And the apps that do have lifetime licenses went from $5 to like $80

YES! I was talking with someone recently about this ROM. I couldn't remember what it was called, but I had decked out my phone on a fully wild unicorn theme based on it lmao.

What's the % of US users that use non-Apple non-Android smartphones, like <0.1% still right? I basically just use phone, SMS, browser and youtube on mine so possible I'll switch over when its tried and tested enough. Some tech experience but not enough with phones, specifically to be confident.

i cant wait for mobile Linux to be ready, I will switch in a heartbeat.

I was really rooting for Ubuntu Mobile and Firefox OS. Sadly barely any manufacturers offered it stock, so classic henn and egg problem.

Pinephone exists now, you can buy it today. It runs Linux.

Calls/SMS do work although are not 100% so if you absolutely need these to be reliable you could get a brick phone for like £15 to cover that and then use the Pinephone as a pocket computer. I used it as my only phone for a couple of years and it was mostly fine, now it doesn't have a SIM in it and its perfect as a pocket PC.

Most relatable meme in a while, feels weird to feel so much nostalgia for an Operating system

I've been looking to switch as well... But it's hard to find a supported device.
Dammit, I want Mobian so bad...

I'm probably going to spam this around a bit, since most people don't seem to know about it, but a reminder that FuriLabs has a (GNU+)Linux phone with decent spec.s and the ability to run Android app.s (from what I've heard) pretty decently: https://furilabs.com/

Biggest drawback is it's based on Halium. Usual growing pains of a new product/company apply but apparently the company is pretty responsive and their dev.s have worked with customers to get things like calling working with the carrier and bands of their country where it hasn't worked before so improvements move pretty quickly.

Collection of different experiences I've variously seen online over the last year or so:

• https://clehaxze.tw/gemlog/2025/07-20-flx1-actually-usable-linux-phone.gmi
• https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41839326
• https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1fa1ljn/furilabs_flx1/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1j46f2w/flx1_linux_phone_display_out/
• https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/03/furiphone_flx1/

I don't own one, myself, so I can't give any personal experience but I've seen it around for a few years now but most people don't seem to even know about it. Maybe there's a reason for that? But none I've ever seen anyone say.

Yes, Titanium Backup was great, but have you also tried Helium? Also where's Odin3?

I recognise almost all of picture one, but it's been a while since I used them, I should upgrade again. Is it really that much pain now?

Follow pine64 news, they stopped producing new pinephones since they arent in demand enough

I remember this "don't be evil" slogan. But what was it from?

@[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected]

(only because you all expressed desire for a proper Linux phone and I've still, yet, to've seen anyone mention this in this thread; may not fit your needs but in case no one knew of it, yet)

It was Google's.

The phone running FuriOS seems neat.

Are they stopping development though? Stopping production when there is an abundance of stock to sell already is just normal business.

I thought that was just the pro?

What is halium and why is it a drawback ?

https://halium.org/ (not me insinuating you should've just searched for it; I just like to be thorough and give all possible information, even if unneeded)

The very simplified explanation (as far as I understand things) is that it uses an Android kernel to run Linux on so that hardware issues are minimized (the biggest difficulty that Purism and the Pinephones have had and why they've been harangued in terms of what they can do is they're trying to provide open hardware that can work with the pure Linux kernel).

So the plus side is that things work with Android hardware – because you're, ultimately, using the Android kernel – and you can (theoretically) open up the number of devices you can run on exceedingly.

Downside is (I believe) you get Google/Android closed bits running and you're tied to the development of whomever made that modified kernel. All the complaints about not getting kernel upgrades after a while (because you're using a modified kernel, you can't just pull the latest and greatest from upstream and use it) that people have with Android will still apply.

Given the moves Google's making, it's not a deal breaker, for me, but I know it can be for some people so just wanted to give people the heads up.

Not sure, but I'd bet it's less than flipphones / dumbphones. For the average person, smartphone and android/apple are probably synonymous.