this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
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Hey,

I'm looking for a live OS that I can run from a USB on any phone - but if only Android/non iPhone phones are possible, that's good too.

I know of etchdroid and running e.g. tails from that using the phone as a PC, and I'm aware that most or all Linux distros can run live from USB into PC, but I'm looking for something that I can have on a USB, plugin to any phone and run it. Save files, maybe apps onto it so that the next time I run it on any other phone, it will take up from where I left off and I can still use the same software that I installed on it.

I have recently heard of plug os which reminded me to look for this again, but plugos.net is a million miles out of my budget or what I'm willing to pay for something like that.

Are there any others? Free or (much) cheaper?

EDIT -

THANKS EVERYONE! 👍🙌

It seems that it's not possible, and that the one I thought was similar to what I was looking for, is actually a modified Android version that runs from a custom built usb stick.

So not possible (at least for now 🤞).

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[–] APF@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 1 day ago

I dont know about that, most phones dont do boot over usb. But some Volla Phones support dual boot from internal storage.

X23 for example: https://volla.online/de/volla-phone-x23/