Quick reminder that starting September 2026, a silent update, nonconsensually pushed by Google, will block every Android app whose developer hasn’t registered with Google, signed their contract, paid up, and handed over government ID: https://www.theregister.com/software/2025/10/29/keep-android-open-movement-fights-google-dev-requirement/1470903
Addition:
Several of these OSes, including Sailfish, FuriOS, Mobian, and postmarketOS are all pure Linux OSs. They’re not derived from Android, but they can all run an Android VM or container, and so allow you to install and use Android apps.
Crazy that no one mentioned the trump phone \s
They said “Non-Apple, non-Google,” not “non-existent.”
https://mas.to/@Techaltar/116579102714426735 apparently they will start shipping soon
They’re moving from any month to any week now!
I wonder why they didn’t mention Fairphone. There are a few others worth getting an honourable mention too.
GrapheneOS - Partner with Motorola, although the first Graphene phone may not be until early 2027
Operating Systems (as are both above) that can be installed to a list of devices that can be purchased today. Nothing really new here, I just thought it might be nice to have a longer list of devices all in the one place.
CalyxOS (Discontinued?)
Please remove pine64 from the list. They are selling ancient hardware with little to no support. I got burned this way 2 week ago. Trust in pine64 is misplaced.
I’m curious why Fairphone is not mentioned?
Also if you’re in Canada, this site ships internationally
https://www.clove.co.uk/collections/smartphones-fairphone/products/fairphone-gen-6
Fairphone can bought with Android or e/OS. On the e/OS site they say
/e/OS is a “deGoogled” version of Android OS
So a Fairphone with e/OS will still have a dependency to Google. It might be possible to use Fairphone with postmarketOS or something else that is based on Linux, I have not looked into it.
Thanks for sharing. I looked into it more.
According to https://forum.fairphone.com/t/fairphone-6-linux-compatibility/123874/9
Fairphone 5 and below works.
And the following https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/promoted/
shows Fairphone selling Gen 5 with Ubuntu touch.
Cool, Fairphone + Ubuntu touch seems like it would be a good combo. The only question mark is how well banking apps and other must have apps are working since they often have dependencies to Android or Iphone.
Shiftphone also has the ShiftOS L OS which is de-googled. It also has an official /e/os build and the bootloader can be easily unlocked.
All of those companies should work together to create one Linux-based OS.
Majority on your list are using a de-googled Android OS or have some Linux based alternative as an offer. Issue with Linux is: it’s amazing, yet still far away from mass adoption.
To get there we have to create European based open OS that everyone adopts for their non-us tech phones. With popularity and distribution more major apps will be available directly and not through work arounds (e.g. open app stores, etc). It’s also a huge f*** you to American oligarchs if Europen tech companies are coming together to show their strength.
I fully agree, but there is already Ubuntu Touch. It’s a great mobile OS imo, but it indeed lacks mass adoption as you say, and so you may miss some apps.
I tried PostmarketOS. Its fine. But with no audio on the speaker and really slow WiFi speed it is not usable. Hardware: Fairphone 4
- Affordable
- usable
- no Android
Sadly we can only choose 2 of 3 :(
Jolla ticks two boxes, interesting to see how usable it is when they start delivering
Well their previous phones have been usable, but barely apparently. Every discussion with users, it is just riddled with bugs and doesn’t function as a phone often times. Though cheaper Samsung’s often also don’t function as a phone either I guess.
I thought about getting one for a while until a lot of users said they have to carry a second phone also, which defeats the purpose for me.
Like N9 back in the days. I hope I won’t need to carry two phones and I’m ready to cut off apps if they don’t work, but there’s no excuse if phone calls don’t function.
But will it run my banking app?
For SailfishOS(Jolla) you can check here: https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/banking-apps-on-sailfish-os/18438
Like an asshole, I scrolled down to USA with hope in my heart. Le sigh. Spoiler alert, if you’re US the simple answer is no, unfortunately.
Using your banks website, rather than their app may be a solution. Although, it may be a compromise.
That only works if your banking app isn’t the second factor authentication. In my case before I can access the desktop website (or any other action) I need to approve the login using the app.
Not just banking, but also other apps like government login apps such as the Danish MitID or dutch DigiD. I doubt those work :/
This was initially my problem getting away from ios or android.
but these days im considering a different bank entirely that doesnt require an app in the first place
I use Graphene OS and my bank’s app works fine.
That’s a nice set of devices. For a person not interested in degoogled Androids, since it would be Android anyway, what would be the best mobile OS for regular use? Ubuntu touch? Sailfish?
Some key aspects are stability, ease of use, quantity, and quality of the app ecosystem and community.
deGoogled Android is still an improvement for someone who have never considered anything else than Android or Iphone.
I’m not contesting that. But if a person wants something different? Someone who’s not particularly a fan of Android.
Good question, I have never tried any other OS than Android and Windows phone before it was stopped. However, I’m waiting for the Jolla phone and hope that Sailfish will be good. I would have tried a Linux based OS if any of my phones supported one.
