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Breaking: Google is easing up on Android's new sideloading restrictions!
(www.androidauthority.com)
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this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2025
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Good, but I still don't trust Google and I really want Linux (you know what I mean) on my next phone.
Yes, Open Google free Android or a Linux without Google.
Isn't the first just AOSP? GrapheneOS ships Google free.
AOSP has been neutered as much as Google has been able to. This was the reasonable next step.
True, but what I'm saying is there is an open model. If another community of devs wan't a "Linux-based mobile OS", they can fork AOSP like Graphene did. IE complain about Google, not Android.
Graphene works. No tracking, tons of FOSS and commercial apps, it just lacks some banking apps. One gap, vs all that exist between now and another Linux phone.
LineageOS is another option for other phones, also far ahead of other Linux ideas.
Yes, but you can expect almost no useful updates from AOSP anymore, which means it's up to groups like those who develop GrapheneOS to keep up with what people expect while Android ostensibly keeps advancing, and they only support one hardware line.
Yes, but in 12 months a Linux phone won't even be close to where even 4 versions ago Android is. As long as Graphene (or Lineage, or Fairphone, plenty of models) keeps the security updates covered, there are good options out there.
So the question becomes when, not if, a Linux phone reaches parity with AOSP-based phones.
Android basically is a Linux phone, it's a distro(ish).
It has a Linux kernel and a Linux-based OS wrapped around it. And just like you can compile FreeCAD for Debian or Arch, you can compile Fossify for Google Android, GrapheneOS, or LineageOS.
"Linux" phones in the sense you mean won't be a "Debian" or "Arch", they'll be something else, just like Android.
Can I compile FreeCAD for Android? Can I run Linux apps that are compiled for ARM on Android? As far as I know, no. So it's even less Linux than MacOS is BSD, and how is that helping for software freedom, or placing the control of the phone you bought in your hands?
Huh?
Control of your phone does not equal Linux. Plenty of FOSS OS's do that (including Android). And Android 16 brought Linux app support with GPU acceleration if you're into that and want FreeCAD on your phone.
Android isn't FOSS, AOSP is. If you keep conflating that, I'm not sure what you're getting at. And having a sandbox or VM that allows you to run Linux apps is not the same as having native support. That would be like saying Windows had Linux support 20 years ago because VMWare existed.
And no, control of your phone doesn't equal Linux, but native support for a FOSS OS at the base level means that if the maintainers decide to go in a different direction, you can more easily part ways with them. AOSP used to be a more complete version of Android, but that has been clawed back repeatedly as Google transfers functionality to Google Play services and elsewhere, which has caused difficulties for LineageOS and GrapheneOS to be maintained over the years, including Graphene exploring moving to another device for support from the one line of devices they support now.
Clearly, this isn't solely the fault of Android and Google, hardware vendors bear a lot of blame, as well as their desire to exert more control over their customers. But Google and Android have the exact same issue and certainly won't be pressuring hardware vendors to open up their standards.
That'd be nice, but Linux on phones is still a pipe dream.
I mean, you can run a Linux phone now:
!linuxphones@lemmy.ca
Downside is that aren't going to have a large software library optimized for touchscreen use. The hardware options are pretty disappointing compared to Android. Not all hardware functionality may be supported, if it's on a repurposed Android phone. Android or iOS software is mostly designed to expect that it's on a fast/WiFi connection some of the time and on a slow/limited mobile data link some of the time and be able to act accordingly; most GNU/Linux software is not. Battery life is often not fantastic.
I still haven't been pushed over the edge, but I'm definitely keeping my eye on it. I'm just not willing to develop software for Android. I know that GNU/Linux phones will stay open. I am not at all sure that Android won't wind up locked down by Google at some point, and over the years, it's definitely shifted in the locked-down direction.
My current approach is to carry around a Linux laptop and try to shift my usage more towards using the Android phone as a tethering device for the laptop, to get Internet access everywhere. That's not always reasonable
you need to sit down to use the laptop
but the only thing that the phone really has to be used for is dealing with text messages and calls. If you really wanted to do so, as long as the laptop was on, you could run SIP to get VoIP service off the Internet from a provider of that from the laptop over the phone's data service, not even rely on the phone's calling functionality. The laptop isn't really set up to be able to idle at very low power the way a phone is, be able to wake up when a call comes in, though, so it's not really appropriate for incoming calls.
If I need to access something one-handed without sitting down, I can fall back to using the phone.
And it does have some nice benefits, like having a real keyboard, a considerably more-powerful system, a much larger library of software, a better screen and speakers, a 3.5mm headphones jack (all those phone space constraints go away on a laptop!) and so forth. You can move the phone to somewhere where its radio has good reception and just have it relay to the laptop, which isn't an option if you're using the phone itself as the computing device.
You can, though I don't, even run Android software on the laptop via Waydroid.
I don't presently use it in this role, but there's a software package, KDE Connect, that lets one interface a phone and a Linux desktop (well, laptop in this case), and do things like happily type away in text message conversations on the laptop, if one has the laptop up and running.
I'm thinking that that approach also makes it easier to shift my use to a GNU/Linux phone down the line, since mostly, all I absolutely need from a GNU/Linux phone then is to act as a tethering device, handle phone calls and texts. It's sorta the baby-steps way to move off Android, get my dependence down to the point where moving is no big deal.
AFAIK Faiphone 4/5 and OnePlus 6 are in a very good state on PostmarketOS and continually improving. I don't think it's unrealistic to say we'll have fully working devices in half a year - year with the amount of progress that's happened since the PinePhone and was boosted again by the original Google announcement.
Fairphones are probably not daily-able for now, sadly. E.g. on FP4 GPS doesn't work at all and there are issues with charging/battery reporting AFAIR. OnePlus 6 is definitely more promising ATM, but there are camera issues and you need to do a weird reflashing dance to get GPS to work. Otherwise it's... passable as a daily phone.
Isn't oneplus 6 a phone from
2018???
it is, but SD845 is still pretty fast