Concerning that this thread is overrun with bots telling me to download some super duper safe LLM
this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
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Yeah this whole comment section is weird as fuck.
Naw it happens, usually an instance goes rampant with bot accounts and gets nuked. It's like the early days of Reddit round here.
I would prefer that Alphabet keep Android open, but honestly, how can anybody be surprised? Eventually Google is going to tighten the screws on Android. I haven't looked into it, but hopefully there are some truly free options out there. Graphene?
Graphene is Android based. Not sure what it'd mean for them in case Android fully locks down.
The sideloading block will likely be enforced by Play Services, so GrapheneOS won't be affected. Android is also open source, so even if Google implements the block within Android itself, GrapheneOS can just remove it.
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Google already squeezing grafene. Grafene can no longer use pixel deves, Google won't open new pixels.
Only new device they gonna get is some Motorola device not yet relesed
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if apple can profit and survive from a walled garden, google is only now seeing that as a PLUS.
Love how every comment in this thread is just the same guy spamming some AI bullshit website. They are all 1 day old accounts from Lemmy.cafe instance. Blocked all of them.
it's never been your phone, bruh
especially if it's using sim/esim card. Those mobile carriers can literally do whatever the fuck they want to your phone and there's nothing you can do about it.
Google doing this is just the equivalent of what Apple has been doing for a while.
People need to buy more Linux phones. It's the only way for the tech to improve.
especially if it's using sim/esim card. Those mobile carriers can literally do whatever the fuck they want to your phone and there's nothing you can do about it.
Wow that's wild, how does my SIM card allow my carrier to do whatever they want to my phone?
On the face of it, that sounds like a gigantic breach of privacy. Can they look at my photos, capture my screen, read my stored app data, intercept outbound Internet traffic before it's encrypted, etc? That's wild.
Not to mention that I bought my phone separately, so it's got nothing to do with them. As one might imagine, I only added a SIM in order to receive traditional telephone calls, it's not otherwise useful to me.
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Jolla isn't in the US at least AFAIK. And outside that I'm not really aware of other similar options available here. I'm looking at maybe getting something I can root and wipe to run linux. But that's beyond most people's ability and desire.
I've been eyeing the furi phone. I like the hardware switches for modem/GPS, camera, and microphone.
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Do Linux phones need to run a Kickstarter?
More than that. Proper, real, hardware. And a bit more UI polish. The software is inching closer. But hardware wise there's very little real option. For the time being my existing android devices are going to be demoted to little more than modems for a small Linux portable. I badly want a real good hardware platform to run a mobile linux distro. I have an octo core ARM chromebook tablet running postmarket. It's a great experience apart from too little RAM. KDE Touch is pretty nice. And sits a bit under 500Mb idle. But the moment Firefox or Chrome launch we're swapping hard.
SailfishOS is a (non-Android) Linux phone that may be viable right meow!
SailfishOS runs fine (well?) on the Sony Xperia or the Jolla C2.
I just bought one a few weeks ago, but I haven't had time to fully set it up yet (my house has been falling apart). I'm in the US with Mint Mobile and calls and SMS work. Camera works. Battery life is pretty decent. They have an Android compatibility layer that integrates pretty well into Sailfish. I was able to install F-Droid on it and then Bitwarden and Molly (Signal client) so far.
One of the more trickier apps I may need to install is Tailscale... but I'm thinking maybe I can switch to Netbird and use their reverse proxy and remove the need to install a VPN client on the phone altogether.
I'm not a heavy smartphone user, so for me I'm thinking this might be a viable path to take.
p.d. Yes, you can bring up a terminal. :)
Unfortunately, Sailfish OS uses a proprietary (closed source) android compatibility layer, as well as a closed source UI.
For the parts they have open-sourced, they implementrd a CLA that contributers must sign. It's the HA-CLA-I-ANY license, which specifically allows them a perpetual Copyright and Patent license, and permission to relicense your code contributions to a more restrictive license which enables them sell or package it into a closed-source proprietary app.
Personally I'd be more comfortable supporting the development of PostmarketOS instead, since it is completely open-source with no CLA, meaning no chance of any rug-pulling in the future.
It's unfortunate that it isn't open source. Their AppSupport feature looks so great though. Hopefully it's possible to do something similar in postmarketOS.
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SailfishOS seems to run quite nicely, but has the limitations listed by you.
PostmarketOS seems to run a tad worse, but is fully open source.
Wouldn't it make sense to support both, because otherwise there's some danger of a chicken and egg situation:
people don't use PostmarketOS, because it doesn't work well enough. People don't support PostmarketOS, because they don't use it.
SailfishOS could pave the way for people using Linux phones and developing the need for completely open source ones after they realize the limitations of SailfishOS.
I can see that happening to me at least, because I ordered a Jolla phone with SailfishOS, which will hopefully be delivered in a few months (batch #3). I chose SailfishOS over PostmarketOS because of their Android app compatibility layer being fully aware this part isn't open source and that I will eventually trying to get rid of that situation.
The demand for having a Linux phone soon that may be able to become my daily driver was more pressing than facing the risk of getting frustrated by PostmarketOS.
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So does this mean FDroid cannot be used with just any Android phone?
They'll push the update through Google Play Services, so if your phone is Gapps free, you'll probably be able to continue to use F-Droid.
Yes.
Edit: Appoxo is right, technically you can still use f-droid on any phone. Check my comment below.
Huh?
They stated that there will be a bypass and to just wait 24 hours until you can install APKs as usual. Permanently without additional cooldowns.
It's another story how long this will stay but for now,your answer is false information.
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There is Huawei Harmony OS.
Chinese, etc, and I don't know about licenses, but it's mostly compatible with Android apps. I have a Huawei tablet, with awesome hardware, but de googled from the get go. I mainly use it as a media consumption device, though. No mail, banks, etc.
Well, there’s that & whatnot.
Anyone else thinking this is an anti-piracy measure? Google made similar moves to change web browsers to make aure you see ads. I'm sure they're not happy people keep blocking their ads on android. Ads are their core business model.
Thats the impression that I get.
P. S. I heard somewhere Amazon is moving their fire devices off of android to combat piracy as well.
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