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Your first day

Let's get you set up.

Your Kala Phone arrives already set up. What's left is a short handoff from your old phone, and nothing here is timed.

Keep this page open on your old phone or a laptop. Your Kala Phone asks a few things on its own screen: Wi-Fi, your Kala Phone account, your number. Steps 1 to 4 follow that same order.

1

Turn on your Kala Phone

Press and hold the power button until the screen wakes up. There's no long Android setup to click through; we finished that before it shipped. Your phone asks a few short questions instead, and the next three steps mirror them.

2

Wi-Fi

On your Kala Phone, pick your network and enter the password.

No Wi-Fi handy? Use your old phone as a hotspot for a few minutes.

iPhone Settings, Personal Hotspot, turn it on. Join that network from your Kala Phone.
Android Settings, Network & internet, Hotspot & tethering, turn on Wi-Fi hotspot. Join that network from your Kala Phone.
3

Your Kala Phone account

Your phone asks you to sign in with your email. Use the one you ordered with: type it in, we email you a six-digit code, and entering it links the phone to you.

In a hurry? You can skip this; the Kala Store offers the link again anytime.

4

Your number

Your carrier moves your number to the new phone: start in their app or with a call. The move can take a few hours. Many carriers require a transfer PIN before they release a number, so ask for it up front. More on transfers that stall.

Old voicemails stay with the old phone and carrier. New ones arrive here.

iPhone

One more thing, and it matters: while your number still works on the old iPhone, turn iMessage off there (Settings, then Messages). Skip this and texts from iPhone friends can quietly stop arriving. If the old iPhone is gone, Apple has a page for removing your number; search "deregister iMessage".

Android Nothing extra here. Carry on.
5

Google sign-in, when you want it

The phone won't ask for this one. Apps like WhatsApp, Spotify, and most banks install through Google Play, which needs one Google sign-in: add your account in Settings, or when an install asks for it. Only want the built-in tools? Skip it; the phone is complete without it. The account is plumbing, not a feed.

No account, or forgot the password? Sort that out on your old phone or a computer first, then sign in here.
6

WhatsApp

Do you use WhatsApp? It stays available in the Kala Store whenever you're ready, so there's no wrong answer.

Setting it up now

Install WhatsApp from the Kala Store with your old phone unlocked nearby. WhatsApp walks you through moving your history during its own setup, over Wi-Fi. A big history can take up to a couple of hours; keep both phones plugged in until it finishes.

Android You can also restore from a Google Drive backup; that path needs no old phone at all.
iPhone The move needs your old iPhone in hand.
Setting it up later
Android Before the old phone goes away, make sure a chat backup exists: WhatsApp Settings, Chats, Chat backup. With a backup, you can transfer any time, even after the old phone is gone.
iPhone The move needs your old iPhone in hand, so do it before the goodbye step, or make peace with starting fresh.

The same recipe is on WhatsApp's page in the Kala Store.

Not using it

Nothing to do. Messages and Signal are already on the phone; texting works from minute one.

7

Contacts and photos

Contacts have a path from every old phone, and none of them needs a Google account.

iPhone Sign in at iCloud.com on a computer, export your contacts as a vCard (.vcf) file, get it to your Kala Phone, and open it in Contacts.
Android, no Google In the old Contacts app, Export (sometimes "Share all") makes one .vcf file. Quick Share it to your Kala Phone and open it in Contacts.
Android, signed in to Google If your contacts were synced there, they should arrive on their own within a few minutes.

Photos:

iPhone They stay safe on the old phone and in iCloud. Want them here too? Apple runs a transfer service to Google Photos; search "transfer iCloud photos".
Android If Google Photos backup was on, your photos are already waiting once you sign in to Google at step 5.

An honest note: text threads, call history, and alarms stay on the old phone. The usual Android transfer step never runs on a Kala Phone, and no later step brings them across. Screenshot any conversation you'd miss.

8

The rest of your apps

Open the Kala Store and search for what you use: your bank, your car, your everyday tools. Most install in one tap; some finish in Google Play.

Tap-to-pay is its own quick step: open Wallet and add your card once.

9

Your login codes

Sometime this week, move your two-factor codes off the old phone. Start with your email and your bank; a few banks want a phone call or a branch visit to re-enroll, so give those the most lead time.

Code apps differ. Google Authenticator moves every account at once: "Transfer accounts" in the app, then scan with the new phone. Microsoft Authenticator's iPhone backups will not restore on Android, so re-add those one at a time while the old phone still works.

An Apple Watch won't pair with a Kala Phone. AirPods and hearing aids re-pair here like any Bluetooth device.

Before you say goodbye

The three that matter.

Once these are true, your old phone has done its job.

10

Say goodbye, then make your first call

The goodbye

When the boxes above are checked, or you've made peace with skipping one, power your old phone all the way off. Don't leave it charged and within reach; that one habit quietly undoes the rest.

Close it out with a small ceremony: power it off, tape it shut in a drawer, and write the date on the tape. Open it only if you truly need something off it.

Write your two lines

Grab a pen and any piece of paper, or use the boxes below. Sentences shaped like this help people follow through: "When I ____, I'll ____." Fill it in twice, for two moments you know will tempt you.

Make your first call

Your Kala Phone's first job isn't installing something else. Call a person you love.

Welcome to day one.

Stuck at any point? Quick answers, and a form that reaches a real person.