r/PopcornMobile

Lots more cooking behind the scenes; here's a few things from the last release that are live now:

Assistant Voices
We added two new voices, Harry and Anna, and tweaked Jenny's default tone. We've experimented with a bunch of models (ElevenLabs, Grok etc) for voices but latency keeps being the main challenge. Curious how these sound to you.

Default Tab
A popular request here on Reddit was being able to open straight to the Calls tab instead of Home. Done. Now you can long press the bottom bar to switch your default tab on open.

Call Timestamps
Recent calls now show the time, not just the date.

Voicemail Sharing
Jenny answered call recordings can now be shared just like regular iOS voicemails. Hit Share inside the call summary.

Port Out
On the support tab on the Home screen, you can access your porting out details. No more reaching out to us just to leave us (we'll miss you though).

More coming soon. Keep the feedback coming... it directly shapes what we build!

When we started Popcorn, the idea was embarrassingly simple: your phone should just work, wherever you are. No roaming fees, juggling SIMs or panic when you land abroad. Every other part of your digital life went global years ago (Uber, Netflix, Wise).

Your phone plan did not.

Frozen in time
Telco has spent decades perfecting the hardware. Towers, antennas, spectrum and fiber. Every generation was about faster radios and denser networks. The software sitting on top was never the priority because it never needed to be. It just did the basics: route a call, deliver a text and send a bill.

Nobody questioned it because it worked. But working and being good enough for 2026 are two very different things. AI is reshaping every layer of technology. Satellites are bringing new infrastructure online. Your phone plan is still a PDF bill and a bundle of minutes.

Something has to give.

The missing layer
There are hundreds of "light" mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). We're one of them today, so we'll be the first to say the model has limitations. Most MVNOs are a billing layer on top of someone else's network. They can compete on price, bundle in a few perks and maybe offer better support.

But they can't touch the infrastructure underneath. They're resellers with a logo. That's fine for building a budget carrier.

It's not enough for building something entirely new.

Our little secret
This is where we've been heads down. For the past several months, we've been quietly building what the industry calls a "heavy MVNO" from the ground up. That means owning all the software infrastructure behind the network and not just reselling someone else's.

We've been granted our own telco identifier (IMSI range in industry speak). Our core network is up and running, with connectivity being tested in certain states. We're establishing roaming relationships nationally in the US and globally.

This transition is one of the biggest undertakings a small carrier can take. Massive investment in capital, time and engineering. But the payoff is a fundamentally different product.

What this means for Popcorn users
Our core proposition today is a US phone number that works globally, with no roaming fees. Our users are expats and frequent travelers which means they're constantly on the move.

When roaming networks underperform, we offer a second backup eSIM with multi-network coverage. In the US, that means access to all three major carriers. Abroad, nearly all networks globally.

It works... but it's a workaround.

With our own core network, we're bringing this into a single eSIM. One profile that connects to multiple carriers in each country, with local breakout and low latency. No switching, no juggling.

We're deep in the integration right now and will have this rolling out in the coming months. It's something I've personally been waiting for.

The real unlock
Better coverage and lower latency matter. But the real reason we built all of this is what it lets us do next.

We've assembled an AI-native team because we believe the phone call aka the thing the entire telco industry was built around, is about to be rebuilt from scratch. When you control the software layer between the network and the user, you can build intelligent features that no traditional carrier can touch.

And we've already started. Our Assistant feature is the first step for those already using it. An AI layer that sits on your line, screens spam, handles calls you don't want to take and acts on your behalf. It's early but is a prism into what's possible when a carrier builds AI into the service itself. This will be available natively on your iPhone dialer on our new network, with our spam detection models already getting better daily.

Help us build it
We couldn't have made the progress we have without this community. We're a small but ambitious team that reads and responds to every message. Many of our earliest users are still on personal chats helping us shape the product.

This next chapter is the most ambitious thing we've done. And we'll need your help. Try it, break things and tell us what's working and what is not.

The roadmap is shaped by the people who use it. If you've read this far, you're probably one of them.