New Kosher Smart Phone advice

amother

Tue, Nov 24 2020, 7:05 pm

I have a Verizon plan & unfortunately just dropped my 3g Extravert into water. It kind of still works but I suspect not for long.

I can't handle the pressing a key 3 times to get a letter, so if I can no longer get a dumb phone with a keypad I guess I have no choice but a smart phone with apps removed.

But due to Covid & my age I don't want to get a phone & take it to TAG. I could in theory ask one of my kids to go but they are busy people so...

Is there a Kosher phone I can order on-line or by phone & have all apps taken off. Maybe I would just keep Waze & a Jewish phone list if there is such a thing. I know I don't want email because I would be looking at it in the middle of the night.

Any advice much appreciated.

FranticFrummie

Sat, Dec 05 2020, 12:56 pm

Modern life is getting to the point where my basic kosher phone is just not enough. I'm getting tired of hearing "What do you mean you don't get SMS? Why don't you have Whatsapp? Send me a picture and I'll let you know..." Argh!

I really don't want a fancy phone, but life seems to be leaving me in the dust.

Here's the big question though. For those who are makpid to have a kosher phone, or if your children's schools insist that you don't have a smartphone - how do you avoid maris ayin?

Nobody can tell if your phone is filtered or not just by looking, and they can't tell if you're connected to the internet or not. At least with a flip phone and big buttons, nobody can mistake it for anything else.

I also have a more practical problem. My fingertips are always really dry, so whenever I try to press or swipe a touch screen, I have to do it 3 or 4 times before it will register. It makes me crazy!

I wish there was something with real push buttons, that would do what a kosher smartphone can do. Does anything like that exist, or am I just dreaming?

seeker

Sun, Aug 15 2021, 5:19 pm

Bumping this. My brain shuts down when there's just a bunch of names thrown around and I don't know who to call first. Can someone please break down exactly how each of these companies/services works? Here's where I'm coming from:

I've been quite comfortable with my smartphone usage for the last, idk, 5-6 years? I know I spend too much time on it, but I don't do anything inappropriate, and I keep saying "I should really get a filter on this."

I am also comfortable staying on my current Verizon phone plan because it's a family plan with numerous lines so it's economical for each member on a "grandfathered" old rate.

ANYWAY my phone broke. Like really not reviving now. I need a new one. And I'm thinking I should probably start living up to my "shoulds" and get something "kosher." But I'm a little grumpy about it because I do *like* playing with new apps now and again... I really don't think there's anything wrong with having some brainless games to fidget with... but at the same time I'm a mother of yeshiva students and a person of moderate integrity and I really should probably do better.

Here's what I know I want:
I want to stay on my current phone plan, not start paying for a new service by the kosher phone company.

I want a good quality phone with a really good camera. Not something cheap that will break when I drop or splash it because that does happen to me a lot. A camera that's good enough to not need another camera.

I want full access to whatsapp, facebook messenger, gmail, google hangouts, zoom, basically any form of communication because I'm not some teenager being virtually stalked by pervs, I am a functional adult who needs to be able to interact with the world on its terms.

I want to be able to add apps as needed, for example once in a while one of my jobs will go "everyone needs to sign in daily on this app we just made up." I'm OK with needing to contact some service to let that in, but cannot go to a store in person for this, and again I don't want to have to pay an ongoing fee for that. And I don't want them to judge what apps I'm asking for - I want it to be a customer service, that if I cared enough to call in the big guns then they will just take my word for it that I want what I'm asking for.

I want liberal access to the phone's internet browser, preferably Google Chrome. A filter would be great, but I've been on computers where you couldn't buy a Land's End backpack because the website also sells underwear and you might see sk*n. That is not for me.

Does this exist or do I go back and get another ordinary Galaxy?

kenz

Thu, Aug 26 2021, 12:48 pm

seeker wrote:

I know this was a couple of weeks ago but I recently had a similar goal and basically, what you're looking for doesn't exist. You cannot get a kosher smart phone that does all of the above. What you can do is get a regular smart phone and then filter it according to your specifications. You can get a non-Jewish filter you install yourself that is probably not too complicated to override but it doesn't sound like that's a concern of yours (I.e. teen you wouldn't trust breaking into your phone) or you can get one of the filters used by TAG and then set according to your specifications. The advantage of that is that if you do need something changed quickly, they're pretty easy to contact, whereas I found the secular filter companies I tried didn't even respond to emails half the time, and if you need something fairly quickly, it won't work. You can definitely get TAG to help you set up a filter as you describe above.

kenz

Thu, Aug 26 2021, 3:51 pm

seeker wrote:

Thanks. If I go to TAG, what do I need to ask for? How much should I expect to spend?

Explain exactly what you're looking for. They don't sell phones though. You have to have a phone, explain exactly what you're for in the store so you don't pay for extras you don't need. Then you go into TAG and tell them exactly what type of filtering you are looking for, including what you want access to at all times, and they will give you their recommendations. They don't charge for advice, but you will have to pay for the filter; most are monthly. The secular filter companies are a little cheaper but many of them allow a lot more. You can also cancel whenever you want, so you can always try one out to see if it works for you.
Hatzlachah!