Install

On the Flipper One

Dolphone installs on Flipper OS (Debian 13, arm64) from the Debian package attached to each release (until the first one, build it with scripts/package-deb.sh on the device or any arm64 Debian 13 machine):

sudo apt install ./dolphone_0.1.0_arm64.deb
dolphone-install-apps            # as yourself: Apps > Phone on the panel
phonectl device                  # should say Flipper One

The package brings:

It needs ModemManager, PipeWire and WirePlumber (pulled in by apt), and conflicts with GNOME Calls and Chatty, which would race it for every call and text. It recommends, and apt installs unless told not to:

The one question

The install asks: Let Dolphone send setup commands to the modem? Dolphone sets the modem up for calls, tells it where call audio goes each time it starts, and runs call forwarding and caller-ID codes, all as AT commands, which ModemManager passes on only in its debug mode. Debug mode also makes ModemManager’s log more detailed, and with an AT modem that log can hold numbers and texts. It also lets any program running as you send the modem AT commands through ModemManager (mmcli --command), around Dolphone’s confirmations. On a Flipper One call audio needs it, so yes is the default there; elsewhere it is no. Change it any time:

sudo dolphone-modem-access on        # or off, or status
sudo dpkg-reconfigure dolphone       # ask again

On a Quectel RM520N-GL there is another way, not yet tried on a real modem: a spare AT port that ModemManager is told to leave alone, which phoned uses itself, so debug mode can stay off. It is not part of the question, since it depends on the modem:

sudo dolphone-modem-access port on   # or port off
sudo dolphone-modem-access off       # debug mode, if it was on
sudo adduser $USER dolphone          # the port's group; then log in again
phonectl modem setup                 # says which way the commands go

Devices has the details, and how to do it for another modem.

Phone Settings > Modem shows Turn on when it is off, with a password prompt.

After installing

• Contacts: in Phone Settings > Bluetooth, pair your current phone and press View on it to copy its contacts (allow it on the phone); or phonectl contacts import contacts.vcf with an export from contacts.google.com or icloud.com; or drop .vcf files into ~/.local/share/dolphone/contacts/. Only names and numbers are kept.
• Voicemail: Phone Settings > Calls > Voicemail number (some carriers’ numbers are known and filled in from the SIM).
• Calls over the internet: Phone Settings > Calls over the internet, with your SIP provider’s address, password and (if they give one) proxy.
• Board audio: if the speaker or the jack stays silent, the profile’s mixer controls do not match your board; see Devices and Audio.
• Modem setup: Phone Settings > Modem says whether the modem is set up for calls (USB audio, VoLTE, the carrier profile); Set up makes the changes and restarts it. phonectl modem setup is the same from a shell.
• Picture messages: with mmsd-tng installed, MMS just arrives. If it does not, the carrier’s MMS settings (MMSC, proxy, APN) are in ~/.mms/modemmanager/mms (stop mmsd-tng before editing it).
• LEDs for a ringing call: sudo adduser $USER dolphone and log in again; they flash while a call rings (the flash_on_ring setting, on by default).
• An encrypted message store: systemctl --user stop phoned, then phoned --encrypt-store, then systemctl --user start phoned. The key is sealed by systemd to you on this machine; phoned --decrypt-store undoes it. See Security for what it does and does not protect.
• Scripts that read messages (an OTP reader, say) need a read grant: phonectl set read_grants phonectl, allowed on the device. Grants go by program name, so a grant to phonectl is a grant to every script that uses it. Scripts that text without asking each time need a standing grant: phonectl grant <numbers> <per-hour> <days>, allowed once on the device.

On other machines

The same package (arm64), or the amd64 one for a laptop, installs on any Debian 13 machine; the panel apps are only in the arm64 package and only useful under FlipCTL. phonectl device says which profile phoned picked; Devices has what works where and how to add a machine.

Without any hardware

The whole stack runs against fake-mm, a scriptable stand-in modem, on an Apple Silicon Mac with OrbStack or any arm64 Debian 13 machine. See Developing.