Linux

Missing those things would be a feature for me.

I'm much more worried about having a usable battery life and having basic phone functions like WiFi calling and MMS work.

I think problem number 1 might be solvable if GNU Taler succeeds in europe as the digital euro backend. https://taler.net/

Of course this would only apply to people in the EU, but who knows, others might follow.

It's an interesting discussion to witness in these posts: convenience vs privacy and control.

The convenience and integration you get with commercial products like IOS or Android comes at a price. Everything that matters to you on a daily basis bundled together in one convenient package means that all things which define you as a person are conveniently interconnected for corporations to sell out your data for everyone who wants it.

GPS: your current whereabouts at any moment in time and a complete history of where you have been in the past

Payment functions: what you are buying and where you have bought it

Communication (Messengers, Phone): Who you communicate with and what you are talking about

Photos and Videos: Real life evidence from all the stuff mentioned above.

Web Browsing: Interests and Needs which will be used against you in a totalitarian surveillance state, at a glance

If you in 2025 still think this convenience is there to please you as a consumer I have bad news for you.

Convenience and interconnection of services look nice and useful but at the same time they're a privacy nightmare that makes Orwell's 1984 look like a bedtime story for children.

What this all comes down to: Strictly airgapping the boundaries between the different services is the only way to have a modicum of privacy. Photos do not belong in a cloud controlled by someone you don't know and should be taken from a separate device. Navigation belongs on a separate device with no internet connection, payment should not be done with a personal identifier at all (if avoidable) etc. Living your life this way might seem terribly inconvenient, but as someone who was alive at a time where all this convenience didn't exist I can tell you it has its advantages too. You'll rediscover what really matters.

Don't want or need any of those things you mention. I want a phone, I want to be able to send messages, I want GPS and a camera. Good battery life, wifi and enough memory and storage... And then privacy...

I switched to GrapheneOS like 4 years ago and at first I was bummed that I could no longer tap my phone to pay. But it's fine. I still go out with my wallet in my pocket, so it's no problem to just tap my bank card really... I'll take privacy over convenience thanks

1 - tap to pay

I still don't see why phone-based tap-to-pay is even a good thing. What, I should hand over all my financial credentials to Google or Apple or Microsoft in addition to my bank? I think not. I'll just keep using a physical card, thank you. (Which, by the way, can often still use tap-to-pay as most modern cards have RFID chips embedded. No different than with your phone, except it's not tied to one of the big oligarchs, even less so if you use a credit union as opposed to a bank.)

2 - android auto/apple CarPlay emulation

Bog-standard bluetooth is more than enough for me.

3 - voice assistants

Why would I need a voice assistant? I can find out information almost as easily just using a search engine. And if I'm driving, I'm not so busy as to be unable to pull over to the side of the road if I absolutely need to check something. Or, you know, get everything ready before I go. At the further risk of yelling at clouds despite my relatively young age (I'm in my early 30s), I think voice assistants and IoT things are largely just fluff that over-complicate things in a world that is already over-complicated.

I already don't have any of those things on my de-googled android. I'm used to it. Sure, they would be nice, but it's not a dealbreaker that I have to tap a card instead of my phone, or use Bluetooth instead of carplay, or type on my phone instead of talking to it.

Actually I don't need any of those things you mention. It may be a mistake to assume that Linux phones should imitate Google/Apple phones.

Whatever you personally think about these features, you'll never convince the general public to do without them. We need widespread linux phone adoption as table stakes to affect our mobile world.

Everyone here just saying "oh I don't use that therefore no one needs it and should just lose it and switch to a Linux distro" is not helping anyone. This person told us their requirements to switch. How hard is that to understand for anyone. They also told us the requirements of most of the population. This concept should not be so hard to understand. Everyone has features they need in certain products. Some people don't care how headphones sound they just care that they make sound others are really picky audiophles. It's all preference

Seeing where desktop Linux was just less than 10 years ago and where it is now gives me optimism for mobile Linux. But I suspect the overlap between developers and users of those 3 features is pretty small, so they might be a ways out.

I was about to suggest getting a head unit that isn't tied down to CarPlay or Android Auto, but then I realized I drive a really old car from the days you'd easily take out the faceplate or the whole unit to deter theft.

huh? which linux phone got useful since you'd stop looking? I run pmOS edge on competent hardware with lotsa RAM and fast storage and that thing isn't even close to being usable in everyday life.

just basic stuff, like turn it on and it works. the keyboard works. an intuitive UI that you use while walking and dodging other pedestrians. a rock-solid base that doesn't freeze and stutter with the menial-est of tasks.

the three things you mention couldn't be farther from my mind if I wanted to.

Someone did do some work on reimplementing the Android Auto Client Server API.

Just needs time and interest.

https://github.com/tomasz-grobelny/AACS

By tap to pay, you mean things like Apple pay and Google pay? We don't have that on degoogled androids, let alone on Linux phones...

Are those actually the only things you find lacking? If so that's really good, practically the same as using LineageOS without any Google services.

I don't use any of the stuff you mentioned and might have to consider Linux mobile as a daily driver if it's that good. Especially if Google kills custom ROMs, it sounds like the people already running them would feel right at home switching to Linux mobile.

More importantly, how's the app situation? Can people generally expect most of the desktop GTK or Qt apps they're familiar with to be usable on a phone form factor? Is there a reliable way to run Android APKs on regular Linux now? At the very least F-droid apps?

tap to pay

I don't see why the Linux kernel couldn't add support for NFC devices or someone couldn't write a driver. I always pay for everything in cash anyway.

voice assistants

I know there are foss and local-only voice assistants for Android so it is possible. You'd be limited by the computing power of a phone so eg I imagine running ollama on a phone would be a huge battery drain.

I'm personally really excited for Linux phones and want to move to one relatively soon. They've done amazing work on the experience of using them. What I'd really miss, based off of talking to folks and trying them at conventions, is:

• battery life. My Pixel 3a lasts over a day on Android, likely much less on pmOS
• UnifiedPush for notifications. I only see a Matrix client listed as WIP. Every other app (Fediverse, Signal) I would have to keep running in the background
• Notifications while in sleep mode. Looks like we don't have "Doze Mode" from Android, so only calls & SMS work while asleep
• Fingerprint sensor. More of a QoL but I kept my phone model specifically for the ergonomics of the sensor on the back, and being able to scroll with it. Communication with the sensor is not yet figured out

1. Would require banks and such to cooperate. Good luck with that, Microsoft and Google will just pay banks to keep us out

All I need is a smartphone that can run all my daily drives. Browsing, messaging, socials, banking, utilities and games. Especially with companies pushing that everything be done through an app instead of available through a browser. The problem is very few companies bother to develop Linux versions of their software.

62 comments and not a-one mentioned Sailfish OS yet?

Yes, it's not 100% open source, yes, it used to do business with Russia but not anymore since 2022, yes, it only supports a few Sony phones (available cheaply on the used market) but it is a 100% Linux operating system!

It has been my daily driver for 5 years now.

Also, Finland bonus.

tap to pay, voice assistants, carplay...everything I hate about modern phones. Don't threaten me with a good time, Linux.

I don’t really see any of these as deal breakers, because I think the state of Linux phones in 2025 isn’t about being “finished” or “perfect,” it’s about being part of a bigger journey. Every limitation mentioned is just a reflection of where things stand right now, not anything permanent. What kinda excites me is that Linux phones are built around openness, community, and the freedom to adapt, qualities you don’t really get with mainstream options. Sure, there are missing features, rough edges, and some compromises, but none of that outweighs the value of having a device that puts you in control....

I don't use any of the "needs" you mention (phone payments, carplay, voice anything) and can't see any of them as necessary. I can see thinking of them as cool, but that is different. I don't particularly think they're cool, but that's just me.

That said, Linux is mostly a desktop system with a CLI and some GUI tools. Phones as we know them have considerably different requirements. Linux could be underneath it all, like it is in Android, but at the end there is a lot more besides LInux and its apps.

I did use Meego/Maemo for a while (Nokia N900 and N9) and they had nice aspects, but the phones were way too small and slow.

1 - tap to pay. I don’t see how this can practically be done. Like, at all.

Yeah, better go back to carrying pieces of plastic with you at all times. Bonus: you can leave your phone home and still pay for things.

Power consumption needs work also.

As for tap to pay, I've found I've used it a lot less after getting a mag safe wallet. It's a good stopgap imo

Where I live, we do not have tap to pay, we just scan qr-codes. But I guess the vendor would need to enable that. But, if i have a physical card, that’s good enough for me.