Battery Save Mode Quirks

One of the most situations I originally experienced Cat S22 Flip was caused by its battery save mode. Since I wasn’t using this phone for much, I elected to have this mode on 24/7. While this helps preserve battery life, it comes with a notable quirk: the GPU gets disabled when the phone is flipped shut. This means if you’re using Google Maps for navigation and close your phone, you’ll hear that dreaded “GPS lost” announcement. For those who rely on turn-by-turn navigation, you’ll want to keep battery saving mode off during your drives to maintain GPS connectivity when the phone is flipped shut.

Text Message Syncing Solutions

Coming from a full Android phone, you might be disappointed to learn that the Cat S22 Flip, running Android Go, doesn’t support Google Messages’ multi-device syncing. This means you can’t automatically sync your texts between your phone, computer, and tablet like you might be used to. Fortunately, there are ways around this. You can download a version of Google messages that was built for non-Android Go phones, and install it just fine. This unlocks the multi-device syncing feature. To do this, you can follow originally dictated here by Leofus, which I’ll copy here incase the linked post is ever removed:

You’ll be able to discern the Android Go and non-Go versions of the Google Messages app based on the file name. A file named like

messages.android_20241112_00_RC03.phone.go_dynamic

has a go_dynamic suffix, while

messages.android_20241112_00_RC03.phone_dynamic

does not. The former being for Android Go, the latter being for regular Android.

  1. On your Cat S22 flip phone, search APK Pure for google Messages
  2. Look through the Old Versions of Google Messages, and download the latest version that does not have the go_dynamic suffix.
  3. Install, and open said APK.
  4. In the top right corner, click the profile photo of your logged into Google account.
  5. Click Device pairing, and step through the instructions to pair your device.
  6. To ensure that the Google Play Store does not auto update the Google Messages application, and overwrite your custom application, there’s one more step you should take. Open the Google Play Store listing for the Google Messages app, click the three dots in the top right corner and disable automatic updates.

If these steps are too involved, you can go down an easier but less useful third party application route. I originally was using Pulse SMS, unfortunately its interface unfortunately doesn’t play nice with the Cat S22 Flip’s unique form factor. After testing various options, I’ve found Join by joaoapps to be the closest viable solution. Not only does it handle text message syncing across devices, but it throws in some bonus features like clipboard syncing. This means you can copy text on your computer and paste it directly into a text message on your flip phone – a surprisingly useful feature when you’re juggling multiple devices.

Google Fi Syncing

Further more, if you use Google Fi, you can sync and access your messages, voicemail, and phone calls via other devices (phones, and computers). I’ve paraphrased the official steps listed here

  1. To use this option, RCS chats must be off. If you already use Google Messages, before you sync your conversations, you need to turn off RCS chats.
  2. On your phone, open the Messages app.
  3. At the top right, tap your account icon and then Message settings and then Advanced.
  4. Tap Google Fi Wireless settings.
  5. Sign in to your Google Fi account.
  6. To sync your conversations, tap Sync conversations.
  7. To sync with data, turn off Sync only over Wi-Fi. When the sync is done, at the top, you can find “Sync complete.”
  8. To find your conversations, go to Messages.

Developer Option Tweaks

To enable developer options, on your Cat S22 flip phone, open the Settings app and navigate to “About”, scroll to the bottom, and tap “Build number” 7 or so times. This will allow you to go to the top level of the Settings app and now access a “System > Advanced > Developer Options”.

Change the “smallest width of the screen” setting to 492 px. This will make your phone emulate a 4 inch screen. This will certainly make the device’s UI a bit smaller, but will improve app compatibility.

Additionally, you can disabling animations, to make the phone slightly snappier.

Minimizing Digital Distractions

One of the most powerful ways to transform your Cat S22 Flip into a focus-friendly device is to disable or uninstall potentially distracting apps. I’ve taken a somewhat radical approach by disabling Chrome, YouTube, and similar attention-grabbing applications. This leaves me with a device that excels at its core functions: communication, navigation, smart home control, fitness tracking, and basic entertainment through music and audiobooks.

Additionally, I am using the Android launcher called Before, to create a minimized phone experience. This allows me to produce a home screen that looks like this:

You’ll notice that icons are removed, as well as color. I’ve read a quite a bit about how this is supposed to reduce one’s dopamine hits released by using mobile applications. This stripped-down approach helps maintain the “flip phone spirit” while still keeping essential modern conveniences.

Text Entry Options

While many might assume text entry on a flip phone would be limited to T9 or hunt-and-peck typing, the Cat S22 Flip’s touchscreen offers surprisingly modern input methods. The phone’s small touchscreen supports Swype-style gesture typing, which works well for short writing.

Voice input stands out as another excellent option for longer texts or emails. The phone’s voice-to-text functionality is powered by Google’s speech recognition, meaning it’s just as accurate as what you’d find on a full Android phone. This feature is particularly useful if the small keyboard feels too cramped for extended typing sessions.

Between these two options, I rarely find myself missing a full-sized smartphone keyboard. The combination of gesture typing for quick messages and voice input for longer communications provides a surprisingly complete text entry experience that defies the “flip phone” stereotype.

Fixing Wifi Calling

This subject transcends just the Cat S22, so I’ve written a separate blog post on this.

Conclusion

The Cat S22 Flip, while not perfect, becomes significantly more useful when you understand its quirks and optimize its setup. By being aware of the battery save mode’s effect on GPS, finding the right messaging solution, using the right way to enter text, and thoughtfully curating your apps, you can create a balanced experience that maintains the benefits of a flip phone while keeping necessary modern functionality.