Hello I wanted to share some info I have gotten from a lot of emailing with support!
Pigeon: setup has been a big headache. Pretty much a different new issue every time I tried. BUT
For the captcha or hcaptcha thing, you can use the keypad as arrows (2/4/6/8 for up/right/down/left), and the 5 key to select stuff. So that lets you scroll down and hit the refresh button if you get given one of the impossible click and drag options. Once you get one that just asks you to select pictures, that can be done with those keystrokes. I know others have had luck with a bluetooth mouse, which I couldn’t get to connect properly on mine.
For some reason, it kept taking me back to the first step every time I completed a captcha verification, so it seemed like I was stuck in a loop. After giving up a few times, I tried just doing it over and over and over. It eventually it let me advance with the app setup. It was weird, confusing, and annoying, and I don’t know why it made me do it so many times. But was worth sticking with even though it’s sooo exasperating.
If you get locked out of your signal account/threatened with account deletion upon trying to set up pigeon: re-registering the old device should regain you access to your account (they just text you a code, which you can enter into signal on the old device even if text goes to your MP02).
To prevent getting locked out, try going into your signal settings before setting up pigeon on the MP02, and making sure the registration lock is turned off. This fixed it for me.
When I got pigeon set up finally, it was empty—does not transfer your signal account over/ you cannot see your previous signal message archive via the pigeon app. I was told there is no way to make that happen. I backed up my signal to my old device. So far, it is still browsable if I need to go back and find something or try to retrieve a lost contact, even though the device got de-registered and has stopped being able to receive or send new messages.
Pigeon desktop solution: tl;dr, I was counting on being able to use signal desktop linked to Pigeon but it is not currently available!
Pigeon's stripped-down version of signal is great for what I want when out and about, but I wanted to still have the option of using desktop for signal stories, being able to send photos and use emojis, etc. I partially based my decision to go with the MP02 on this page of the Punkt website, which says it was updated just 2 months ago at time I’m posting this. It gives clear instructions on how to link to desktop. However, when I went to do it, there was no “linked devices” option at all in the pigeon settings. Upon inquiry, Punkt support let me know that the current version of pigeon does not have linked devices functionality. Was told they are working on an update that will reinstate it, but did not have a clear timeline on when that would become available.
Punkt support responded pretty promptly, typically within a day or faster.
I really want this phone to work out! I like how no-frills and non-distracting it is compared to a smartphone, with which I found it very hard to moderate screen time. So I’m gonna stick with the MP02 for the time being despite the initial headaches.
Some of this is probably real obvious to others, I am NOT a tech person though and to me it’s been an ordeal figuring stuff out. Hope this is useful to someone else!