Someone posted (may have been on nostr) about iPhones enabling tap-to-pay with LN (I think).

It is silly that you should have to visually read a QR code from one device to another, when the phones obviously have more efficient mechanisms of transferring information to each other.

Sounds like an awesome bitcoin charity idea. I have a few old smartphones lying around I wouldn't mind donating.

Yes, unfortunately in order to have a full adoption on self custody, require a good internet infrastructure.

For weak connections and old devices, will be custodials. For good connections and new good devices, will be self-custody.

The wallet apps nowadays have to keep up with latest developments in software and will always require an increase performance and security patches for the device.

Simple Bitcoin Wallet was designed by Anton Kumaigorodsky with the requirement for running Lightning node on an as cheap as possible Android. SBW may still be used as onchain wallet that is able to run on almost any device.

As for Lightning, we preserved this feature of SBW in its fork called Valet.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.btcontract.walletfiat https://geyser.fund/project/valetlightning

It would be great to set something up where thousands of discarded or donated smart phones could be installed with the relevant LN apps and then either donated or sold cheap to those communities around the world where people want to use bitcoin but don’t have reliable hardware.

'How can' is another part but what you seem to suggest ia a great idea in itself. We know that these discarded or old phones do not provide much value to their owners and can be bought at much less price everywhere. But, just gifting these phones in the hope of adoption shouldn't be the target. The target should actually be 'Bitcoin Education' before thinking all of this. I see you saud that people know how to recieve or pay in Bitcoins in many developing nations but there are also many people who still don't understand 'how to simply use a smartphone' for Bitcoin related stuff. I will put stress on Bitcoin education more because only then we can see a proper change.

For now, donation is the only solution. Anyone who has a second hand phone can donate it.

We should organise and start a fraining school and then distribute resources. For faster adoption, we need to act fast.

Provide software and instructions so people can flash phones with graphene or something with bitcoin apps installed. Then dispersed people can send phones to a warehouse in El Salvadore for a standard lightning payment. This can be paid to a QR code included with the package once the phones are received, unpacked and tested. Then the El Savadore reseller can start distributing to the users and get their V4V with a markup.

One of the most significant hurdles for BCEs is the regulatory environment. Governments and financial institutions worldwide are still grappling with how to classify, regulate, and integrate cryptocurrencies into existing financial systems. Regulatory uncertainty can hinder the development and adoption of BCEs, as participants may face legal ambiguities or outright restrictions

I remember seeing @JoeNakamoto's I FAILED to give out free money to people in Communist Cuba, and indeed, things we take for granted (like a functional smartphone and decent internet access) might not be available in certain countries, making Bitcoin adoption way harder.