dial an extension, then MENU to call
7	Phone check	Everything about the connection on one page; 1 starts the self-test. With the handset up it also shows the handset mic’s live level: speak into it
8	Redial	With the handset up: call again whoever this phone called last. On a Lounge phone: Log out, and the phone forgets you
9	Update	Install a new version now (official firmware with updates on)
0	About	The firmware, board and server, and the phone’s four fingerprint words

Home features

Three extras for a home, each off until a guardian turns it on for a phone in the app (Manage phone → Home features).

Daily check-in

For someone living alone, such as a grandparent. Pick a time (say 10:00). Each day until then the phone asks CHECK IN BY 10:00 / PRESS 1: I'M OK; pressing 1 says they’re fine (THANK YOU / CHECKED IN). If nobody has pressed it by the time, every guardian of the household gets an alert in their voicemail inbox (“Gran didn’t check in by 10:00.”), once that day, and the phone shows CHECK-IN MISSED until someone presses 1. The server keeps the time, so a phone that’s unplugged or offline is noticed too.

Chime

“Dinner’s ready”: give a phone a chime (up to two short lines) and MENU 4, then 1, shows the words on every phone of the household with a chime, like a notice posted from the app. It lasts 15 minutes; a phone sends at most one a minute.

House intercom

Phones of the household on the same Wi-Fi call each other room to room, with no server and no internet in between. Turn it on for each phone that should join; the room’s name is the phone’s name. Lift the handset, press MENU 4, then the room’s digit (0 rings every room, and the first to lift answers). The other phone rings with KITCHEN CALLING; lifting it talks. Hanging up either side ends it.

Only your household’s phones can ring each other: every message is signed with a key the server gives your phones, and the audio between two phones is encrypted. Neighbours on the same Wi-Fi can’t ring your rooms or listen in, though they could see that two phones are talking. It works on the hardware phone (a browser can’t do it).

When something’s wrong

• It says OFFLINE. Give it a minute: it reconnects by itself. If it stays offline, press MENU 7 (phone check): it shows the Wi-Fi signal and the last problem in plain words. A weak signal usually means the antenna or the distance to the router.
• It won’t join a new Wi-Fi network. Press MENU 3, then 1 Change. The screen shows a QR code: scan it with your phone’s camera, and a setup page opens where you pick the network and enter the password.
• The other person can’t hear you. Check you haven’t muted the call (MUTED on the screen: MENU 3 unmutes). Then lift the handset and press MENU 7: the page shows the mic’s level as you speak. If it doesn’t move, check the handset’s plug.
• A key or the handset seems dead. Press MENU 7, then 1, for the self-test: press every key, lift and replace the handset and unplug and replug it. Each one ticks off on the screen, and you’ll hear a tone in the earpiece. ALL GOOD at the end means the hardware is fine.
• You can’t reach the menu (a Lounge phone hides the network settings). Hold MENU and BACK while you plug the phone in: after 3 seconds it opens the setup network.
• Start over completely. Hold MENU and BACK while plugging it in and keep holding for 10 seconds. The phone erases everything (Wi-Fi, server, its key) and starts like new. To move it to another family or use it another way, remove it in the app instead: it wipes itself the same way.