Android and iOS both suck. You probably already know about all the spyware, proprietary bloat, arbitrary restrictions on what you can do with your device, etc etc, but what are the alternatives?
Custom Android ROMs
Custom Android ROMs are operating systems that, just like stock Android, are based on AOSP, but with tweaks in order to change it in some way. They vary in quality and compatibility, but they are usually compatible with all apps that don’t use Google Mobile Services, with workarounds to make them either work with (OpenGAPPS, MindTheGapps) or spoof (MicroG) Google Mobile Services.
Lineage OS
Lineage OS is a custom ROM that is primarily focused on providing an operating system that is bloat free. It has compatibility with more phones than any other custom Android ROM, but the quality of Lineage OS ROMs range from phone to phone, from being the smoothest and fastest phone that you have ever used to half of the features not working and it crashing when you stare at it wrong. Lineage OS is also insecure by default, although most of these issues can be resolved through ADB and changing settings.
LineageOS is the direct descendant of CyanogenMod, which fell apart after its company, Cyanogen Inc, shut down. Many forks of Lineage OS have been made, such as crDroid, /e/, and iodéOS, but they don’t seem to offer much and I don’t really know anything about them.
Graphene OS
Graphene OS (formerly known as Copperhead OS) is a privacy and security focused fork of AOSP. It offers many additional features, such as stronger security against exploits and attacks, greater control over sensors and ports, verified boot (marge? this sounds like SNCA. Didn’t a lot of people complain about Secure Boot?), sandboxed Google Play, Storage/Contact Scopes (Spoof a fake drive/contact list for apps that request for it), enhanced protection against VPN leaks, and a bunch of other stuff. It is also more polished than Lineage OS is. However, it is also compatible with way less phones than Lineage OS is. While most of the compatible phones are Google Pixels that need to be flashed with this OS, Graphene OS is working with Motorola to make a phone that has Graphene OS on it by default.
The developers of Graphene OS also prioritize security at, and sometimes even over freedom in their operating system. This article from the kicksecure wiki explains this, as well as other issues with Graphene OS, better than I can, so if you want to hear about Graphene OS’s faults than read it. Also, the developer is a huge sperg.
Linux Phones
⚠️Disclaimer: I have never used a Linux phone. This section is based exclusively on stimming on the ‘net for a couple of hours. Let me know if I got anything wrong.
There is only so much that Custom Android ROMs can do. AOSP, at its core, is full of bloat with a reliance on Java and Kotlin. It requires binary blobs to work (Replicant OS is a custom ROM without proprietary blobs, but it hasn’t been updated in years), and every year, it loses more and more functionality to Google Mobile Services. In a few months, the developers of Android are going to be affected by a change that forces them to dox themselves to Google and pay a fee in order to make programs compatible with most Android devices, which will likely make FOSS software much less prevalent within Android. This is where Linux Phones come into play.
There are many Linux operating systems that are compatible with phones, but most of them are not that interesting, because they are just desktop operating systems with a custom desktop environment. A lot of them are also only compatible with a few phones from a decade ago, maybe a few chinkphones that are somewhat more recent, and the Pinephone (which is compatible with pretty much everything). With that being said, there are some interesting options with more widespread compatibility.
Postmarket OS
Forked from Alpine Linux, Postmarket OS is focused on being lightweight to extend the lifespan of old devices. This operating system, like Lineage OS, has compatibility with more phones than any other Linux Distribution, with the quality of its port to each device ranging from great to poor. It also has issues running many Linux applications, as Alpine OS has considerable differences from other Linux distributions.
Sailfish OS
Sailfish OS, which is made by Jolla, is a continuation of Nokia’s MeeGo. I don’t really understand what this OS is trying to do. It claims to be an open source, and yet its Android compatibility layer and UI are both proprietary (There is an open source fork, Nemo Mobile, but it is only compatible with two phones). Maybe it is intended for enterprise use? Maybe it is focused on providing stability and compatibility over all else?
For whatever reason, Sailfish OS has attracted the attention of a lot of people, and has both official and unofficial ports on a lot of devices. Jolla has also released dedicated hardware for the OS, including the Jolla Phone JP-1301 (Old), Jolla Phone (New), Jolla C, and Jolla C2.
I’ve tested it out using the unofficial x86 build, and I must say that it is one of the most interesting operating systems that I have ever used (video). Instead of taking things from iOS or Android, Jolla has designed pretty much every aspect of the UI on their own, which results in a UI that is completely different from everything else. It’s very interesting, and I would recommend checking it out if you can.
Phones Released With Linux
Jolla is not the only company to release a phone with Linux. Pine64’s Pinephone and Pinephone Pro are by far the most popular Linux phones. In the past, they have launched with Ubuntu Touch, Manjaro, PostMarket OS, and Debian (Mobian),and they are compatible with most widespread versions of Linux. Purism also makes Linux phones, including their Librem 5 and their Liberty Phone, that use Pure OS by default. I’m guessing that they have a tighter control over their supply chain than Pine64, but that control comes at a steep price, as their phones with mediocre specs end up being sold for between $799-$1999. Volla and FuriLabs are companies that are also making Linux phones. While they are more expensive than the Pinephone and also have less community support, they have better specifications.
Kai OS
Kai OS is a proprietary operating system designed to give smart features to feature phones. While it was initially based around Mozilla’s Firefox OS, upon the release of Kai OS 3.0, it shifted to being Android based, but without the Android Runtime. One of its main goals is to give third worlders connection to the internet, so most Kai OS phones have low specifications and are difficult to get in first world countries. The phones, however, do have interesting designs.
I don’t have a Kai OS phone, and the Kai OS simulator is missing most of features and functionality of Kai OS. However, from the looks of it, Kai OS appears to be a bloated piece of shit with all of the faults and OEM bloat of shitty Android phones. There are community efforts such as Banana Hackers and forks such as GerdaOS which seek to remove the bloat of KaiOS and make it more secure, but I can’t say how successful they are.
RTOS Phones/Feature Phones
OH MY SISA IS THAT A HECCIN JAPANESE FEATURE PHONE? THIS IS SO R/WHOLESOME ITS JUST LIKE MY FAVORITE ANIMES!
RTOS phones/Feature Phones are phones that run a real time operating system. These operating systems are faster, more simplistic, and less capable than phones that run a GPOS (General Purpose Operating System).
While I am too retarded/lazy to provide a comprehensive overview of feature phones, they do seem to still exist, and they even support 4G. There are a bunch of cheap feature phones that plague Aliexpress/Temu/[insert sketchy chink market], although since they are closed source and seem kinda sketchy, I would avoid using them. Sonim, Nokia/HMD, and BLU also make feature phones, and they seem less shady than the Chinese ones. If you want to waste money and earn reddit karma you can import some Japanese phone from Docomo or SoftBank, but I don’t think that they offer any additional features aside from looking cooler and breaking easier. There’s probably more companies/phones that I am missing but these phones are SNCA to me, so I don’t really want to bother.
Also, I don’t view phones with Kai OS, AOSP, or any other GPOS as Feature Phones. If you are less autistic about what is and isn’t a feature phone than I am and you want something close enough, then there are a bunch of feature-esque phones with Kai OS or AOSP forks that are available for pretty cheap.
The main issue with feature phones is that they are all closed source, even more so than Android phones, and they don’t have any long term support. The only open source feature phone that I could find (in like 5 minutes of research) is the Mudita Pure, which runs a fork of FreeRTOS, but that seems really overpriced for what it offers. For someone that wants a phone that is private and secure, a feature phone seems like a bad choice. With that being said, texting and calling are insecure by design, and the modems on pretty much all phones are closed source anyways, so if you buy a feature phone from somewhere somewhat reputable and you only use your phone for texts and calls than you are not missing out on much. ITT: Talk about alternatives to iOS and Android.
I have used it on OnePlus 6. Problem with it is that desktop software don't work well on a small phone like that. Also be prepared to get raped by certain functions of the phone not working (networking and gps).
