Now Light’s minimalist phone can easily call an Uber
The Verge
•2026-09-15T11:00:00-04:00
📰 What Happened
Light announced a new Rideshare tool for its LightOS platform on 15 September 2026, giving owners of the Light Phone III and the upcoming Light Flip the ability to book rides with Uber and Lyft directly from the minimalist handset. The tool lets users set pick-up and drop-off locations, see fares and estimated arrival times, choose trip types or saved locations, book the ride, and then view driver details and call the driver if needed. It works through a partnership with Tremp, which already runs an SMS-based way to order rideshares, and access is set up through Light's dashboard website like other LightOS tools. Tremp charges a 10 per cent service fee with a $2 minimum, waived for the first five rides within 30 days of creating an account. Light describes the feature as an early preview of its 'tool library' SDK, with user submissions opening by the end of the month and the first community tools expected to be available to everyone a few weeks after that.
🔍 The Backstory
Light began with a Kickstarter more than a decade ago for a phone deliberately designed to be used as little as possible, and has since shipped a series of monochrome, minimal devices that omit feeds, app stores and notifications. The tension in the product has always been that some everyday tasks genuinely require a smartphone, which is what the tool library is meant to resolve by adding narrowly scoped utilities without importing the attention economy. Cofounder Kaiwei Tang has said he is not trying to recreate vintage phones but to rebuild modern technology without what he calls the bullshit, which is the philosophical basis for adding a rideshare button. The Light Flip, a minimalist flip phone, is the next device in the line.
🎯 Why It Matters
For people who want to cut down on screen time, the decisive question is whether a minimal phone can cover the handful of tasks they truly depend on, and getting a ride home is one of the most common blockers. The feature also marks a shift in Light's strategy from a closed, curated device to an open platform where third-party developers can build tools, which will determine how useful the phones become over time. Users should note the third-party fee structure through Tremp, since it adds a cost per ride that a standard ride-hailing app would not. The tool has only been shown in screenshots so far, so its reliability in practice is still untested.
Light announced a new Rideshare tool for its LightOS platform on 15 September 2026, giving owners of the Light Phone III and the upcoming Light Flip the ability to book rides with Uber and Lyft directly from the minimalist handset. The tool lets users set pick-up and drop-off locations, see fares and estimated arrival times, choose trip types or saved locations, book the ride, and then view driver details and call the driver if needed. It works through a partnership with Tremp, which already runs an SMS-based way to order rideshares, and access is set up through Light's dashboard website like other LightOS tools. Tremp charges a 10 per cent service fee with a $2 minimum, waived for the first five rides within 30 days of creating an account. Light describes the feature as an early preview of its 'tool library' SDK, with user submissions opening by the end of the month and the first community tools expected to be available to everyone a few weeks after that.
Light began with a Kickstarter more than a decade ago for a phone deliberately designed to be used as little as possible, and has since shipped a series of monochrome, minimal devices that omit feeds, app stores and notifications. The tension in the product has always been that some everyday tasks genuinely require a smartphone, which is what the tool library is meant to resolve by adding narrowly scoped utilities without importing the attention economy. Cofounder Kaiwei Tang has said he is not trying to recreate vintage phones but to rebuild modern technology without what he calls the bullshit, which is the philosophical basis for adding a rideshare button. The Light Flip, a minimalist flip phone, is the next device in the line.
For people who want to cut down on screen time, the decisive question is whether a minimal phone can cover the handful of tasks they truly depend on, and getting a ride home is one of the most common blockers. The feature also marks a shift in Light's strategy from a closed, curated device to an open platform where third-party developers can build tools, which will determine how useful the phones become over time. Users should note the third-party fee structure through Tremp, since it adds a cost per ride that a standard ride-hailing app would not. The tool has only been shown in screenshots so far, so its reliability in practice is still untested.