I have been out of the loop for a while with the development of Linux/GNU based OSes on phones. However, with seeing how companies (like reddit) can change the rules as they wish, I want to see if completely switching to Linux is possible.
Long story short… what are the current phone providers that have Linux as an OS, or what is the best way to run Linux on an off-the-shelf phone?
As a side-question, is Nextcloud still the next best option for a complete service alternative to Google/iCloud?
Thank you!
pinephone. but i just use it for fiddling around as too much stuff does not work.
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Thank you for the tips; I can see that a Linux phone is still not there yet. Thank you for waydroid as well. It might be the solution to running apps like banking apps that otherwise would not run. How would the performance of Waydroid on PostmarketOS be? Do you have a recommendation for a phone?
I’m a spectator in the space since Purism Librem 5 was first announced to the public. I bought one years ago and received it recently. I didn’t even open the box and sold it as soon as I got it. It is not progressing well and is only viable if you are a cellphone minimalist or you like to dev for it.
Life changes which can change how much you might rely on certain technologies which was the case for me.
I’ve been so happy with GrapheneOS and that’s sufficient enough for me regarding privacy and security.
All Linux phones will never see the spotlight until they impelment battery efficient Android sandboxing on said Linux phones. Only then can enough people be using it casually for devs to notice and develop natively compatible applications. I would wait until that day is tangible.
I’m currently using a PinePhone Pro as my daily driver and if you want something to play around with that’s definitely an option (though the PinePhone is probably a little more stable and less tinkery).
If you care less about it being a “free” phone built specifically for Linux and just want something that works, then rooting some older phone with good support will probably provide a better experience.
PostmarketOS is your best bet. I have been using it for a couple of months now, it has its quirks but it mostly works as a daily driver. You should check the wiki for your device’s compatibility.
Nextcloud is as simple as it gets. It has been very reliable for me.
The Pixel line of phones does allow the user to unlock its bootloader (unless it is carrier locked) and is supported by options such as GrapheneOS and CalyxOS.
I’m running GrapheneOS on my Pixel 6a, and I’m very happy with it. I’ll continue to use it until a viable Linux alternative presents itself.
Thank you for the tip with GrapheneOS/CalyxOS. In your opinion what is missing for a viable Linux alternative?
I am daily driving my PinePhone Pro running manjaro (Plasma Mobile) for about a year now. I can say, it is definitely daily driveable with some exeptions/limitations:
- The Battery life is horrible, like 3 h max usage from a battery. But since the batteries are cheap and can easily be swapped, I just have 4 of them to get through the day
- The camera is working in the sense, that it can make pictures. If you want nice pictures, bring a separate camera
- From time to time, cellular network connectivity drops out for short moments
Other than that it is pretty much functioning as a real phone. Of curse there are not that many apps. Telegram works natively and flawless, but whatsapp needs to be used via Whatsapp Web. For syncing all my documents and files I use nextcloud which works without any problems (once set up)
There is also the non Pro Version of the PinePhone, which is much slower, but has a better camera software and longer battery life (and is cheaper)
I also daily drive PPP. But I use the Pine keyboard to extend the battery life.
Same, I’ve been daily driving the PinePhone for a few years now between the original and the Pro. The keyboard case is a must have right now due to power draw issues. I’ve tried Arch and postmarketOS, settled on postmarketOS now.
Phones that run mainline Linux are seldom. The only ones that come to my mind are PinePhone Pro (outdated hardware, 400 bucks) and Librem 5 (also outdated hardware, incredibly expensive 1300$ !). If you are serious get the PinePhone Pro. But expect pitfalls because you can’t just run Android apps.
Nextcloud is still the best option for self hosted cloud services.
Want to add that PPP have kinda outdated hardware because of these:
- No one will buy an expensive GNU/Linux because the mobile GNU/Linux software is not ready. We don’t have much apps that are convenient to use on a small touch screen. That’s why we also have a non-pro version that is even slower.
- Only a few mobile ARM devices can run the mainline kernel and developing costs money.
That’s why Pine just drops relatively affordable cheap phones and relies on community to write the software. When I first bought this phone, most of the mobile applications were raw and some hardware functions did not work (for example, the camera). But things improved over time and I currently even daily drive it. But it’s far from Android. BTW, you can run Android apps on GNU/Linux phone via Waydroid. It’s basically Android in a container. I use it for banking apps.
Because phone manufacturers don’t open source their firmware, you probably won’t be able to get Linux on an off-the-shelf phone. (Please someone correct me if I’m wrong).
Your best bet, if you want to go down thus route, is to get the PinePhone Pro.
It’s relatively affordable.Before you try anything, think hard about your relationship with your phone and what you expect from it. Does work require you have an app installed? What kind of apps do you use regularly? You won’t have things like: CVS for meds, AA for flying, Steam for 2fa, Signal, Telegram, google maps, etc. Some you might be able to use their webapps, but the browser might be a bit sluggish because it’s the full desktop version. Firefox isnt fully mobile friendly. Battery life won’t be what you’re used to. Linux on the phone is just like your regular Linux, so you’ll have the stuff your used to from there, and you’ll having calling, sms, mms, and voicemail.
I have the PinePhone and the Librem 5, but I still use my android.
I guess they could implement the closed firmware source like the radio firmware binaries; same as Linux uses open-source and closed-source drivers. I think the PinePhone Pro might have issues with performance, connectivity, etc. with that SoC but thank you for the tip, I’ll have a look at it. You might be right with the app support. That is something I have not taken into consideration too much, especially, with regard to banking apps. I’ll keep that in mind as well. What is missing in your opinion that you are still on Android?
Signal app was the first thing I missed. Then I switched to Element, and there’s no good app for that. Then I missed >24hr battery life. I was doing a lot of traveling when I got my Librem 5, but no American Airlines app was a no-go (gate change alerts is too good). The Linux mobile situation is really impressive, but they’re just a decade or more behind on development.
The real straw that broke the camel’s back was I need a particular 2FA app for work, so I need a “regular” smartphone regardless of how good my Linux phone situation is. But, man, the second I can daily drive Plasma Mobile will be amazing. Such a good UI. I don’t use KDE, but their devs are truly the best.
Assuming that their asking how to get Linux on an “off-the-shelf phone” means they want to flash Linux on a device that doesn’t come with it, it’s very possible to flash a custom ROM on lots of Android devices. Projects like LineageOS have a very healthy, active userbase that has ported their ROM to many different models of phone. Lots of Samsung devices can be used, some Nokia devices, nearly every Google Pixel device. There are plenty more, those are just the ones I remember.
The caveat is that your phone has to have an unlocked bootloader; if your phone is provided to you by your carrier, it’s almost definitely not unlocked. Unless you’ve finished paying off a carrier-provided device, you can’t unlock it yet.
I wanted to flash LineageOS on my G Pixel 6, but the bootloader is locked down.
Thank you kind…uh…hooman person. I gotta try this with one of my old phones sometime! Remove battery, solder in power supply, install linux, connect usb ethernet, webserver!
There are a couple of phones that can run Linux. Oneplus 6 for an example. But most can’t indeed. PostmarketOS has a list of devices that their distro works on.
Yup, pretty much this. The short answer to this question seems to be “check back in five years.” There have been exciting developments on this front, like Gnome’s mobile focused project and their efforts on adaptive design, but we’re still a long way off.
Like another user commented below, buying a FairPhone and installing a “clean” Android version of it is probably the most usable experience that’s vaguely in the line of what OP is asking. It’s not quite Linux on mobile, but it is a device that’s actually usable day to day.
GNU/Linux on Phones are far from Android, but we slowly getting there. So if you want a better experience, just buy a phone that can run a community Android distribution like LineageOS.
But if you are an advanced user and really want to use GNU/Linux on your phone, then I would recommend buying a PinePhone Pro + Pine keyboard (there is a bundle on their website). The keyboard is needed because it extends the battery life (without it the battery life is horrible) and compensates good swipe touch keyboard typing (we currently don’t have a touch keyboard with swipe feature). I daily drive this phone on ArchLinux with Plasma Mobile and I satisfied with the result.
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Android runs on a unix kernel.
I personally think an open source android rom is a good middle ground between running a full linux OS and google’s Android.
I don’t know what roms are good right now though.
I would probably go for a fairphone and install the non google rom: https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/9979154556817-Google-free-Android
Or check if your current phone is supported by any open source Rom.
In any case you will most likely have a lot less apps since you would have only access to non google play services apps. There is a fairly decent choice of apps on F-Droid but your experience will remain limited.
Thank you!
As a side-question, is Nextcloud still the next best option for a complete service alternative to Google/iCloud?
yes
Long story short… what are the current phone providers that have Linux as an OS, or what is the best way to run Linux on an off-the-shelf phone?
Pine64 wiith the PinePhone (there a Pro version too)
Linux phone cannot replace modern smartphone completely yet… Camera support is kinda bad, the app ecosystem is growing, and it’s getting there but not completely.
I’d recommend getting a linux phone if you really want to see for yourself and watch the developpement progressing closely of Linux on smartphone.
This is an ignorant question, but I just don’t know the answer. Would a Pine Phone be able to run progressive web apps, because presumably it has Firefox or a modern Firefox alternative?
My Pinephone Pro battery life is also terrible, which, aside from any other issues, pretty much makes it impractical for use as a daily driver at this point, unfortunately. It’s very much a Dev/Tinker device at this point (which is fine, things have to grow over time).
I hope one day we can get a framework phone
I’m waiting for my preordered shiftphone 8 to be released. They promised to cooperate with custom rom devs and improve the experience compared to their current model the Shift6mq which already can run postmarketos.
Also Nextcloud is a fantastic alternative to google/microsoft/apple cloud.
Thank you for postmarketos. I had a look and it actually looks exactly like what I had in mind. They even have a community on lemmy at https://lemmv.ml/c/postmarketos I now have to check out the shiftphones and see if Linux supports apps like the banking apps, 2FA, etc. or if they can be emulated through some kind of Android laver. Otherwise it would have to be an Android OS without Google or a separate phone for those apps.
postmarketos is the most stable and matured mainline linux mobile os. For 2FA, banking apps and android apps in general there is waydroid ehich I already use on my fedora laptop.
Do you know how the performance of waydroid is on postmarketos?
Nope. Never had a linux phone and never tried postmarketos. But waydroid is pretty usable now.
