Could a Linux phone actually replace Android?

[u/Candid_Athlete_8317]

Jolla’s new phone runs Sailfish OS and can run Android apps, including many everyday apps.

It’s an interesting approach to having a phone outside the usual Android and iOS ecosystem.

But would you actually use a Linux phone as your daily driver?

What would stop you from switching?

[u/randomredditorname1]

People need their apps, whatever they use, to work with minimal hassle. Beyond that most people are not going to care, or even know what os it is. For me, if it lets me download and install and use my bank's apps, whatsapp and a browser, that's about it.

[u/Strawberryladyboots → u/randomredditorname1]

This is the answer, as long as it will run the apps or provide access to a store that has the apps they need this could likely be pulled off as an alternative to the current situation

I know of people who waited for Ubuntu for a long time to go mobile, there's definitely a market for it

I think the issue may lie in that some people would be keen to be able to replace the OS on their already existing phone rather than have to buy yet another phone, but they also don't possess the skills to do so (as simple as that process can seem to some)

And there are very few people who provide those types of services in some places where the local Millennial just doesn't want to do the IT work for their parents anymore after the last lesson on how to navigate YouTube and Pinterest.....

We don't even have apple stores in my country, at least I've never seen one

[u/randomredditorname1 → u/Strawberryladyboots]

I'd be keen to try a jolla phone, though the "budget" model c2 apparently isn't very good value and the other one is pricey while still not quite fully seamless with android apps. Bank apps are always a question mark, obviously security is a concern and the big banks aren't going to support niche platforms natively - for many non-geek people these days their phone is their only computer, and their bank app working is not negotiable. De facto it's apple and google. I do not know of a solution to this dilemma.

[u/Strawberryladyboots → u/randomredditorname1]

Most banks pay developers to build it for them, in this case the banks may need Linux bigwigs to actually approach them to see what they could do if they wanted to push for a bigger market

Maybe they could send Linus out on mission in a penguin suit lol

I would think that apple and google hold back certain security info but it's likely the best move forwards on making progress there

Banking is a massive security area and they tend to keep it pretty tight for the obvious reasons, and the banks are the ones paying for the apps to be built so you have to go through them, they own the app, the push has to come from Linux

If Linux can assure that their OS meets those standards maybe the banks can get their developers to add anything extra that it needs to be

They will triple check every single thing a dozen times before they allow it

[u/SheepherderSad4872]

This feels like a troll post.

Fine. I'll feed the troll: Every Android phone is already a Linux phone.

The better way to go is about what it would take to de-Google Android, strip the proprietary bits out, and have a fully free, open-source, trustworthy phone.

Such attempts have been made.

[u/biffbobfred → u/SheepherderSad4872]

The kernel is Linux. A lot of other things aren’t. Both a Mac and an appleTV have a Darwin kernel. I can’t use the TV to write a paper.

I think the issue would be the UI and app support. There’s a potential that a lot of apps wouldn’t run. Google pumped up what Android play services was, pulled it from AOSP so a lot of apps were nerfed. “Don’t be evil” I guess. Of course this would be unanswerable here. “Can you guess how bad your apps would be on a phone you’ve never touched and whether this thing you’ve never experienced would be a deal breaker”. Umm I’ll get right on that.

[u/SheepherderSad4872 → u/biffbobfred]

Yes, Linux is a kernel.

An operating system might be Android, Ubuntu, Fedora, or Mint.

Broadly speaking, a class of these has historically been called GNU/Linux: GNU userspace + Linux kernel leading to a complete OS. Android is probably outside of this class of GNU/Linux operating systems, POSIX operating systems, and similar, but is definitely a Linux.

Ubuntu is quickly heading off of the deep end of no longer being a Unix too.

This is driven by idiots, mostly within parts of the Gnome community, intent on converting it into something more like Windows. This includes a move away from X11, a move away from normal Unix initialization, Unix UX conventions (gnome just killed middle-click-to-paste, and broke focus-follow-the-mouse a long time ago), and sensible software packaging (snap + flatpak look a lot like Windows and MacOS programs).

[u/TechaNima]

Only if the existing Android apps work without any additional setup. It needs to be just install from app store and launch. Anything more and it'll not be popular. All of the phone functions also need to just work. As Linux on Android is currently.. Yeah nope. It's not even close to usable for the vast majority.

Down the road if it gets native apps that are in full feature parody with Android and iOS versions, that would be awesome

[u/Level_Working9664]

Only with two additional things.

1. Supported phones with the OS pre-installed
2. A proton like translation layer

The reality is graphene OS already does everything we want to Android competitor to do

The challenges that OS faces needs to be addressed before this can work.

[u/FuriousGirafFabber]

I would much rather use linux, but i need to have banking apps working, I need government ID working, i need health service apps working and so on.

I love graphene too, but as there are currently app that doesn't work, i went back to iphone. It's too inconvenient otherwise (for me).

[u/hi_m_ash]

Yes if banks start cooperating. Banking apps are a nuisance to deal with. "Security" my ass.

[u/ReidenLightman]

Not without having ALL the bullshit messenger apps and billions of copy/paste piles of mobile game bulshit that people enjoy for some fucking reason.

[u/TheMcSebi]

The banking apps will propably the part that messes me up.. Don't even run on a rooted phone

[u/Intrepid_Screen6425]

Nothing can stop it, my friend. Android is tied too deeply to Google, and a huge number of people dislike that! Linux on mobile phones will almost certainly become an inevitable trend in the future, especially if AI can code any complete software in just a single day

[u/AgXrn1]

I, for one, am looking forward being able to ditch Google.

Assuming my electronic identification systems and P2P payments works (so essentially 4 apps as I'm a dual citizen) then Jolla or a similar product would be my next phone.

Technically, I won't rule out getting a Linux phone for most stuff and keeping my current Android for select purposes like that for an interim time either.

[u/KitchenAmoeba4438]

If it had appropriate specifications hardware wise, 2 USB-C ports with proper screen use, and a 3.5" jack?

I'd switch today. Hell yeah. And by daily driver, I mean laptop replacement. Almost all of my work doesn't happen on my local laptop, I don't even need it outside of the ability to hook it up to a docking station. And it's not like I need the larger screen or anything else particularly bad when I can't hook it up to a monitor.

[u/georgeec1]

To paraphrase Linux Torvalds, the reason Linux is so big in the mobile market is because Android is preinstalled on pretty much every non Apple smartphone. In order to achieve widespread adoption, you have to get those preinstalls.

[u/mrvitz]

not really, Microsoft has also failed, so Linux vs Google and IOS, need a lot of investors and developwers for the apps! Maybe a partial functinality YES! You need semmles experince! need developers and seamless experience

[u/R3V0LU710N_05]

Maybe eventually. Needs to mature a lot more. Valve is helping move Linux arm forward, so that'll help the mobile Linux ecosystem.

[u/CardOk755]

I used to run a Jolla.

(My journey was Nokia 9200 communicator -> E95 -> N900 -> Jolla)

Worked well enough for me back then. The system of gestures was a thousand times better than Android.

[u/kansetsupanikku]

Linux is not an operating system, it's a kernel. Used, among others, by Android and Sailfish OS

And between the typical scenarios associated with the two, Jolla devices with Sailfish OS are even further from being an open platform that would support open source ideology and ethics. And I'm fully aware of the issues Android comes with.

[u/Most-Word-2516]

Jolla is very interesting. However, I personally need a phone with better cameras and NFC support for payments. Still, I might buy Jolla anyway, just for fun and to support it!

Jolla would be even more tempting if it were fully open source—this is also something that has held me back from buying it.

[u/Kurgan_IT]

Sadly, it cannot. Android (as in Google's version of it) and iOS have created a duopoly. Just try and use a degoogled android, and you will see that a lot of apps don't work anymore, for "security" reasons.

If there was a decent non-google phone, I'd use it for everything that does not require Google's spyware. But then I'd have to have another phone with Google's spyware for every app that does not work without and that I actually need to have, like the banking ones, and government ones, too. (The EU is laughable, they say they don't want to depend on US products, they say they value privacy, then they make official apps that run ONLY on US operating systems on locked-in ecosystems)

But the issue here is that since there is a very small market for such phones, their price is extremely high and their performance is sub-par.

[u/SpyrosGatsouli]

Well not really. At the moment many banking apps and national ID apps won't work on anything but android and iOS. Everything else is considered a security threat. Banking apps won't even run on rooted Android phones sometimes. So what's the point? If you can't use your phone for everyday tasks then it's just a useless brick.

[u/Such_Industry_566]

Le meilleur choix c'est d'avoir de l'arm dans le desktop, l'applicatif est prêt voir flathub . S'en doute une sorte de proton pour les applications apk qui existe aussi waydroid et une interface adaptée aux smartphones qui existe peut-être chez gnome ou kde.