Given Apple's behaviour adding ads, what are the best Linux phones?
Does anyone have any experience?
9 comments
First, Apple doesn't show ads anywhere in the OS. If you're talking about ads served in web pages, that's another thing.
The only Linux phone I know of that's actually purchasable for humanly reasonable amounts of money is the PinePhone. Everything else I've seen is yet another Android, and Android is tied to Google.
The only Linux phone I know of that's actually purchasable for humanly reasonable amounts of money is the PinePhone. Everything else I've seen is yet another Android, and Android is tied to Google.
Is the App Store part of the OS or not? The News app? All those your running out of iCloud storage messages? Or the Music app "helpfully" reminding you that Apple Music exists and you should totally try the free trial?
If I use Apple apps, I might expect to be offered subscriptions, but I don't use the News app, I don't run out of iCloud storage, I've never seen the Music app mention Apple Music (except maybe the first time I launched it, but if it did, it was super easy to skip).
You're right about the app store, but I don't visit that regularly. OTOH, Google and Amazon have conditioned me to ignore anything that's "promoted" or similar.
You're right about the app store, but I don't visit that regularly. OTOH, Google and Amazon have conditioned me to ignore anything that's "promoted" or similar.
Two French Android-based operating systems worth looking into are /e/ (e.foundation) and iodé (iode.tech)
I've been very happy running GrapheneOS on a pixel 6. It's based on AOSP (android) but includes no Google software.
App compatibility is good, with some apps not showing notifications without installing Google Play Services (which Graphene allows to run sandboxed like other apps). Ive been running without play services
App compatibility is good, with some apps not showing notifications without installing Google Play Services (which Graphene allows to run sandboxed like other apps). Ive been running without play services
I think rather than looking for a Linux flavour you want to look at various companies business models and size to see if it can sustain the ongoing cost of releasing and supporting a phone, OS, security patches etc.
So far, Apple still has a pretty low % of revenue coming from ads.
The PinePhone (and the PinePhone Pro) are close to daily driver status, but I'll also make a plug for SailfishOS.
I've been using SailfishOS on my Sony XA2+ for nearly three years and it's brilliant. Using the licensed version, I can also run Android apps as long as they're not dependent on Google services, although I prefer the UX of the native SailfishOS apps.
I've been using SailfishOS on my Sony XA2+ for nearly three years and it's brilliant. Using the licensed version, I can also run Android apps as long as they're not dependent on Google services, although I prefer the UX of the native SailfishOS apps.
If you don't count Android as being Linux, then your choices are basically either the Librem 5 or the PinePhone.
While quality is extremely variable, postmarketOS does support a variety of phones that shipped with Android: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices
Only GrapheneOS is safe by today standards though. It is a shame that we are okay with the current security of linux on the desktop, but I very much don’t want that on my phone which arguably contains even more sensitive and personal data.
I feel like that's moving the goal posts; OP asked for Linux phones (which I assume means the desktop-ish kind), so this is an answer.
Also, it really depends on your threat model; the place where Android and iOS shine is mitigating untrusted apps, but ex. my pinephone doesn't have any untrusted apps, so a lockscreen and at-rest data encryption is fine for the threats I care about[0]. And if you really must run untrusted software, there's always flatpak et al.
[0] Actually, my pinephone isn't a daily driver and doesn't have even enough sensitive material for me to bother with encryption, but that seems a bit much to expect in general.
Also, it really depends on your threat model; the place where Android and iOS shine is mitigating untrusted apps, but ex. my pinephone doesn't have any untrusted apps, so a lockscreen and at-rest data encryption is fine for the threats I care about[0]. And if you really must run untrusted software, there's always flatpak et al.
[0] Actually, my pinephone isn't a daily driver and doesn't have even enough sensitive material for me to bother with encryption, but that seems a bit much to expect in general.
A rogue bash install script can encrypt your whole home directory for you without any way to revert. Flatpak is not a strong sandbox also.
For all the shit android gets, it does have good security built on top of linux and open-source tools (selinux, every app runs as another user so that the kernel’s built in access control is actually useful, etc)
For all the shit android gets, it does have good security built on top of linux and open-source tools (selinux, every app runs as another user so that the kernel’s built in access control is actually useful, etc)
Yes, I suggest avoiding running rouge bash scripts on your phone.
I meant even installing through the package manager. They could include malware, even though those are really rare.
> They could include malware, even though those are really rare.
Yes, if the distro is shipping malware we're going to have trouble. How many times has that happened? For all time, in any distro, ever?
Yes, if the distro is shipping malware we're going to have trouble. How many times has that happened? For all time, in any distro, ever?
Does it need to be GNU/Linux, or would you accept non-Google Android? Because if you're willing to make the sacrifices to do GNU/Linux on a phone, LineageOS without gapps is probably an option.
What ads ?
This will probably sound counter intuitive, but my Pixel on Google Fi has the least bloatware and fewest ads I've known on a phone. The alternatives all seem like a downgrade in hardware or UX. I put up with lower quality coverage, but for the most part it doesn't matter because it uses wifi 99% of the time.