Article URL: https://runarcn.no/android-to-linux/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49188022 Points: 58 # Comments: 27

For the past months or even years, I've become more and more dissatisfied with the path Google has taken with the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Be it the dependency and insane tracking of Google Play Services, locking down of device trees to hinder custom ROM development, all the AI stuff being put into the system, or most recently (and perhaps worst), removing the ability of installing apps per your own wishing - it's become sort of like a "death by a thousand papercuts" situation. While the AOSP isn't exactly dead (yet), it kind of feels like it's just a question of time. Therefore, I've decided to jump ship. I'm installing linux on my phone. The mobile linux space isn't exactly looking good right now, but it holds some promise. Ubuntu Touch managed to survive being abandoned by Canonical, and postmarket is still seeing good development even if not having great hardware adapation at the moment. SailfishOS (even if it has proprietary parts) has also made great progress with strong support for android apps on official devices and what seems to be a real good launch of their Jolla 2. Personally I'm lucky enough to own a Fairphone 4 that just so happens to support all of these. After a bit back and forth I've ultimately ended up with SailfishOS. Overall it's a good system - I like the gesture based navigation and its application framework is beautiful. It's also cool how it's very linux. If I have an issue or something I want to tinker with I can just ssh over from my PC either wirelessly or via USB. It's not without it's issues though. For some reason it ships horribly outdated versions of python and glibc making some things more difficult than needed, and waydroid and GPS is broken on the fairphone port - worth noting an unofficial port. Many of the community-built apps are also either in-part or completely slop-coded, such as a whatsapp client that I (sadly) am dependant on. Ubuntu Touch is also an option, but isn't without it's own bag of issues. Waydroid runs there which is a huge plus, but notifications and clipboard doesn't sync across making it really hard to use ie. Bitwarden (Sailfish has an unofficial port which is almost flawless). The default and native apps are pretty lackluster compared to both Android and Sailfish. Among other things I was unable to figure out how to block phone numbers, a highly needed feature for anyone that has VIVO as their cellular provider. I'm also not a big fan of how the UI works with app navigation and with the "top bar"/"drop down menu". If you want to know more about it, The Linux Experiments has some good videos on both youtube and peertube. Sadly, I won't be able to abandon android completely yet. The no waydroid means that I can't access some apps that I need be it for online verification for logging onto bank and government services in Norway or apps I need for my own security here in Brazil such as Uber. Luckily I've had a Galaxy A17 lying around as a backup phone for half a year now which I can carry around for these exact services. I just open up a wifi hotspot from my FP4, do the exact tasks, and close it off again. Other than that, I will try to avoid using it as much as physically possible. As this progresses I will take note of what works and what doesn't before making either a proper writeup or video in a while. It's not gonna be easy, but hopefully it will be worth it. Oh, and slight spoilers for what my experience with Sailfish is after some usage, but I might go ahead and buy a Jolla Phone 2 when I return to Norway.