Everyone knows the two top mobile operating systems. It’s Apple’s iOS, and Google’s Android.
But what about the third mobile operating system. What is that?
The answer might surprise you: KaiOS.
![](http://smartphonefreelife.com/wp-content/uploads/kaioslogo.png)
It might be far behind the iPhone and Android, but it’s on 80 million phones and counting, which is no small number.
And get this: it’s not billed as a smartphone platform!
Are we in wacky land or what?
![](https://i0.wp.com/smartphonefreelife.com/wp-content/uploads/20190627-kaios.jpg?fit=683%2C1024&ssl=1)
Smart feature phones?
KaiOS is billed as a “light operating system” for “smart feature phones”.
My head already hurts. Smart feature phones? What are we even talking about?
Okay, let’s take a look at the phones that use this operating system. They certainly present as feature (non-smart) phones.
There is the JioPhone (in India):
![](http://smartphonefreelife.com/wp-content/uploads/jiophone.jpg)
There’s the Doro 7060 (in Europe):
![](http://smartphonefreelife.com/wp-content/uploads/doro7060.jpg)
In the US, there’s the Alcatel Cingular Flip:
![](http://smartphonefreelife.com/wp-content/uploads/alcatelcingularflip.jpg)
And of course there’s the Nokia 8810, a reboot of that phone from the Matrix.
![](https://i1.wp.com/smartphonefreelife.com/wp-content/uploads/nokia8810.jpg?fit=245%2C1024&ssl=1)
Apps?
Okay, so these phones have actual buttons, with no touch screens.
They don’t do multitasking, but they do 4G…
…and they have apps.
KaiOS is designed as a web platform, kind of like how a Chromebook has a web-based operating system.
With this in mind, it means that apps with a web presence can be ported to the operating system.
Some of the apps that are currently available in KaiOS phones are:
- YouTube
- Google Maps
- Google Assistant
Hell, that’s pretty much the entire internet for most people.
Google Assistant is pretty interesting. Most people don’t really like to T9 these days (though I’m a wizard at it if I do say so myself), so a voice assistant that allows people to talk to their phones instead of typing seems like a handy feature.
What really is a smartphone?
But all of this brings up an uncomfortable question: Are we looking at a smartphone or not?
If the question feels academic to you, then maybe a better question to ask is: does this kind of phone provide the kind of distraction, addiction, and compulsion that smartphones have been proven to provide?
On one hand, just the existence of the internet on a phone is enough to give me pause. I don’t have a data plan, and specifically don’t want one.
But on the other hand, with such a small screen and such a clunky interface, is it even possible for these phones to pose a problem? Can you really picture couples having an argument because one of them is always on their JioPhone?
Do apps make a smartphone? Does a touchscreen make a smartphone? Does multitasking make a smartphone?
What this does tell me is that the line between smartphone and non-smartphone is getting more and more blurred. Which proves to be even more of a challenge than the difficulty of buying a new phone that isn’t a smartphone.
When any dichotomy becomes exposed as being faulty, it forces ourselves to ask what’s really important.
I know I didn’t start this site because I prefer buttons to touchscreens. I care more about our relationship to tech—and how it affects our relationship to each other—than any specific piece of tech.
Might it to be fun to be like Neo? I know you’re out there.