TTfone TT970

2026 update. TLDR: there's a great-looking new model, the TT990, which is the successor to this phone. This model is has now become obsolete beyond making basic calls. I'm updating this review four years after buying the phone, in part because there are a bunch of negative reviews here from people who have bought the phone much too late in its life cycle. There have been a number of changes to phone technology since I wrote the original review, notably with mobile internet and text messaging. I LOVED the TT970 phone for about three years of peak function. It was a gem. It's not TTFone's fault that new technology rendered it obsolete. I'm currently using a Motorola smartphone, but now TTFone's TT990 has been released, I have an eye on that. I wouldn't recommend the TT970 phone anymore, because time has passed it by. But go and take a look at the new TT990. It looks great. I'm not going to reduce the number of stars for the TT970, because it was absolutely worth five stars when I first owned it. I look forward to buying the TT990.

This phone did not work out of the box and I encountered problems getting it to work. 1) The WhatsApp application was out of date and I had to update it, but this was the least of my problems. 2) E-mail would not work. As soon as I tried to enter an e-mail address, the text turned cryllic (Russian) and I was unable to progress further. 3) Allowing a software update caused the Apptoid Store to disappear and e-mail would still not work. 4) Performing a factory reset did not reinstate the Apptoid Store but installed something called the Aurora Store and again e-mail would still not work. It was a challenge to find an e-mail app which worked but eventually I did find that the AquaMail app allows a single e-mail address or K-9 Mail app allows multiple e-mail addresses. I now have the phone working as it should, but due to the significant challenges I faced in getting this phone to work, I am unable to recommend this phone. Certainly not worth the £120 I paid for it.

I’d knock of half a star if I could, but sadly I can’t do 3.5/5. Summary: it works (usually) Before we get into the review, I feel it prudent to note I am in my mid-20s with a decent bit of tech ability, I decided to buy the same phone as my grandfather and get off social media for the sake of my mental health a number of years and phones ago, so I am judging this phone from the perspective of a mental health slash live in the moment tool. This is not representative of the mileage an elder or someone without a decent understanding of stripped back android OS would get. The good: -nice and loud -Bluetooth audio works with wireless earbuds (not always the case in my experience with dumb phones) -has a 3.5mm headphone jack -very simple UI (can be good or bad depending on your personal tastes but I like it) -comes with a working web browser (very much necessary given two items in ‘the bad’) -makes calls and texts -has a dedicated WhatsApp button -proper T9 keyboard, none of that ‘predictive text’ or ‘autocorrect’ -no AI tools The bad: -pre-installed App Store doesn’t work, had to download F-Droid and Aurora Store APKs through the web browser -WhatsApp doesn’t work by default, you have to download an updated APK from either the internet or Aurora Store -default email app doesn’t work with gmail and the gmail app is incompatible, couldn’t get emails to work outside of my browser. -comes with a bit of what I consider bloat (SOS, photo contacts, etc.) (not a con for everyone just a con for me) and disabling the bloat in the android system menu has a knock on effect, for example removing photo contacts from the Home Screen means your contacts will not display in the standard contacts app. If you want the stuff you use to work you’re stuck with the stuff you don’t use. -built in speaker sounds quite bad for music, not that you can play music as standard you have to download VLC from Aurora for that -doesn’t have Snake -feels very flimsy The surprising: -you can use this thing as a GPS if you download Sygic from Aurora Store. The maps work well, too - I used this thing as my main GPS for a 1700km road trip this last week and it seems better suited to the intricacies of Ireland’s road network than Google maps, which often brings me to towns of the right name in the wrong county or drops me off three or four houses down from my actual destination even when I use the eircode. As a test I had google maps running on my android head unit in my car and google was often giving wrong instructions in regards to things like ‘follow the road to the right’ (correct) vs ‘turn right’ (incorrect) or ‘straight at the intersection’ (correct) vs ‘turn left then immediately right’ (incorrect). It was also far less inclined than Google to take me down single track roads, which I for one see as a big deal as I live in a very rural area with a lot of single track roads where Google often sends inexperienced urban drivers who have no business on a road without a second lane. ‘Google Maps is Wrong, turn in village’ signs are popping up all over the place these days. -has a hotspot which works quite well but drains battery quickly -battery drains surprisingly quickly. I had a Cat S22 flip for a few years before this and it could last 2-3 days on one charge, this thing needs charged nightly. Overall, now that the Cat S22 is off the market this is the best dumb phone I have used, however were the S22 still available I would choose that over this any day.

Really nice phone and loved that you can use WhatsApp, it's the reason I made the purchase but unfortunately I had to return as the battery life was shocking, was losing 10% an hour when just sat in my pocket. Shame

Excellent for my 95 yr old mother in a care home. She's no good with any technology so I set it up for her but she can call me using the photo/faves setting just by touching my photo. My brother calls her using WhatsApp from abroad so she only has to answer it and they can talk for a long time. She keeps it in it's cradle next to her chair so it's always at full charge but I can vouch for it's long battery life. It also has good sound as it has a hearing aid compatible setting that boosts the sound for her. The phone itself feels quite solid, not cheap and plasticy, and is quite comfortable in the hand. The flip-to-answer setting is also great for her, equally ending a call by closing the phone. The only drawback for us is that the WhatsApp version used by this phone requires an update every so often. Which means she can be without WhatsApp for a while (for my brother's calls) until I'm there to do the update although the basic mobile calls are still available - no fault of the phone, I guess it's some sort of contract between WhatsApp and the phone's manufacturer. In short, this is ideal for someone elderly, or someone wanting to ditch the constant internet intrusion or, if you're a parent, this would be great for a youngster wanting a mobile without social media.

1/5 Stars - Absolutely atrocious setup. Avoid unless you are a tech expert. Absolutely atrocious experience. The pre-installed apps on this phone were so incredibly out of date that they refused to run. Even worse, I couldn't update them directly because the system blocked the updates for being outdated. It took me about 2 hours of pulling my hair out, but I finally got it working. I had to use AI to guide me through manually downloading the APK files onto my laptop, transferring them over to the phone via USB, and changing a mountain of security and developer settings just to get them to install. It works now, but a regular user would have sent this straight back. Unacceptable for a new device.

I bought this phone as I am an older person (mid-sixties) and wanted to reduce using my smartphone. The phone mostly works as described in the advertising. As others have stated, the battery charge runs out quickly. It does not support gmail or outlook. And WhatsApp is hit and miss (Better to keep that on your smartphone if you are changing to this phone.) It is not suitable for people with poor eyesight as the screen and keys are difficult to see even with full illumination. It is also not suitable for those with limited hand dexterity. The keys are small and it takes forever to type a simple text. Each key is assigned to three letters. You need to repeatedly press keys to type one letter and have to wait if the key is also assigned to the next letter you want to type. I was unable to import my contact list which meant I had to type in all my contacts. I'm sure there is an easier way but it's not intuitive nor are there any instructions. The phone uses a 32GB microSD if you want to upgrade storge. I had to search online to verify the correct card size as it's not in the instructions. Compared to a smartphone it is prehistoric and completely unsuited to those with poor eyesight and dexterity. As for moving away from my smartphone to reduce my online activity this phone fails because it has limited or no support for apps in common use. So I had to keep the smartphone for checking emails and WhatsApp messages. It is unsuitable for anything other than basic texting. If a text contains a link, as many medical ones do, then it is counter-productive. I am very disappointed that I could not transfer over to this phone. Perhaps that is to be expected for a long term smartphone user. This phone is much less suitable for older people and those with disabilities and/or health problems than a smartphone. I think a smartphone is much easier to use, more versatile and easier to understand.

I bought the TT970 for my 11 year old son now he's started secondary school. We didn't want to give him a full smart phone but wanted him to be able to have access to WhatsApp so he can stay in touch with friendship groups. The phone turned out to be absolutely perfect in this regard. It's not a seductive or compelling screen so he doesn't spend any time on it, but it has all the functionality he needs to stay in touch with friends. With a lot of schools banning smartphones and a lot of parents trying to uphold smartphone free childhood I highly recommend this phone as an alternative. TTfone should be marketing this phone for this use as well - there are a lot of parents who would be very interested in it.

Super eenvoudig in gebruik!

L'appareil semblait correspondre à ce que j'en attendais : pouvoir consulter mes emails et utiliser la messagerie WhatsApp. Malheureusement, Google refuse l'application utilisée dans ce téléphone pour la consultation des emails (My.com) et malgré la disponibilité et les conseils du service après-vente, pourtant très soucieux de m'aider, l'opération s'est avérée impossible. L'appareil semblait aussi très gourmand en énergie. J'ai donc dû me résigner à le renvoyer.

das gleiche Model bei Fysc gekauft, zu kleiner Speicher Ram u.Rom so kein Updat für Whatsapp möglich aber dass von tt-fone hat genug speicher 4 Gb , 8Gb genug also alles läuft rund.. kann ich nur empfehlen das einzige Model wo dass bietet..

Bought for my 90yo mother who has limited use of her hands, based on being able to answer calls from the front screen. However this is not possible and phone must be flipped open to answer. Second issue that the phone only intermittently charges in the dock and most often has to be plugged directly into usb lead to charge. Again not ideal for elderly hands.

أحببت في الهاتف ظهور صورة المتصل مع وجود قائمة من 8 جهات اتصال مفضلة تعرض الصورة للمتصل ،وأيضا امكانية نطق اسم المتصل بدل الرنة ، اضافة إلى صوت الرنين المرتفع وتضخيم الصوت الداخلي ، وسهولة استخدامه مع وجود شاشة اللمس . وجود الميزات الذكية كالواتساب . لكن تم تعطيله لأني أخذته للوالدة وهي كبيرة في السن وسمعها ضعيف . في الحقيقة الهاتف عجيب وهو ما كنت أبحث عنه . وسعره مناسب جدا لمميزاته الرهيبة .