Put LineageOS on it!

Main-line Linux phones are really not the way, at least at the moment. Android is fine, AOSP really is an amazing project and easily one of the most impressive software projects ever advanced by humanity. AOSP-derivatives like LineageOS or GrapheneOS are just as much FOSS as any traditional Linux distribution.

I see this take repeated again and again it is simply not true. LineageOS and other FOSS AOSP-derivatives are the best, most-supported and most-accepted FOSS mobile operating systems that we have available to us. And no, you neither have to give up on contactless payments nor on internet banking or government apps. There are many applications that don’t play nice with FOSS Android, but if you make the effort to choose your service providers with intent, so that they are compatible, then it is very much possible to daily-drive a fully de-Googled phone.

Sorry for necroing, but why can’t you fall back to SMS? There are plenty reliable FOSS SMS messaging apps.

Unfortunately, SailfishOS is not FOSS, and FOSS must be the basis of all trust, or else you have no idea to tell what kind of software (spyware) the vendor is operating on your phone. At least Jolla is starting to open-source some traditionally proprietary components.

But how is that significantly more secure than LineageOS? I have read through countless blog posts from GrapheneOS developers and have not yet encountered an explanation that is sufficiently convincing. Outside of additional security hardening, which is definitely a big pro, GrapheneOS doesn’t have many things that LineageOS doesn’t. LineageOS is fully FOSS and telemetry-free. They introduced the “Trust” control panel for managing all sorts of privacy and security matters. They have PIN scramble.

The only major, obvious security vulnerability lies in the proprietary driver blobs from the device vendors / OEMs. But AFAIK Google Pixels also have those, right? So outside of doubtlessly valuable measures like restricting malicious reprogramming / access through the USB port, in what ways is GrapheneOS actually more secure than LineageOS?

In principle the messages themselves could be E2E encrypted, but the closed-source WhatsApp client could transmit decryption keys to Meta HQ without anyone finding out. As long as the client or the client device is unsafe and not trusted, E2EE is not really effective. Which is why one should always demand a FOSS client for E2EE.

insert rant about Mozilla CEO

wdym “killed the whole company”? Nokia was always more than just phones. They are still around and one of the largest telecom equipment manufacturers.

Sorry for the downvote, but I see this take repeated here on Lemmy so often and it just makes no sense. This will not kill the FOSS app “ecosystem”. Nothing whatsoever changes for FOSS ROMs like LineageOS or GrapheneOS. And as long as there are FOSS operating systems, apps will be developed for them. If anything, this could drive mainstream adoption of free/libre Android forward, re-invigorating the scene through public outcry.

And to the people who propose fully jumping ship from Android to “Linux phones” because of Google’s recent changes, you would only make the app support matter worse. As someone who daily drives both a phone with LineageOS and one with postmarketOS (mainline-ish Linux), mobile app support is endlessly worse on Linux than the fallout from Google’s developer registration could ever be. That is not to say that Linux phones will not eventually get to a point of reasonable maturity, but it is way too early and frankly utterly irrational to bury AOSP Android or needlessly hate on it.

Those Zionist boots must taste reeeeally good…

I have been daily driving LineageOS since 2023 on a Samsung Galaxy S10+, and before that experimented a little with CyanogenMod. Number 1 reason is privacy and security. I don’t want Google spyware or any other proprietary software on my phone (though I have to live with proprietary drivers, but at least they are abstracted away behind HAL).

“Street racers” are some of the worst people to exist. They have no empathy and regard for the lives and well-being of other people. Most of the time, their fatal accidents kill entirely unrelated people (including children!) that were just going about their business. Having “street racing” as your “hobby” is the ultimate display of unlimited egoism; you do not care at all about the actual humans you kill through your actions and the decades of connections you sever and memories you eradicate. And defending this abhorrent practice is almost as shameful as participating in it.

Not true. The “words” with which specific species call some others has been determined and can be observed, so “we would never know” is false.

It’s a badge of honour

Whatever you choose.

If I call you a terrorist I guess I can expect you to be picked up tomorrow morning? You people just have an utterly deranged sense of logic. You cannot convict someone without proof, regardless of the alleged crime and how strong your personal feelings on the matter are.

China could not care one bit less about the genocide in Gaza you stupid tankie, least of all about the Houthis. It is Chinese ships and goods in particular that the operation is protecting. This was just arrogant posturing from China, because they know fully well that the EU will side with Taiwan in the coming war.

This is literally not a problem with smartphones, the problem is about the software you decide to run on it. A smartphone is simply a very powerful pocket computer.

Sure champ, you are the smartest person in the world. So now you can shut up and go to bed.