Phone

The Phone is The Player's only method of interacting with everyone, as no one The Player talks to shares a residence with them. As it is Anna Hardy’s property, it is the only feasible lead to finding the truth of her disappearance.

Over time, in real time, the Phone loses battery, which restricts the amount of time The Player has to investigate Anna's phone if a game over is to be avoided, however, the battery life is reasonable and it is unlikely that many players will reach the point of a power off game over.

At the end of the game, no matter The Player's decisions, The Simulacra shatters the phone's glass screen while leaving the phone's LCD screen intact enough to receive a final message from Taylor and/or Anna which determines the ending that The Player achieves.

The manner in which the Phone's screen's edges display a fuzzy static adds a significant amount of realism, as it sets The Player in a dimly lit Living Room right down to mimicking the way eye adjustment behaves when faced with an extremely bright object in a dark environment, by displaying fuzz around the lighted object. Occasionally, the lights in the Living Room will flicker.

The phone's home screen when you start the game shows a picture of Anna looking down. However, after rebooting the phone and completing the questionnaire, it will change to what one can only assume is a default IRIS background. This will happen twice, and in between the first and second time, Anna will be looking up at the player, and after the last time, it will change to Anna smiling. This is likely because Anna's consciousness was trapped in her cellphone, so upon becoming aware that The Player is attempting to help, Anna's emotion changes.