this post was submitted on 04 May 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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Can you run Linux on your phone? What are the technical obstacles to be overcome, which projects are working on them and with what funding?

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[–] erebion@news.erebion.eu 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Depends on what you want. A used Pixel 3a or some other model can be very cheap and has decent mainline support.

[–] NightFantom@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Does it now? ~~I literally have one~~, tried postmarketos iirc, and it kept failing at several steps. Eventually put graphene on it which did work, but that's not quite linux.

Edit: nope, I have a 4 or 4a, nvm

I was talking about buying a phone that works out of the box primarily, but you're right, buying an older phone is an option. Though I'd like to have something on par with a flagship google/oneplus/samsung device in screen resolution, battery life and picture quality mostly

[–] erebion@news.erebion.eu 2 points 1 day ago

I've got a Fairphone 5. For Mobian we still need to add the patches for speaker audio. Then it is a usable phone. Camera works, but image quality is not yet the same as for Android, but it is slowly getting there. For now I just carry an Android phone for photos, but I expect that to be unnecessary within this year, seeing how much effort some people put into it.