this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
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Everything Google on my phone is disabled, no Play store or services either. Someone needs to start a privacy focused OS that is pure Linux and widely available worldwide.
There's a few ungoogled privacy OSes. Graphine, Lineage, CalyxOS, Plasma, and a half dozen others. They're very model specific.
There are also mobile Ubuntu and a "Linux phone" setup.
The problem with Linux phones is that, AFAIK, calling and SMS are not supported. Which is kind of important for a phone to do the basic definition of a phone. In the privacy comms, people who have used them flatly say that a Linux phone is no where near ready to be seriously used by anyone as a real replacement for Android.
You're not wrong that a more universal phone OS needs to be out there, but since the hardware varies so oddly by manufacturer, devs can't rely plan for new drivers and test well. That's why Graphine sticks to ONLY Google Pixel hardware, to keep the driver set smaller and easier to test.
I'm disappointed netbooks are no longer a thing, netbook + dumbphone would be a great combo for all things that you need a phone for.
Chuwi minibook X
"But you can just buy one of our ultrathin notebooks with a 16 inch display, which is the same as carrying a thicker netbook in our calculation!" - tech CEOs
There are the GPD pocket computers but they don't have the netbook price.
How do the Linux Phones already on the market (like the Furi Labs one I saw posted recently that has physical switches to disable GPS, mic, baseband, etc.) work? Do they just use cellular for data and require you to use wifi-calling and messaging apps?
Depends entirely on the device and custom OS.
The phone you mentioned has a specific custom OS bud on Debian. It does get mobile data, and unless I missed it, no mention of calling. No E-sim option either. So it's basically just a fancy small Linux iPad.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/03/furiphone_flx1/
The issue becomes then installing apps, like Signal, which is a point they mention, gets down to finding an APK and then just reinstalling for updates. While these phones are "commercially" available, they're still buggy and janky AF. None of them are ready for anyone beyond Linux nerds willing to tinker and accept the jank. Additionally, only the most ideologically anti-Western of the edge of the privacy community would be OK with full Chinese equipment as the PRC requires manufacturers to include hardware back doors.
Thanks for the response! I've been confused about that for a while now and wasn't sure if there was a major leap in the Linux phone space with that release.
Sadly, no. All our thoughts and prayers do not a mobile OS make.
I thought one could load open source os on phones, but it does not always work with government sites, or so I heard, want to switch to os everything here.
Government ID won't work anywhere, likely, because Google told all of them that it's really required and really really safe and gets them loads of money, Google can't survive without this and we wouldn't want to be bell without Google now, would we?
I've heard of something called GrapheneOS which the privacy community seem to like. The installation guide has my head spinning so I haven't done it, but if it's something you want to look into, there you go.
The installation couldn't be more simple...just use the web installer and follow the simple instructions of when to click.
I've been installing custom ROMs since 4.0, and the advent of web installers, such as for Graphene, are the easiest ROMs I've ever flashed.
Much simpler than even the custom recovery route, which was already fairly straightforward, but this is even easier IMO.
I just keep my phone off and put away when I'm not using it, which is often.
Physical separation is an underrated way to avoid privacy pitfalls.
Putting your phone down is good, for sure.
But unless you're planning on not using a smartphone, you might as well take reasonable precautionary measures i.e. using Graphene.
Agreed.
One should keep.it in a farraday cage bag even, just because.
it's only for google pixel phones. not widely available worldwide!
sad Samsung noises