this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2026
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Linux Phones

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The Discussion on Linux-based Phones.


Benefits:

  • Hardware freedom.
  • Perfect operating-system competition.
  • Full utilization of specs.
  • Phone lifespan raises to 10+ years.
  • Less e-waste.

Linux Mobile Distros:

  • Ubuntu Touch
  • Sailfish
  • FuriOS
  • Postmarket OS
  • Mobian
  • Pure OS
  • Plasma Mobile
  • LuneOS
  • openSUSE Mobile
  • Nemomobile
  • Droidian
  • Mobile NixOS
  • ExpidusOS
  • Maemo Leste
  • Manjaro Arm
  • Tizen
  • WebOS

Linux Mobile Hardware:

  • Fairphone 5
  • Volla Phone
  • PinePhone
  • FLX1
  • Librem 5

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The experience of using a degoogled phone, both from the AOSP and Linux side of things.

I had to update to description since people kept thinking that I made the video.

top 49 comments
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[–] kepix@lemmy.world 30 points 5 days ago (2 children)

you have not answered the video title question. the answer is not yes, the answer is HOW.

  • also lineage gapps is not treated as system apps. you can disable them in the app list.
  • you havent talked about the endless struggle of spoofing
  • you havent talked about eos being just a glorified and outdated microg lineage
  • you havent talked about where people can ask about their ticket, banking, gov app compatibility, cause this is the most important thing.
  • ypu did not talk about debloat without changing from stock, using custom dns stuff

sorry, but this is even far from the tip of the iceberg. also why would you put black logos in front of a black background...

[–] valar@lemmy.ca 19 points 5 days ago (2 children)

How:

  1. Get a pixel (or soon a Motorola)
  2. Install GrapheneOS
  3. Everything just works
  4. Profit
[–] Sasquatch@lemmy.ml 8 points 5 days ago (6 children)

paypal doesn't work.

Google wallet doesn't work

[–] bold_atlas@lemmy.world 22 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

OK now I'm even more sold on getting GrapheneOS.

[–] valar@lemmy.ca 12 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Google wallet is not something a "deGoogled" phone needs to worry about

I don't use PayPal much, but is there anything about it you can't just do in a web browser?

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Haven't tried Google wallet, but why should PayPal not work? I'm paying in my browser anyway

Haven't used PayPal much in the last..phew...2? years, but as I'm ordering in a browser and then get to PayPal or usually just done credit card screen, I didn't had any problems - besides PayPal changing rules like underwear and I'm a bit fed up with it

[–] Sasquatch@lemmy.ml 0 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The app won't let you log in. Come to think of it, Same with the Wells Fargo app

[–] Unreliable@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 days ago

Wells Fargo let's you log in. I use it on a daily basis on my Pixel 8 Pro with GOS.

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 4 points 4 days ago

Never used the PayPal app
And never needed it for any payment

Can't you do this all just by browser?

[–] machine2918@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Google Wallet is a huge part against switching for me, what are my options? I have issues getting Curve registration accepted due to unknown issues and have so far had no luck with their support..

[–] Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

you type your card # in everytime?

[–] machine2918@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Only if the price is really high, can't remember the last time, I'm talking must be years ago. Do have to approve every purchase with biometrics of course.

[–] Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] machine2918@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

What do u mean lol

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Do other wallets work? The convenience of being able to pay when I've lost my wallet again again is what got me to do it in the first place.

[–] Sasquatch@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't know of any others

Yeah, me either.

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Sold if you can't get YouTube to work.

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

NewPipe & Co works on my current GrapheneOS

Edit: not sure if that now is an anti feature for you ;⁠-⁠)

But pixels are not sold in my country :(

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 days ago

I didn’t make the video. It’s a quote from their description.

[–] Sunshine@piefed.ca 31 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Great video to introduce new folks into the topic!

8:58 lemmy spotted.

[–] TotalSonic@lemmy.world 12 points 4 days ago

For those new to the process, the best general resource for instructions on how to unlock your phone’s bootloader and flash alternate AOSP ROM’s or non-Android OS’s is https://xdaforums.com/ Please note that not all carriers and oem’s allow you to unlock the bootloader though, so choose your device carefully for this.

You will also most likely need a PC (desktop or laptop) with adb & fastboot on it. These are apps used in the terminal, but you only need to copy and paste a few commands into them to use it.

If you have a Google Pixel then best option is Graphene - https://grapheneos.org/

For other devices you can use a “degoogled” Android ROM and get apps from the open source F-Droid app store - https://f-droid.org/ Some choices for this are: Lineage - https://lineageos.org/ crDroid - https://crdroid.net/ /e/os - https://e.foundation/e-os/ Iode - https://iode.tech/iodeos/

OR use a a true alternative mobile OS. Options for this are: Ubuntu Touch - https://www.ubuntu-touch.io/ Sailfish OS - https://sailfishos.org/ Mobian - https://mobian-project.org/ Postmarket OS - https://postmarketos.org/ Plasma Mobile - https://plasma-mobile.org/ Droidian - https://droidian.org/

You can also purchase devices with alternative OS’s already preinstalled from: Volla - https://volla.online/en/devices/ Jolla - https://jolla.com/ Fairphone - https://fairphone.com/ Murena - https://murena.com/ Furilabs - https://furilabs.com/ Brax - https://www.braxtech.net/

[–] vatlark@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 days ago

It’s got 1% the views of the YouTube video with 11k

[–] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 5 points 4 days ago

Are there Linux phones that need to be deGoogled?

[–] decapitae@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

No, sadly, just speculation as to why there seems to be an OS to get away from a company, but it's specifically for that companies phone and doesn't convey to different manufacturers phones- an oddity to me

[–] sulgoth@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 days ago

Easier to support an OS when you only have like 4 devices to deal with.

[–] decapitae@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Why is a pixel able to 'de google'? Is, possibly, the hardware designed to do the snooping despite the OS? 🤔 Work harder to degoogle older phones!

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 12 points 4 days ago

You can degoogle other phones, but the GrapheneOS chose the Pixel because of the security provided by the hardware

[–] mastod0n@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If you have evidencefor this claim I would love to read it

[–] Trilogy3452@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyirQOCUUK8

2:36

Though not necessarily access the OS data if the OS somehow manages to encrypt the data

[–] Hxrmit@thelemmy.club 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Do not mention Ubuntu or E/os

[–] Tore@piefed.world 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Why not mention Ubuntu or e/Os? I've used both on my Fairphone 3+.

Used Ubuntu Touch for years and I've got e/OS installed right now.

[–] Hxrmit@thelemmy.club 5 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Both are backed by corporations. E/OS also relies on hidden google services, it is also a more bloated lineageOS having worse security than EOL grapheneOS.

[–] leftascenter@jlai.lu 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

AFAIK ubports has split from Ubuntu in the form of a German foundation.

[–] Hxrmit@thelemmy.club 0 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Canonical, a UK-based software company mantains it though, the snap packages are also proprietary

[–] Vittelius@feddit.org 4 points 4 days ago

They maintain it in the same way that they maintain Linux Mint. Which is to say technically they operate the repository that the OS is built from. But that's misleading as the main OS is built by the German foundation as an immutable OS. That means that the OS packages are tested by the foundation and you can't install everything else from the repo. Additional software comes in the form of click packages, which as you might have noticed, isn't snap. Snap support is very much in development at the moment, but only as an additional package manager. Snaps are also mostly open source. The client, the thing that runs on your hardware is free software. It's the server that's proprietary.

[–] TotalSonic@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Ubuntu Touch uses deb and its own fully open source package format called click - none of the system or system apps is installed as snap. It has support for installing snap packages though, although there are still some bugs in using these.

[–] TotalSonic@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

in the case of Ubuntu Touch this simply is not true. Canonical stopped maintaining the code for it in 2017, and since then it has been overseen by the non-profit foundation UBports, which has a few core developers that depend on contributions from a volunteer community as well. Yes, it uses an Ubuntu base and some of the Ubuntu repositories (as do many other Linux distros), and it has an agreement with Canonical to be able to use the name and logos for Ubuntu for no charge, but is otherwise completely independent of Canonical. https://ubports.com/ (posting this from a Poco X3 NFC running Ubuntu Touch 24.04.2)

[–] maam@feddit.uk 2 points 4 days ago

Ubuntu Touch is ran by the UBports Foundation after Canonical gave up on it.

[–] vatlark@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I just watched it, and it mentions ubuntu touch and /e/os.

Edit: oh you are saying people shouldn't mention those?

[–] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 days ago

I have GrapheneOS. It is sandboxed.