I think the privacy switch would’ve gone over much better if they just called it a customizable switch that defaults to Do Not Disturb / Silence. Or…just have it be another button like on OnePlus (rip alert slider), iPhone (also rip slider), etc. with OOTB options for DnD, launch camera, launch a favorite app. Then it’s not locked into literal binary states like BT on/off, AppSupport on/off, etc.
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In what context do some of you people need the 3.5 mm headphone so badly?
- You don’t want to use Bluetooth?
- You are an audiophile?
- You have an old headphones you just love?
- You have one of those old cars with only aux in?
The thing is that the audio quality from 3.5 mm jack in almost all phones including the premium ones is usually absolutely horrible. No equalizer or nothing. Don’t there exist BT to 3.5 mm devices for audiophiles with top notch DACs and eq?
To listen to music & using better quality headphones.
Also BT audio never ever worked reliable on SFOS devices from 7 yrs. ago till now.
With my GrapheneOS phone I do use BT, not headphones but an external BT sound adapter, and it works. With SFOS device, it works too in principle, but never reliable & often stutters or doesn’t reconnect with known device, requests deleting the old connection and pair again, and so on, so much trouble all the time!
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I have no problem using Bluetooth with Sailfish OS, did you report it somewhere?
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Throwing in some non-audiophile reasons, just cause:
- They’re are easier on the wallet, and the environment - When my headphones eventually break or get lost, I’d much prefer them to be cheap to replace and use fewer resources to manufacture.
- No worrying about batteries - My ADHD ass would definitely run the batteries flat and forget to charge them. That, and batteries degrade over time, don’t they? With wired, I can just grab my headphones and use them, period, no extra steps.
- Ease of switching between devices - I can easily switch what device I’m connected to by just, unplugging them from one, and plugging them into the other, without having to dig around in any settings.
- I prefer earpods-style earphones – y’know, the ones that don’t block or isolate sound – which generally seem to be a rarity in the wireless space for some reason??
The wire can be annoying, sure, but I think it’s a fair trade-off. And it makes it impossible to lose just one earphone. 
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I agree. Privacy switch as a term is even less well-defined than VoLTE 
Maybe we’ll have to wait until 2026Q1 for Jolla to provide more details. IMHO, it is unlikely to be a hardware kill switch, though.
Maybe call it a Convenience switch? An easily operated switch that toggles whatever settings the phone owner chooses. Or maybe switches to an Ambiance the owner has chosen. It would afford the same privacy as the Top menu toggles offer, with the same guarantees. No more, no less.
[Edit to collapse the rest of the post]
Why don't I think it will be a hardware kill switch?
Because most components (like modem, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS, myriad sensors..) are probably integrated into the SoC and have their power and data connections embedded there. And what happens inside the SoC is largely up to the many processors living there and the “mystery code” they run.
There would literally be no place to connect an external switch, unless the phone uses separate modules for these functions - like the Librem 5 does. It has two M.2 modules for modem and WiFi/BT, an extra GPS receiver on the main PCB (the SoC-provided GPS has no antenna connected), and three kill switches. This comes with a much higher manufacturing cost, and requires lots of space that could otherwise have allowed for a larger battery or a smaller phone.
Then there is the issue of just what the kill switch(es) should kill:
- Would you want to use navigation while modem, WiFi and BT are killed?
- Would you want to stream music to your BT headphones, while GPS, cameras and microphone are killed?
- Would you want to talk over a local WiFi connection with modem, GPS and BT killed?
Since this will be set in stone by the hardware design, you will either get a compromise with a small number of switches conveniently located on the shell of the phone, or umpteen minuscule switches hidden under the battery. The Librem 5 went with first option (modem, BT+WiFi, mic+cameras; killing all three also kills the remaining sensors), while the second option is what the PinePhone did.
As the new phone seems to be based on a SoC, we can be pretty sure the Privacy switch is not a hardware kill switch. It can still be a very convenient way to toggle between two states chosen by the phone owner.
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By the way, there is one thing that could be hardware killed: The microphone.
Just plug in a shorted plug in the 3.5 mm jack. That will disable the built-in microphones. Oh wait…
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A switch that shortens the mic can also be added to every main board, if the soldering points are accessible. One has to take care, how many mic’s the phone has!
Did they promise though? I might have missed it, but I haven’t read a promise. They told us they were working on it, together with the statement that it wasn’t sure if it would work out. With every statement they sounded more sure. Sure enough for me to buy a 10V, but I didn’t see a promise.
I write this in a bit defensive tone, because I wish to be careful and push back against things I don’t believe to be true. But I am not sure it really isn’t true, so it is a genuine question, and I am ready to take everything back if I am wrong. Did they promise?
You’re right, of course, and I would assume the PCB and the soldering points will be available to Jolla. (They would also need read the state of the switch, so the UI of e.g. the Phone app can remind people to enable their microphones when placing a call.)
This, however, only addresses one out of many reasonable interpretations of what a Privacy switch should do. Depending on the individual and the situation, location, cameras or even accelerometer may be a bigger problem than microphones.
Edit: I’m totally in favour of hardware kill switches, in case it sounded otherwise. It’s just that I think there’s more to it than adding a switch, i.e. the size/weight/battery capacity/cost tradeoff, which threats/situations should be addressed, and UI issues.
3,5 mm jack is the only way to listen music in my very old Pioneer stereo systems.
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Lots of things can still have hardware killswitches despite it being a SoC - sound and camera trivially comes to mind. Some things hay well have external pins for enablement too.
However; what truly kills the possibility of this being a try killswitch is that it is configurable - i.e. able to be overridden in software.
Personally i’m not so fussed about it being a soft switch.
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Me neither. Turning stuff off from the UI is good enough for me, and a physical switch for that would be very handy. Better get a good working phone now, with privacy properties equivalent to what we already have but with more convenience. For most people that will already be a huge improvement over the duopoly.[1]
I still view phones with hardware/hardcore kill switches a niche for people with a more pressing threat model.
More bikeshedding
Except you wouldn’t know what happens on the inside. The SoC could enable e.g. its GPS at will or even on a ping from the network.
Right, if configurable in software then you could just as well trust the software to obey your settings made in the UI.
Configurable by hardware would be a possibility, like a forest of little switches behind the battery to set which peripherals get killed by which kill switch on the outside of the phone. (That would cater to a niche of a niche, at best.)
Citation needed ↩︎
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Wrong. There are Bluetooth-to-3,5mm-jack-Adapters out there since years!
I use one of these bad boys on my 1982 Grundig SV1000:
But there are also smaller variants:
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And if you are anyway talking about a wired connection, you can just go with a USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter (and from there to whatever analog jack format you like).
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