Set up BrightMarket

A catalogue of apps for the Light Phone III. It installs them without putting a store on the phone. Setup takes about two minutes.

1 · Get it onto the phone

There are two ways. Both end at the same place. Use the one in front of you.

In the phone browser

1. Open brightmarket.gzl.dev/setup on the Light Phone.
2. Tap Download the APK.
3. When the download stops, open the file from the notification or from Downloads.
4. Android asks for permission the first time. Allow it.

Android refuses installs from outside a store. You give the permission once, to the app that does the install. Here that app is the browser.

If you closed the prompt, open Settings → Apps → Special access → Install unknown apps. Select the browser. Turn it on.

Over a cable

1. Download the APK to a computer that has adb.
2. On the phone, open Settings → About phone. Tap Build number seven times.
3. Open Settings → System → Developer options. Turn on USB debugging.
4. Connect the phone to the computer.
5. The phone asks to trust the computer. Accept it.
6. Run adb devices. The phone must show the state device.
7. Run adb install -r BrightMarket.apk.

• A state of unauthorized means the trust prompt is still open on the phone.
• The flag -r replaces a copy that is already there.
• The error INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE means the phone already has a build with a different signature. Remove that build first. It takes its settings with it.

2 · Open it and choose how to use it

The first launch asks one question. The answer changes what the app is.

• Browse here. Search and find apps on the phone, like any store.
• Focus mode. No browsing on the phone. You read the catalogue on a computer and send apps to the phone by code. Everything you installed still updates.

You can turn focus mode on later in Settings. To turn it off again, you must scan a code from the catalogue page. That is the point of it.

Focus mode is a commitment device, not a lock. The code is an ordinary link, and anyone who wants one can make one.

3 · Install an app

Open the catalogue and scan the code for the app you want. If you left focus mode off, you can browse on the phone instead. Nothing installs until you tap Install.

4 · Apps that are not in the catalogue

Scan the URL of any GitHub repository that publishes APK releases. BrightMarket then tracks it for updates with everything else.

These apps carry the mark UNLISTED. BrightMarket cannot check their downloads against a published hash, which it does for apps in the catalogue.

5 · Coming from Obtainium

Export your apps from Obtainium. Then open Settings → Import from Obtainium. Apps in the catalogue become normal entries. BrightMarket tracks the rest as unlisted.

An app with no GitHub repository behind it gets reported, not dropped. BrightMarket cannot check it for updates.

Keeping up to date

The Updates tab compares what you have against the newest release, and offers Update All. BrightMarket updates itself the same way, and always last in a batch. Installing it closes the app, so anything after it in the queue would never run.