Is this the end?

Mudita Products
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Since I’ve become increasingly dissatisfied with Mudita—and consequently the Kompakt—lately, and the sense of calm the Kompakt once provided has given way to frustration and stress (much like my experience with the Pure back in the day), the time has come for me to part ways with Mudita and the Kompakt for now. I truly regret this, but the extremely slow pace of development and the fact that bugs persist after more than a year—bugs that seemingly never get fixed—have severely eroded my confidence in Mudita.

If they can’t even get the basic apps running properly, if updates keep introducing new errors, and if you have to wait a whole year for a functional keyboard, then I lack the confidence that they can keep the system (Android 12) secure. On top of that, the fingerprint scanner has now failed after just a year.

I’ve finally had enough—something I deeply regret, as I’ve always supported Mudita and their vision.

Then, through a roundabout path, I found my way back to Fairphone; even though I had vowed never to own a standard smartphone again, I bought the Fairphone 6. The deciding factors—just as when I bought the Fairphone 3 years ago—were sustainability, fair wages for workers, the availability of spare parts, ease of repair, and the incredibly long 8-year support period for updates!

Then there’s the new switch that lets you activate “Fairphone Moments.” It’s perfect for a minimalist like me:

Yes, it is unfortunately a bit larger than the Kompakt, and yes, I was initially worried I might slip back into old habits.

But what can I say? It seems the years spent with the Pure, the Punkt MP02, and the Kompakt actually succeeded in helping me break those old habits for good. Thanks for that, Mudita :slight_smile:

I treat the Fairphone just like the Kompakt. It mostly just sits around; I only send the occasional message, make a call, listen to podcasts on my commute, and plan to use it for route planning and navigation during my hiking and bikepacking trips.

The battery life is currently five days. I can live with that.

I’ve set up various profiles using “Fairphone Moments”—for daily life, hiking, photography, and quiet time. It works great.

Plus, the Fairphone 6 came in a lovely Forest Green.

Naturally, I use it without Google! I installed /e/OS/ as the operating system right away and supplemented it with a few apps from F-Droid.

Everything runs absolutely smoothly, and I’m really happy with it so far.

For me, this phone is more like a multi-tool. I pick it up when I need to get something done, not to kill time.

It’s a real shame things had to come to this, and I didn’t make the decision lightly. But I think it’s understandable that I simply ran out of patience. I put up with a lot with the Pure, and I’m just tired of constantly checking forums, reporting bugs, and hoping they’ll eventually get fixed—or hoping the music player might finally play album tracks in the right order.

Every single app pre-installed on the Fairphone (or /e/OS/) works flawlessly.

That’s simply how it should be when you pay a lot of money for a device.

It’s unacceptable for a paying customer to act as a beta tester for over a year.

The Kompakt was simply released way too early. The pre-installed apps should have worked properly from the start; then, people would have been more tolerant of minor initial bugs.

Nevertheless, I want to thank Mudita for this journey and for the many changes I’ve made thanks to you—moving toward minimalism and greater mindfulness, having more real conversations with real people instead of staring distractedly at a screen, and embracing life in the moment and the “more offline, more life” philosophy. I’m taking a lot with me into the future and have developed a completely different relationship with modern technology. My life will continue to remain largely analog. And it gives me peace of mind to know that I’ll receive support for my current phone for such a long time and can easily repair it myself if needed—just as I repair many other things in my life. That gives me a good feeling, a sense of calm, and a feeling of security.

So, thanks for everything, and who knows—maybe this isn’t a final goodbye. I’ll definitely drop by the forum again sometime and perhaps even post about a topic or two. But next time, it’ll be for fun and out of genuine interest, not out of frustration with a product and its software.

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I don’t think it’s the end. The Kompakt battery probably will hold a charge for more than 6 days if you don’t use the phone. If you do power off the device, the Mudita Kompakt logo displays on the screen. You will receive a notification when the next OS is available. Remember your login pin code, you’ll need it when that time comes to log in. Let your friends know that you are able to group chat again. I was going to suggest that you try the meditation app.

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^ This should be a mantra for every consumer-electronics company.

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I am astonished by the relationship people develop with the Kompakt. It’s a piece of plastic, mostly and it has some memory, but it’s not an intelligent device, not even a dumb phone, certainly not a smart phone - I would call it a stupid phone. (sorry, I think “ignorant” is a better description than stupid)

@marko - I want to thank you for being here, you were one of the first people to reply in a helpful way to my posts. I would give you a hug, and tell you don’t worry, the Kompakt is an inanimate object, it has no feelings, and has no concept of how you feel about it.

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I’m relatively new to Mudita, so I might be missing something. There are a few things I’d like to see fixed, and I have to admit the latest update was a bit disappointing (with the exception of the keyboard). At the same time, buying and using a phone like this is a choice—specifically one that led me to impose certain limitations on myself. Some of these have been positive, while others can be frustrating due to the phone’s shortcomings. But for me, the positives far outweigh the negatives. Furthermore, I believe the experience gained with the Pure and the Kompakt will lead Mudita to develop an even better third phone.

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Yeah, I have to say I am frustrated with Mudita. I shipped my phone back to them two weeks ago, and it was supposed to come tomorrow, but it’s stuck in Europe with FedEx and has been for days because they failed to provide the correct paperwork. I have been using the Light Phone 2 and really loving it. Thank God I ended up getting it; I had no clue my Kompakt would be this delayed. I do agree with you, they do always seem to make two steps forward and then one step back. Although the Kompakt is much better than the Pure, which was a disaster launch for this company, they did bounce back somewhat with the Kompakt. There are still annoying little things they have not fixed, like their calendar after a year not being able to repeat events, and not being able to silence text notifications. I am moving more towards selling my Kompakt when I get it back. I always end up going back to Light because they just update their phones way more than Mudita does, and I can almost guarantee you they have a smaller team. If you look at their updates side by side of their Light Phone 3 vs. Kompakt, it’s not even close. I do love this brand, but their execution still needs to improve.

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100 percent agree, if we are paying a premium the device needs to be of the utmost quality

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This delay in receipt may not be the fault of Mudita, it may be customs, they are not sure what the product from Poland actually is for and question it’s purpose - they toss it into a bin and it waits.

My shipment was prompt from Mudita however customs, in the US, held it for 2 months. They are in no rush to examine questionable items, they set them aside and get to them in the order received.

I reached out to FedEx, as that’s who Customs informs with the status. In my case they said customs wanted verification, I had to provide my contact info and then I got an email from customs asking for specific product “screen size”. I sent info from the Kompakt specs that included dimensions of the front of the phone. With that info FedEx notified me that it cleared customs and arrived in my hands soon after.

Regarding Quality:

The Kompakt phone hardware I received is very good quality, physical switch works without issues, and I have cycled it many times. The Kompakt case protects it from protruding and I have no issues with it mechanically.

I agree that the operating system of the out of the box phone needs improvements, for my needs that’s mostly in the contacts feature of the phone app. I am fine with how everything else works or doesn’t work.

I will be happy when the Mudita Logo displays on the lock screen, but other users have more influence than me.

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Funnily enough I feel the same way buying an iPhone etc - everyone’s software and services are trash now cos everybody expects updates every other day…

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If they put the logo back on that lock screen I am selling my Kompakt for sure lol

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@marko Thank you for writing this so openly, and also for supporting Mudita for such a long time, with Pure, Kompakt, and the broader idea behind what we’re trying to build.

I’m genuinely sorry to read that the experience has become a source of frustration rather than calm. That is not what we want Mudita Kompakt to represent, and I understand why your patience has run out. When core apps don’t feel reliable, when bugs remain unresolved for too long, or when improvements take longer than expected, it can make the device feel unfinished. No customer should feel like they are acting as a beta tester after paying for a product, and I’m sorry that this is how it has felt for you.

Your points about the pace of development, recurring bugs, the keyboard, the music player, and overall confidence in long-term software support are fair to raise & I am passing them on to the team. We know these things matter, especially for a device that people choose because they want something dependable, calmer, and less stressful than a standard smartphone. Feedback like this is difficult to read, but it is important, and it will be shared with the team.

Regarding the fingerprint scanner, please contact our support team ([email protected]) if you have not done so already. Hardware issues should be looked into directly so the team can review what happened and advise on the next steps.

I also want to say that we respect your decision. While we are sorry to see you step away from Kompakt, it is meaningful to hear that your time with Mudita helped you build more mindful habits and a more intentional relationship with technology.

Thank you again for being part of this community and for contributing your feedback over time. I hope this does not have to be a final goodbye, and you are always welcome here, whether it’s to share ideas, discuss mindful technology, or simply reconnect with the community.

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I am not so sure about the quality. My Kompakt has a cracked screen, albeit it’s minor and barely visible. It seems to be a common flaw, though.

But the worst part is the broken USB-C port. Cables don’t stick anymore, even when cleaning out the port. As a result I cannot charge or transfer data. I am stuck with wireless chargers and third-party apps to transfer files. If ever I need a factory reset I’ll be screwed. For this reason alone I’ve ordered a new phone (the Dumber Mini). But also because:

I, too, find the Kompakt not ideal for my needs. The e-ink screen is gorgeous and calming, but I find a colour screen is what I need, especially for maps.

The most frustrating must be the stock apps: good from a dumbphone perspective, unusable from a smartphone perspective. And the bugs. I updated to the latest release and was happy to see the slider to answer or reject, so I don’t accidentally do that in pocket. But now all of a sudden the phone reverted to the old buttons?

The thing is that I do feel like a beta tester and a techie. I cannot recommend this phone to regular people. The first thing they ask is “This is cool, but does it have WhatsApp/podcasts/Spotify/Google maps”. And the answer is: “yes, but”. Yes, but you’ll need to install apks, which a lot of people are not comfortable with. And not only those apks, but then you also need a third party launcher like inkOS so you get proper notifications from your WhatsApp, and then also you need to hack yourself to the battery optimisation screen to flip the toggle so the app runs in background. Also for music/audio apps. Maybe that “yes, but” is the biggest problem. Maybe it’d be better if it were just “no”. “No. Change your lifestyle not your phone.”

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Did you reach out to our customer support about getting that fixed? They can offer options.

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I’m writing this because it seems to me that the majority of people on the forum consider manual app installation essential and act as if the device would be useless without that feature.

(Regardless of whether the one or the other was promised or not.)

Perhaps the Kompakt is trying to offer too much?

That’s how I see it: calls (Phone) and texts (SMS) are the most important things, followed by the time; then maybe an alarm clock; and, just maybe, a calculator and voice recorder (though I have not used the latter two so far). In exchange, however, you would get something much smaller and more manageable with better battery life.

(Edit: The preceding paragraph describes not so much the Kompakt, but rather a mobile phone that unfortunately does not yet exist.)

As far as I know, there isn’t anything like that currently available. (In terms of form factor, maybe the LP2, but it’s not shipped in the EU.)

Sure, a camera is nice, but not essential.

Maps for a quick overview is handy, but not absolutely necessary – although the current map display on the Kompact isn’t optimal for E Ink (too little contrast, too many shades of gray).

Even though this may change in the future (or has already changed in countries other than mine), for instance with regard to e-government, etc.

Regarding all the sideloading and the WhatsApp crowd

The Fairphone Gen. 6 is great, apart from the fact that the camera can’t quite compete with the market leaders.

And WhatsApp, for example: I would never install it. It drives me crazy that almost everyone who has my number shares or uploads it—along with who knows what other data (names, etc.). Hardly anyone reads the fine print, and even years ago, the parent company’s default settings were notorious for their privacy violations; people just quickly tap “OK” and “Next” and their entire address book is accessed and uploaded. Most people have no clue about the technical side—take emails, for example: many enter a dozen addresses in the “To” field instead of ”CC”, so every recipient ends up with everyone else’s email address. Great!

In everyday life, people who have no clue about electronics or computers often make you feel like a backwoodsman—simply because you don’t use WhatsApp or Telegram.

You think you’re super smart. But most are not. I’m not.

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I did contact customer support. Either they’d ship me the components and I fix it myself, with all the risks, and I’d lose warranty. Or I can send the Kompakt to Warsaw to get it fixed and pay for the components, the effort, and the shipping, in total much more than e.g. a Dumber Mini.

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Agree with the author.

Several years after buying a Fairphone for my wife under e/os, I bought aF5 for me.

When they stopped 3G here, I gave My F5 to my wife and bought a Mak. I found the F5 too big and with too much features for what I use.

But I’m getting slowly tired of battling with my MK to get something usable in the real world.

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In less than a day I realized it’s the Mudita Kompakt phone was a concept I purchased, not a functional product. I am the only kid on my block who has a Kompakt phone.

Wanna try some pillows and a blanket? Why would a company that sells a phone sell cushions? Slick advertising?

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Dear @urszula - Forum feedback here from Mudita Kompakt customers, in my opinion, its apparent we are are involuntary beta testing. Mudita is not my circus, but if the Kompakt was my monkey, I’d recommend that the Mudita developers must actively engage in these discussions.

Reference:

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Yes to all of this. Glad I returned the Kompakt, especially seeing how barebones the recent update was. How absolutely disappointing. All that waiting and that’s what users were given. Bonkers.

It’s also concerning that Mudita is already working on another phone when they can’t get the Kompakt right after two or so years.

Light Phone III is the better alternative for me, especially with their recent developer program announcement. The third-party developers have been releasing some fantastic apps via GitHub. That type of excitement just doesn’t exist for the Kompakt. I actually feel confident that the LPIII will be supported for years to come. I don’t feel that confidence with the Kompakt.

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Hi Everyone, Especially Marko, who started this thread.

Thank You very much for your feedback. I would like to clarify a few points.

  1. We will be more active in gathering user feedback and addressing it as quickly as we can. To support this, we will publish a separate thread this week with the issues and improvements currently on our list, and we will also use it to collect anything important that we may have missed. The goal is to make sure that the things causing frustration or dissatisfaction are clearly acknowledged, prioritized, and reflected in the roadmap.

  2. I am personally not happy that some of the basic apps are still not fully functional. For example, I recently started using the meditation app myself and immediately found a few bugs that should not be there at this stage.

  3. In addition to the current work plan, which I will briefly explain below, we are also committed to improving our internal organization so that this process becomes faster and more efficient. I hope the effects of these changes will become visible in the coming months.

  4. Please be assured that other products, such as meditation cushions, alarm clocks, or wristwatches, are not being developed by the same team that works on Kompakt software. These projects are handled by separate departments and do not directly take resources away from Kompakt software development. Of course, they may have some impact at the highest company level, but I would still consider that impact relatively minor.

  5. The same applies to the development of a new phone. Since hardware development takes a long time — we estimate around two years — we had to start this process already. However, this does not mean that Kompakt software development will suffer because of it. At this stage, these are separate efforts. Some resources may need to be shared later, perhaps around the 2.x software line, but not anytime soon.

  6. One reason why software updates may appear to have slowed down is that we are preparing a major software update, around version 2.0, planned for this fall. Part of the team is already working on that update, so from the outside it may look as if the regular update process has slowed.

  7. That said, this does not make it acceptable for smaller bugs or obvious issues to remain unresolved. Despite everything I wrote above, we will do our best to iron them out as quickly as possible.

Once again, thank you for your honest feedback. We hear you, and we know that trust is built not by words, but by visible improvements. So please expect a few concrete actions from our side soon.

Michał

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