I started using the Kompakt last December and for 4 months it was working great after the setup (which was a bit frustrating). It was my only phone. I missed a call here and there but it didn’t have any negative effect. In general, I did not get many calls or texts so the kompakt met those needs well. I absolutely love the CalmCast app and it’s probably what I used this phone the most for. HereWeGo worked well enough for navigation, which I needed very occasionally only.
I did have to switch back to iPhone when traveling in Asia, because I could not get the Kompakt (NA edition) to work.
I went back and forth on whether or not it was worth it to have WhatsApp on the Kompakt, or just keep it on my iPhone and power it on every so often to sign in on my computer. I found updating anything on the Kompakt to be a hassle enough that I just wouldn’t do it unless it’s urgent, so I went with the latter option, and didn’t miss WhatsApp. Although I probably found myself on my computer more.
I missed being able to type Chinese characters and the occasional sending of photos but neither were deal breakers.
In April, my child was hospitalized suddenly and my communication needs changed. I had to be reached all the time, by phone and WhatsApp, to send many texts quickly, to send pictures and screenshots, to access email frequently… I switched back to my iPhone. Didn’t use the Kompakt for most of the month.
My iPhone 8 quit on me soon after the hospital and I set up the hand me down iPhone I had in reserve which I had planned to sell. I kept the phone with me for a few weeks due to fear of missing important calls/texts, something I had not done in years. Also having Google maps was super useful this whole time because of the many new places I had to go. The iPhone is set up to call/text/iMessage/email/whatsapp/photos. The brightness of the screen even on grayscale still irritates my eyes (one of my main problems with smartphones to begin with) and I still hate it. I can access a browser but I find that way too hard on the eyes so whatever I am looking up has to be very urgent or it can wait.
I still listen to podcasts and music on the Kompakt. I just love that experience of not being distracted.
Things have settled enough now that yesterday I switched the SIM card back to the Kompakt. I kept getting notification sounds…. but no texts or anything. I never had this happen but could not figure out what was causing it. I don’t have the bandwidth right now to tinker so I took the SIM back out.
Now I’m in an interesting situation with using both devices. I just updated the Kompakt so maybe it’ll be good to use again soon.
I hope your child is OK now. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Do you know what caused you to “miss” calls and texts? Was it a carrier issue?
This has been happening to me too, both 1.4 and 1.5 OS. I think it might be related to voicemails, since the phone doesn’t have the capacity to manage those. It appears to be on the MK roadmap, which I am looking forward to.
I never figured it out. I only knew I missed them because they were automated calls from the school and my husband got the same calls on his smartphone. My phone didn’t even ring.
I didn’t even think of this. I didn’t have any voicemails when I tried the kompakt again though. I thought maybe it’s the notification that there is the update available? That was the only new thing I noticed… but it didn’t make sense to keep dinging.
I have a thought to do this. Is it possible to have 2 SIMs of the same number? Most of the time I don’t ‘need’ the capabilities of the iPhone, yet it is nice to have when I want to fire off a bunch of messages and don’t want to spend more time than necessary doing so. I like the Kompakt a lot but I do not like texting on it. It is an interesting device indeed.
Sorry, no, sims are different numbers, more complicated.
“The Kompakt isn’t for everyone.”
Mudita Kompakt acknowledges that people live differently.
Some use their phone as a primary device. Others prefer a hybrid setup, pairing Kompakt with a smartphone used only when truly necessary, like during working hours. Some want a travel phone. Others want a long term shift toward digital minimalism.
For the critical needs you have please use the iPhone.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I actually know a few people who are on the two-phone system.
They require a smartphone for their job (usually provided by the employer) but after 5pm (and weekends) their time is their time & they switch to Mudita Kompakt.
@smuch Voicemails are handled by the carrier- you just call in to the system and retriever them. I get notified by SMS that I have a VM or if someone called me while I was on another call. That’s just how my carrier handles these type of notifications.
At least you get an SMS! Unfortunately my carrier does not have notifications, and requires me to call my own number to go through 2 minutes of prompts before hearing one.
Very happy to see voicemail enhancements at the top of the list for Q3 2026 roadmap. I hope it stays there!
@adizzy, if you are in the USA, then here are two posts about how customers of the U.S. cellular carriers (e.g., AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, as well as the MVNOs that ride on their networks) handle voicemail message-waiting indicators:
My understanding is that Mudita – NOT you – must investigate what silent SMS message is used by each of the three major carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon), and therefore by the MVNOs that ride on those carriers’ networks, so as to enable the voicemail MWI that Mudita is promising that the Kompakt’s Phone app in the Q3-2026 version of MuditaOS K will support as part of the voicemail enhancements on the roadmap for Q3 2026.
Until Mudita launches that version, any USA-based Kompakt user must manually call his or her cellular carrier’s voicemail service to learn whether any new voicemail waits for him or her.
As an update, I sideloaded KompaktX, which shows voicemails in the notifications!!
This is great, but I would prefer to have it on the stock app when that is available. I’ve hesitated installing KompaktX because I didn’t want notification banners / pop-ups, but fortunately it can be disabled in settings. I just see the voicemail in the notification panel whenever I check it.
Hey, no worries, l learned now I could call voicemail and check (how did I not know this??). I missed a call yesterday, got a notification sound and did just that. There was a message! Having a voicemail indicator isn’t necessary for me… when I was using an iPhone I often had my data off so they wouldn’t come through unless I turned it on, and then depending on who the messages were from I’d ignore them or just call back/wait for callback.
I am grateful that cellular carriers here in the USA use silent SMS to transmit a voicemail message-waiting indicator. This means that new-voicemail notifications here do not use the data portion of a cellular plan. I look forward to the next major release of the Mudita Kompakt fully supporting the voicemail features to which American cellular customers are accustomed!
On the iPhone, I would only get the indicator of voicemail when I turned the data on. So I always thought that was the only way to access voicemail… which did not make sense to me, because one should be able to be able to call/text/voicemail without data? I only turned it on once in awhile and often end up with a dozen old voicemails… so I was definitely pleased to learn I could just call to get the voicemails, another point the Kompakt.
