Linux phones are more important now than ever

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Linux vs Android / AOSP forks

  • Ongoing debate whether a “Linux phone” should be a traditional GNU/Linux stack or an AOSP fork.
  • Pro‑AOSP side: it’s already open, mature, tuned for power management, and has drivers; good base if you’re building your own hardware.
  • Pro‑Linux side: want a normal Linux userspace, desktop/server apps, and independence from Google’s direction and policies.
  • Several argue the real blockers are not the kernel but: closed firmware, locked bootloaders, and increasingly restrictive security/attestation APIs.

Government, banking apps, and dependency

  • Many commenters say Linux phones are unusable for “normal people” until they run mandatory government and banking apps.
  • Outside the US, app‑only 2FA and digital ID are common: tax, immigration, social benefits, transport, digital IDs, BankID, etc.
  • Some banks/governments require official‑store apps, unrooted devices, and strong hardware attestation (Play Integrity/SafetyNet), explicitly blocking custom ROMs and emulators.
  • Others report still being able to do everything via web interfaces or hardware tokens, but note a clear shift toward “app only”.
  • This creates a civil‑rights concern: access to essential services increasingly requires owning a Google/Apple‑blessed device and account.

App ecosystem, chicken‑and‑egg

  • Consensus: Linux itself is “ready”; the ecosystem is not.
  • People stress that average users care about calls, SMS, camera, and specific apps, not OS purity.
  • Without users there’s no incentive to build apps; without apps there are no users. Windows Phone is cited as a cautionary tale.
  • Android app bridges (Waydroid, Sailfish’s Android layer) help but are threatened by stricter attestation.

Ownership, restrictions, and DRM

  • Many examples of Android limiting user control: blocked screenshots, disabled call recording, Play Store lock‑in, SafetyNet/Play Integrity gatekeeping.
  • Defenders say these are driven by banks/streaming services and security auditors, not pure malice; critics see mostly security theater and vendor lock‑in.
  • Concern that every hour spent on custom ROMs prolongs Google’s dominance instead of building a true alternative.

Hardware, power, and practicality

  • Current non‑Android Linux phones (Librem 5, PinePhone, etc.) praised for openness but criticized for weak cameras and poor battery life compared to mainstream devices.
  • Some report decent daily‑driver experiences (Librem 5, Sailfish on Xperia, Furi FLX1, postmarketOS on Fairphone), but this is seen as niche.
  • Baseband secrecy, fragmented SoCs, and lack of open drivers are seen as structural obstacles.

Workarounds and strategies

  • Popular ideas:
    • Two‑device setup: a cheap “compliance” Android phone for banking/government apps, plus a Linux phone or laptop for everything else.
    • Linux handhelds or PDAs without modems, tethered to a basic phone/hotspot.
    • Running Android in containers/VMs (Waydroid, full Android devices controlled via VNC/scrcpy).
  • Some argue the deeper fight is not just for Linux phones, but against making smartphones mandatory for basic participation in society.