Buttons
Dolphone keeps FlipCTL’s roles for the five soft keys everywhere: Escape backs out or cancels, View switches view or shows information, Edit edits, Run does the main thing. The middle soft key, silkscreened power, does reach the app in front (flipctl forwards it like the other four), but Dolphone leaves its slot empty on purpose: a press meant for the phone’s power is never taken as Answer, End or Allow. Back and the app switcher never reach an app: flipctl keeps them. Back leaves the app (on a call, the call carries on; come back to it with the switcher), and the switcher lists running apps, a live call among them.
A hold is 0.6 s or more by default (the long_press_ms setting, 300–3000 ms).
The touchpad is read by the app that has the keyboard, the one in front; an app in the background ignores it.
Dialer
| Screen | D-pad / Ok | Escape | View | Edit | Run | PTT | Touchpad |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keypad | move, press a key; hold 0 for +; on an empty keypad hold 1 for voicemail, hold 2–9 for speed dial | clear, then exit | Recents | delete (hold: clear) | Call (empty: redial; a name matched by its letters, “567” for Jordan: call them) | hold: Ring → Vibrate → Silent | tap a key, swipe to move |
| Keypad, SIM locked | type the PIN (shown as *) | clear | Recents | delete | Unlock (an emergency number still dials) | tap a key | |
| Recents | move | back | Contacts | text | call back | swipe | |
| Contacts | move, Left/Right jump a letter; Ok calls, hold Ok to give the contact a speed-dial key | back | Keypad | text | call | swipe | |
| Speed dial picker | choose 2–9 | back | clear that key | set | |||
| Incoming call | Decline (hold, with “Hold to decline” on) | number details | reply with a text | Answer | silence the ringer | ||
| Reply picker | choose | back | send and decline | ||||
| In call | Ok swaps two calls; hold Ok merges them | keypad | audio route | End (ignored for 1.5 s after answering) | mute / unmute | ||
| In-call keypad | move, Ok sends the tone | close | close | audio route | End | tap a key | |
| Emergency alert | Ok dismisses | dismiss | Dismiss (Next while more wait) | ||||
| Confirmation | Deny | Allow | |||||
| Service code reply | close | reply on the keypad |
Emergency alerts not yet dismissed wait in turn rather than replacing each other: the most severe first (National, Extreme, Severe, Amber, Test), alerts of one level in the order they came, with “1 of 3” in the breadcrumb while more wait. A worse alert arriving takes the screen at once; the one it covered comes back after it.
Keys are ignored for 400 ms after a call, an alert or a confirmation appears unasked, so a press meant for whatever was on screen cannot answer a call or allow a request. A press ignored like this, End in the 1.5 s after answering, and a short press of Decline when it needs a hold each give the “refused” stutter, so a press that did nothing does not feel like one that did.
The touchpad works as a keypad once it has learnt its own size from a few strokes; until then it moves the selection like the D-pad.
Vibrations
Each kind of news has its own feel, so it can be told in a pocket. Messages uses the same feel for a text. Everything but a key, a thump, a refused press and an emergency alert stays still when the ringer is on Silent.
| a key | a tick |
| a call connects or ends | a thump |
| a text | two short |
| a missed call | three short |
| a second call waiting | two long |
| a call dropped (not ended here) | one long |
| a text not sent | short, short, long |
| an emergency alert | the alert tone’s rhythm (long, short, short, twice), even on silent |
| a press ignored on purpose | a quick stutter (three very short) |
Messages
| Screen | D-pad / Ok | Escape | View | Edit | Run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Threads | move, Ok opens | exit | new message | open | |
| Conversation | Up/Down scroll, Left/Right page, Ok writes | back | options | write | call |
| Options (Resend failed text, Quick reply, Attach a picture, Call, Block, Delete) | move | back | back | select | |
| Quick reply | choose | back | edit it first | use (to the preview) | |
| Attach a picture | choose, Ok as Run | back | Add (to the preview), or Remove one already added | ||
| Keyboard (FlipCTL’s) | type | cancel | 123 | backspace | done |
| Preview | edit again | Attach (Pictures once one is added) | edit again | Send | |
| Locked (a Messages PIN is set) | Ok types the PIN | exit | type the PIN | Unlock: type the PIN | |
| PIN keyboard (opens on 123, the PIN shown as *) | type | exit Messages | ABC | backspace | Unlock (4 to 12 digits) |
With a Messages PIN set (Settings > Privacy), Messages opens on the PIN and shows nothing of the texts until it is right; it stays open for the time set there, then asks again. A wrong PIN says so; after five, phoned makes you wait. A number the Dialer hands over while locked opens once the PIN is in.
Attach a picture lists the newest 50 pictures (JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP) in the
Pictures and Downloads folders (XDG’s, from user-dirs.dirs, else ~/Pictures and
~/Downloads) and the folders directly in them, with each one’s size and date. Links
are not followed, and a file phoned would not send (empty, unreadable, over 8 MB) is
left out. What is added is named above the text on the preview, which is then a
picture message (a text is optional); to take one off, open the pictures again and
Remove it. Up to 10, 8 MB in all, go in one message; a group’s goes to everyone.
Without pictures the preview sends a text, as before.
A picture message shows its text with [Picture] (or [Audio], [Contact]) below:
the panel is too small for the picture, which the desktop app shows. A group
conversation is one thread, named after everyone on it; a reply goes to all of them.
Phone Settings
| Left / Right | Ok / Run | Edit | View | Escape | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ON/OFF rows | toggle | toggle | up a page | ||
< value > rows | step | step | up a page | ||
| Pages (Call audio, Bluetooth, Laptops, Calls, Calls over the internet, Texts, Emergency alerts, Privacy, Modem, About) | Right opens | open | up a page | ||
| Typed rows (voicemail number, SIP account, password, proxy) | open the keyboard | open the keyboard | up a page | ||
| Bluetooth device | pair / connect / disconnect | forget | copy contacts (a paired phone) | ||
| Blocked number | unblock | unblock | |||
| A program allowed to text | revoke | revoke | |||
| Privacy > Messages PIN | Right sets | Set / Change: the new PIN on the keyboard, then again | Remove (asks first) | up a page | |
| Privacy > Messages stay open | step 1, 5, 15 min | step | up a page | ||
| Modem page | Set up when the modem’s setup has changes to make, or Turn on when ModemManager’s debug mode is off; both ask first | up a page |
Desktop app
| Keys | |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+4 | Calls, Messages, Contacts, Settings |
| Ctrl+N | a new message |
| Ctrl+Enter | answer the ringing call |
| Ctrl+Backspace | decline the ringing call, or end the live one |
| Ctrl+M | mute or unmute |
| Tab, Shift+Tab | the next or last control; over a call, a confirmation or an alert, round that card’s own buttons only |
| Up, Down | along a list (calls, conversations, contacts, the lists in Settings) |
| Enter | a list row’s main thing (call, open, unblock…), or press the control with the focus |
| Space | choose a list row, or press the control with the focus |
The call card opens with the focus on Answer (on Keypad once the call is live, away from End); a confirmation on Deny; an alert on Dismiss (Next alert while more wait, with “1 of 3” beside the time; the most severe comes first).
With a Messages PIN set, the Messages page is a PIN field and Unlock (Enter unlocks too) until it is right; once open, Lock beside New closes it again. Settings > Messages PIN sets or changes it (the new PIN twice), removes it, and picks how long Messages stays open (1, 5 or 15 minutes).
In a conversation, Attach opens the desktop’s file chooser (through the XDG desktop portal) for pictures; what is picked is named above the text, Remove drops it, and Send sends the lot as one picture message. Without a portal, Attach says so.