Linux phones are still behind android and iPhone, but the gap shrank a surprising amount while I wasn’t looking. These are damn near usable day to day phones now! But there are still a few things that need done and I was wondering what everyone’s thoughts on these were:
1 - tap to pay. I don’t see how this can practically be done. Like, at all.
2 - android auto/apple CarPlay emulation. A Linux phones could theoretically emulate one of these protocols and display a separate session on the head unit of a car. But I dont see any kind of project out there that already does this in an open-source kind of way. The closest I can find are some shady dongles on amazon that give wireless CarPlay to head units that normally require USB cables. It can be done, but I don’t see it being done in our community.
3 - voice assistants. wether done on device or phoning into our home servers and having requests processed there, this should be doable and integrated with convenient shortcuts. Home assistant has some things like this, and there’s good-old Mycroft blowing around out there still. Siri is used every day by plenty of people and she sucks. If that’s the benchmark I think our community can easily meet that.
I started looking at Linux phones again because I loathe what apple is doing to this UI now and android has some interesting foldables but now that google is forcing Gemini into everything and you can’t turn it off, killing third party ROMS, and getting somehow even MORE invasive, that whole ecosystem seems like it’s about to march right off a cliff so its not an option anymore for me.
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- Would require banks and such to cooperate. Good luck with that, Microsoft and Google will just pay banks to keep us out
Actually I don’t need any of those things you mention. It may be a mistake to assume that Linux phones should imitate Google/Apple phones.
Obviously this is subjective, but I use android auto all the time and something similar for a linux phone would be really nice for me. Don’t dismiss them just cause you wouldn’t use them
Same. Never use these things on Android.
It’s not that I want an imitation, but I do want certain functionalities to be available
Dunno. GPS and map apps seems pretty important for something more mobile than a laptop.
That’s about the connection to Car Play, not GPS
Doesn’t GPS work on Linux phones? As for map apps, OpenStreetMaps based apps are free and more acurate than google (atleast in my region), the only thing that might be lacking is realtime traffic information.
My thoughts exactly reading this list. I don’t use any of those as-is and have zero interest. I do agree Linux phones seem a bit behind at the moment, but as soon as they’re on par with say GrapheneOS, then we’re golden.
the other two can be worked on. but point 1 is the entire reason we can’t use degoogled android, which is imo almost as good as gnu/linux on a phone.
to expand on point 1: many governments and companies are now locking their services away inside squeamish proprietary apps that won’t run at the tiniest sign of something they don’t like. i used to have health insurance that didn’t let me use their app if i had even the “developer options” enabled.
By tap to pay, you mean things like Apple pay and Google pay? We don’t have that on degoogled androids, let alone on Linux phones…
But they are still incredibly useful. I do and will put up with a fully-googled phone just for that convenience.
I don’t really see any of these as deal breakers, because I think the state of Linux phones in 2025 isn’t about being “finished” or “perfect,” it’s about being part of a bigger journey. Every limitation mentioned is just a reflection of where things stand right now, not anything permanent. What kinda excites me is that Linux phones are built around openness, community, and the freedom to adapt, qualities you don’t really get with mainstream options. Sure, there are missing features, rough edges, and some compromises, but none of that outweighs the value of having a device that puts you in control…
1 - tap to pay. I don’t see how this can practically be done. Like, at all.
Yeah, better go back to carrying pieces of plastic with you at all times. Bonus: you can leave your phone home and still pay for things.
That’s fine if your bank provides tap-to-pay plastic, but not all do, so you end up more vulnerable to skimmers.
Each contactless payment generates a transaction-specific, one-time code, that is extremely effective in reducing counterfeit fraud.
https://usa.visa.com/pay-with-visa/contactless-payments/contactless-payments.html
Better yet, cash
I need none of that. Can I run OsmAnd?
The android auto equivalent for cars would be something I’d be interested in, that’s the only reason I had to reenable google on my phone. I don’t see any open source software that do it.
When customs ROMs and most FOSS apps are killed next year on Android, we’re all going to find out very quickly how much the trap has closed around us.
Same reason I loved to Linux on desktop, something that used to be cool and open and at least work mostly has enshittified beyond repair. I’m not going to let the bastards get me if I can help it.
Everyone here just saying “oh I don’t use that therefore no one needs it and should just lose it and switch to a Linux distro” is not helping anyone. This person told us their requirements to switch. How hard is that to understand for anyone. They also told us the requirements of most of the population. This concept should not be so hard to understand. Everyone has features they need in certain products. Some people don’t care how headphones sound they just care that they make sound others are really picky audiophles. It’s all preference
fwiw regarding point 3, I had Mycroft on my pinephone. Was toying with other distros at some point so I don’t have it anymore, but it worked. Took a few seconds to process.
I already don’t have any of those things on my de-googled android. I’m used to it. Sure, they would be nice, but it’s not a dealbreaker that I have to tap a card instead of my phone, or use Bluetooth instead of carplay, or type on my phone instead of talking to it.
The only thing I was missing without Google was push notifications. And that works out of the box on my /e/ OS FP5. It provides the same API as GSF, but with a different, anonymous push service. I doubt that there will ever be a workaround for Google Pay, because you need the intersection of a well-known company and low level device integration for that to work. And as you say, it’s not a big deal. The Graphene OS guys were pretty smug for a long while about how superior their sandboxed-GSF approach is, but look how that worked out for them. MicroG was always the right idea and if it can’t be done with MicroG it isn’t worth doing (on Android).
Don’t want or need any of those things you mention. I want a phone, I want to be able to send messages, I want GPS and a camera. Good battery life, wifi and enough memory and storage… And then privacy…
Same. Has that been solved yet?
All I need is a smartphone that can run all my daily drives. Browsing, messaging, socials, banking, utilities and games. Especially with companies pushing that everything be done through an app instead of available through a browser. The problem is very few companies bother to develop Linux versions of their software.
Oh I’m already having those arguments about installing apps. It’s one of the many reasons I’m leaving T-Mobile soon actually. If I have to call in I will but I don’t trust apps at this point and they are frankly unnecessary in almost every case.
I switched to GrapheneOS like 4 years ago and at first I was bummed that I could no longer tap my phone to pay. But it’s fine. I still go out with my wallet in my pocket, so it’s no problem to just tap my bank card really… I’ll take privacy over convenience thanks
I havent taken my wallet with me in years. I prefer tap to pay as it is more secure than a physical card which can get lost or stolen.
Hahahahahaha. No.
Eh, both are about the same level of security, as long as you take the correct actions.
Lose a card? Freeze/Deactivate it and call your bank.
Lose your phone? Use Google/Apple/FindMyDevice (Degoogled) to either find it, or nuke whatever data you had on your phone (hopefully you made backups).
This is the most unhelpful kind of comment where you basically shame someone for having preferences. Why people feel the need to make their callousness public instead of just shutting up, I never know.
