Is the mandatory possession of a suitable smartphone really a prerequisite to entering Thailand these days?

[HeijoshinCool]

4 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Ultimately it's simple: You need a smart phone which can show a QR code. 

 

If this is too much for you, don’t come - it really doesn’t get any simpler than that. 

 

 

 

 

.

 

Yes, we must be just like you or we are bad people....no room for individuality in your world. Maybe we should all wear uniforms, too.

 

Pffft.

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by HeijoshinCool
Anger Management

[zzaa09]

5 hours ago, Farma said:

They didn't check when I arrived earlier this year although a smart phone is needed in ASQ as mine used Line to communicate, place menu requests and for me to send twice daily photos of my thermometer readings.

Yeah. The reality of how things are these days should calmly be accepted. 

It appears to be that existences are reflected through our mobile devices. 

Kinda sad, it one ponders too much.

Edited September 7, 2021 by zzaa09

[HeijoshinCool]

.

 

I'll be one of the few on this thread that actually answers the OP's question:

 

Maybe it is just a UK Embassy thing. Nothing about the app on the Washington, D.C. site.

 

When I came in last December, they asked about a phone. I just smiled and said "I'm retired so I don't use one." They smiled back and waved me on. Maybe they were envious....

 

At the ASQ, they gave me paper menus to check off, and the nurse called on the phone for my temp. No issues with not having Line, and I just confirmed my ASQ and they said still no problem. Thailand is always making new COVID rules every day, and most fall by the roadside along with the other trash.

 

But things might have changed at the airport since last December. Guess I'll find out next month when I return, but like I said, no mention of it on the DC website.

 

 

.

Edited September 7, 2021 by HeijoshinCool
Speling missteaks

[zzaa09]

6 minutes ago, HeijoshinCool said:

.

 

I'll be one of the few on this thread that actually answers the OP's question:

 

Maybe it is just a UK Embassy thing. Nothing about the app on the Washington, D.C. site.

 

When I came in last December, they asked about a phone. I just smiled and said "I'm retired so I don't use one." They smiled back and waved me on. Maybe they were envious....

 

At the ASQ, they gave me paper menus to check off, and the nurse called on the phone for my temp. No issues with not having Line, and I just confirmed my ASQ and they said still no problem. Thailand is always making new COVID rules every day, and most fall by the roadside along with the other trash.

 

But things might have changed at the airport since last December. Guess I'll find out next month when I return, but like I said, no mention of it on the DC website.

 

 

.

I believe one might find that the app thing is not a requirement from numerous Thai consulates/embassies around the world. So...I, too, suspect it might be a particular UK policy. 

 

In the last six months I've made two overseas commutes - returning through BKK. Never asked about apps/qr codes/whatever. Both quarantine instances were an acceptable mix of paper and device and personal interaction with no great issues from anyone.

[david555]

1 hour ago, LongTimeLurker said:

But how many apps can you get on your 'phone, mine are always telling me I'm running out of space to store the sh!t.

That is why they invented smartphones .... so you are continuous in need to buy a higher one ..... ???? 

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, OJAS said:

what would happen if you were to show up at, say, Suvarnabhumi after a long flight clutching an otherwise acceptable COE but with no smartphone with the ThailandPlus app downloaded on to it?

Why would anyone in their right mind who wanted to enter the country take that risk by not having a suitable phone (that most people have anyway or can get for next to nothing) if it's a known requirement?    There may be a case for visitors with that deliberately confrontational attitude to be put straight back on the plane.

[herfiehandbag]

5 hours ago, Denim said:

 

After reading that anyone would be forgiven for forsaking a leg over for the simpler to access Bognor Regis.

 

If they think the tourist industry is going to bounce back enforcing such stuff they are mistaken. This addiction to apps and smartphones is just going to put a lot of people off in favor of other destinations.

The "bounce back" will be strangled at birth by this bunch of strutting preening uniformed buffoons.

[HeijoshinCool]

1 minute ago, Liverpool Lou said:

There may be a case for visitors with that deliberately confrontational attitude to be put straight back on the plane.

.

No doubt in leg chains, triple-masked, and K-9s gnawing at their heels....

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, Denim said:

5 hours ago, nrasmussen said:

I find it hard to believe that anyone in this day and age would travel anywhere without a smartphone.

Plenty of old people are not tech minded and find no need for one.

Anyone coming to Thailand does have a need for one according to the Thai embassy, it's a requirement to enter the country...apparently.

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, bbko said:

Are these just hypothetical questions or does anyone here really still have just a basic mobile phone?

Many will claim that's all they have just to have a Thailand-bash.

[Salerno]

28 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

suspect it might be a particular UK policy.

 

45 minutes ago, HeijoshinCool said:

Maybe it is just a UK Embassy thing.

It's not just a "UK" thing, it's universal and something everyone that has/will enter Thailand under the current situation has agreed to comply with when applying for a COE:

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by Salerno

[MrJ2U]

1 hour ago, LongTimeLurker said:

True, I was smartphone hesitant until I was given one.

 

But I never use it for email or posting on websites 'cos I find the keys too small, so I will always have a laptop for that (although some tablets have finger friendly virtual keyboards).

I'm starting to have some problems with the small keyboard also.  I need my laptop for longer emails.

 

Great cameras these days on these smart phones!  

 

Enjoy your weekend!

[HeijoshinCool]

9 hours ago, Salerno said:

 

It's not just a "UK" thing, it's universal and something everyone that has/will enter Thailand under the current situation has agreed to comply with when applying for a COE:

 

.It says nothing about requiring one bring specifically a Smart phone with them on entry. 

[Salerno]

1 minute ago, HeijoshinCool said:

That from an Embassy? Which one?

It's from the COE website (the declaration everyone makes on application), hence it's a universal "requirement" (which is irrelevant to enforcement as always).

[zzaa09]

2 minutes ago, Salerno said:

It's from the COE website (the declaration everyone makes on application), hence it's a universal "requirement" (which is irrelevant to enforcement as always).

Yes, required and mandated policy - yet, not practiced or enforced universally.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

5 hours ago, david555 said:

I have both .....the dumb one used as a "excuse phone" on occasion ....when finding it conviniant ????

I only have a nokia but at least I can spell convenient .

Even though you can spell "convenient", you're going to have to practice getting the make of your phone correct, as a proper noun it's "Nokia", not "nokia"!

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, ramrod711 said:

The main reason I don't have a smartphone is because they are too large, they won't fit in my pocket and I'm not about to carry a backpack just for a phone.

Choose a smaller one, then, there are plenty of pocket-sized smartphones!

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

I have a hammer and chisel...  I can make a wheel out of a bit of rock, fit to to an axel, train a horse to pull me

Where did you get the hammer and chisel from in the Stone Age?!

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, sezze said:

what do you do with your smartphone without connection ? Meaning , arriving at airport , foreign card in it , costs are very very high ( 100s of baht/MB ) so if you come off the airplane and you startup your phone it checks everything and bang , you are down several 1000s of baht on your foreign phonecard . Not very attractive ...

You've just spent a substantial amount of money to fly thousands of miles to Thailand and you're complaining about a tiny phone charge (not "several thousands of baht"!) to get into the country?   Geez...not very attractive.

Edited September 7, 2021 by Liverpool Lou

[Liverpool Lou]

35 minutes ago, HeijoshinCool said:

.It says nothing about requiring one bring specifically a Smart phone with them on entry. 

What else would you download an app to?

[HeijoshinCool]

16 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

What else would you download an app to?

. 

Well, they had discussed tracking bracelets, bearing in mind they don't know their left hand from their right....

 

Nor does it specify the program must be installed prior to arrival.

 

 

.

Edited September 7, 2021 by HeijoshinCool

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

Apps are Dominant and will replace Internet soon.

Carry an IPhone7 (cheap high std smartphone) & IPAD 3. Both Apple IOS of course.

Interchangeable with Same Apps & Same ICloud Personal Data.

Smartphones MUST be small to fit comfortably in shirt pocket or front jeans pocket.

Just will not primarily use those tiny hackable smartphones for banking, movies, books, internet or MS Office work. I will also NOT carry the Android Brick Smartphones ! 

Use IPAD for those activities. IPhone & IPAD are Back Ups for each other; same IOS operation/ data.

Funny that I have NEVER seen anyone else using an IPAD in Public ! In five years of IPAD Use ! 

Only Smartphones and/or Laptops……..

Use Laptop or PC Only in actual offices…….

DO people really do Excel Spreadsheets on Smartphones ? Seriously ?

 

[it is what it is]

39 minutes ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

Apps are Dominant and will replace Internet soon.

Carry an IPhone7 (cheap high std smartphone) & IPAD 3. Both Apple IOS of course.

Interchangeable with Same Apps & Same ICloud Personal Data.

Smartphones MUST be small to fit comfortably in shirt pocket or front jeans pocket.

Just will not primarily use those tiny hackable smartphones for banking, movies, books, internet or MS Office work. I will also NOT carry the Android Brick Smartphones ! 

Use IPAD for those activities. IPhone & IPAD are Back Ups for each other; same IOS operation/ data.

Funny that I have NEVER seen anyone else using an IPAD in Public ! In five years of IPAD Use ! 

Only Smartphones and/or Laptops……..

Use Laptop or PC Only in actual offices…….

DO people really do Excel Spreadsheets on Smartphones ? Seriously ?

 

Apps are Dominant and will replace Internet soon.

 

how will you download and update apps without the internet? how will apps get data/information without the internet?

[Albert Zweistein]

8 hours ago, david555 said:

I have both .....the dumb one used as a "excuse phone" on occasion ....when finding it conviniant ????

Me too but I also use the dumb one with a prepaid sim in it as a back up with the same numbers as the smart one. Saved me twice.

[sezze]

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You've just spent a substantial amount of money to fly thousands of miles to Thailand and you're complaining about a tiny phone charge (not "several thousands of baht"!) to get into the country?   Geez...not very attractive.

Euhm , maybe your phone provider gives you good amount of roaming data . Mine is 10 euro / MB , opening your phone data another country makes your phone check all straight away which does cost a few MB . I once made that mistake in Abu Dhabi , sending me before even doing anything a bill of between 50-100 euro . Im guessing a tracking app , will also give me a few data packages to send , so im guessing about the same amount ... without actually using my phone , 75 euro at present rate is 3000 baht . Im not moaning about the few 1000 baht , im moaning about a few 1000 baht before i even done anything at all , and counting extra for every second ( since it is a tracking app ) .

[BritTim]

6 hours ago, sezze said:

But on the point , what do you do with your smartphone without connection ? Meaning , arriving at airport , foreign card in it , costs are very very high ( 100s of baht/MB ) so if you come off the airplane and you startup your phone it checks everything and bang , you are down several 1000s of baht on your foreign phonecard . Not very attractive

It is worthwhile trying to learn how to use Wi-Fi with your phone. Almost all airports, and this includes Suvarnabhumi, have free Wi-Fi service. For the most part, unless very sure I need it, I just keep mobile data turned off. As you have discovered, not doing so can result in a nasty shock.

[UKresonant]

10 hours ago, bbko said:

Are these just hypothetical questions or does anyone here really still have just a basic mobile phone?

Have an old smartphone that will probable not run their app, I do have a tablet that would likely run the app I suppose.

[RichardColeman]

10 hours ago, TerryS123 said:

They do not check at the airport.  At least they didn't when I arrived. 

Dear God, imagine checking 40 million people to see if they had the right smartphone. 

[PoorSucker]

That app does not work on my Samsung galaxy S7. 

[Travis179]

8 hours ago, Sudarut said:

I entered Thailand in January, I didn't need the smart phone to get through the airport, but i needed it for a health app which a hospital monitors, you have to take and enter your body temp twice daily and submit any flu like symptoms into the app.

Exactly. My ASQ required us to download the Line app when we checked-in. They used this to take daily meal orders, and twice daily temp readings (10 AM & 2 PM). And if you wanted to contact them for any reason, laundry service, extra water or food (the meal portions were tiny). A tablet or laptop would work equally well, for those who don't have a smart phone. Provided you had Line (or whatever app they require) installed.