First setup

Open your phone#

Give yourself a phone using your inventory admin tools, or use:

/giveitem <id> nova_phone_ocean 1

Replace <id> with your in-game player ID. Use the phone from your inventory or press M. If you carry several phones, the key shows a menu to choose one, with each phone's battery.

Keep the phone in your inventory while using it. While it is open, Left Alt switches between using the phone and walking or looking around with it still in hand. The phone's side button turns it off; a phone turned off by hand stays off until the player turns it on again from its off screen.

Complete the setup#

A new phone walks you through a short setup. Closing the phone halfway resumes it on the next open.

1. Nova Account. Sign in, create an account or skip. The account manages the phone: Locate, cloud backups and transfers all need it. Creating one also creates its Nova Mail address, such as sam@nova.mail.
2. Restore. With an account that has backups, choose one to restore or set up as a new phone.
3. Appearance. Light, dark or system.
4. Accent colour. The colour of buttons, switches and highlights. Match Phone follows the phone's finish. This step is skipped when your server offers no accent colours.
5. Wallpaper.
6. Voice in videos. Whether nearby phones may record your voice in their videos, and which microphone to use. It stays off unless the player turns it on.
7. PIN. Optional, four or six digits.

Wolfden Phone Secure is different: it never takes a Nova Account, so its setup asks only for voice in videos and a PIN.

Once a PIN is set, players can add Face Unlock in Settings → Security, and choose their language in Settings → General → Language. Wolfden Phone Secure has no Face Unlock.

Get a phone number#

A new phone starts with No SIM. This is expected: it gets a phone number when you activate a SIM.

1. Visit a carrier shop. Nova Mobile and Apex Wireless have map blips by default.
2. Buy a blank SIM and activate it with an available plan, or buy an eSIM.
3. Open SIM Manager and install the physical SIM, or enter the eSIM activation code.
4. Enable the line and check that your number and carrier appear.

eSIM codes are single-use and expire after 15 minutes by default. Wolfden Phone Pro supports two enabled lines; Wolfden Phone supports one. Wolfden Phone Secure takes only Ghost Mobile eSIMs. See SIMs & carriers to configure shops and plans.

Test calls and messages#

Use two players with activated phones. Save each other's numbers in the Phone app's Contacts tab (the Contacts icon opens it too), send a message, then place a call. A copied number can be pasted on the Keypad with Ctrl+V or the Paste bubble.

• Confirm both players can hear the call. Call audio needs pma-voice.
• Close the recipient's phone and call again. A phone that is carried still rings while it is closed.
• If a phone shows No Service, move to an area with coverage and check airplane mode. Coverage comes from cell towers, which admins can edit in game with phoneadmin towers.
• Messages, Mail and online apps use mobile data from the plan. Check that Mobile Data is on in Control Center.

Find your apps#

Wolfden Phone and Wolfden Phone Pro come with the everyday apps, Music, News, Assist and Nova Store. Players download Nova Wallet, Echo, Snapgram, Ember, Clips, Rides, Bites, Garage, Homes, Radio, Arcade, Marketplace, Business, City and Routers from the store.

Two apps come from items. Shade is not in the store: it installs only from a Shade SD card, sold by "Stranger", a hidden black-market dealer. By default Racing stays hidden until the player carries a Racing USB, sold by the same dealer; the phone then offers to install it.

Wolfden Phone Secure has a fixed set of apps, including Shade, and no Nova Store. A missing app on that model is expected.

Before players join#

• Check the console for the boot self-check, missing database tables or resource errors.
• Run phoneadmin selftest report in the server console and fix anything it reports. Then run phoneadmin selftest, which must finish with 0 failed. See Check your installation.
• Try buying and activating a SIM as a regular player.
• Test calls and messages with two players.
• Take a photo and a short video, then open them in Gallery after reconnecting. This needs a media host.
• Install Nova Wallet and send a small payment to a second player if you plan to use it.
• Move the phone stores, carrier shops and the dealer's spots to fit your map if needed.
• Restart the resource on your test server and confirm that data remains available.

As an admin, run phoneadmin in game to open the admin menu: players and their phones, battery and power, PIN resets, Nova Accounts, cell towers and placed speakers. See Admin tools. If something fails, start with Troubleshooting.