For those unaware, Google is continuously enacting policies that are closing down the open environment of Android, and I fear this will significantly harm projects like GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, and others.
If you can spare a couple dollars, please consider throwing some money at PostmarketOS or any other mobile Linux project you like.
The Signal lead has been vocally against doing a fully fledged version for Linux for a while now. He really likes his closed ecosystems. "for security"
Desktop Linux is soooo insecure because users can access their own data.
Agreed, just not the statement I was responding to, which I took as Signal - the company - getting on board with Linux mobile. But maybe I misinterpreted.
The Linux app is just the desktop app, which doesn't have the functionality that the Android and iOS apps do. It only works when paired with an Android or iOS device, so you'd still be shackled to those ecosystems without proper support for a mobile Linux app.
Most of the chips in a smartphone are made by Qualcomm, both processors and peripheral chips like 5G modem, LTE modem, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Qualcomm chips require proprietary binary blobs to function, and usually only have a support lifetime of about 2 years. They also only supply those blobs to the manufacturer of the device.
Qualcomm being what they are is the reason Apple was able to provide a better lifespan for their phones for like a decade (you'd get 5-6 years of iOS major version upgrades compared to 0-2 on Android phones).
Google actually pushed the Android ecosystem to do better by creating its' own Tensor SoCs which they support for longer... But they don't really make the drivers for those open source either. So we're still not doing better in that regard.
rooting for the guys although I don't want none of them things. I run my device without a modem on (hopefully I disabled it correctly) and I want it to run like my other shit runs - I turn it on when I want it, no doing shit in the background nobody asked it to, syncing to the clown, none of that.
the results are awesome - I get like days of standby out of a severely degraded battery that can't manage a whole day under android. still, I understand that other people need this stuff. for me, SMS and calls utilizing the utterly broken, insecure, and definitely compromised telecom infra shouldn't be a thing in 2025.
Will there ever be an app ecosystem for Linux phones. I don't see how could happen. I'm talking actual apps like banking or payment systems. Institutional software such as government apps that requires a stable platform. Not a janky Linux system that is prone to breakage every few updates or scatter across different distros. Seems like the year of the linux desktop meme could end up morphing into the year of the linux phone.
Why can't we just use banking websites? You don't need an app ecosystem for that. They just need to build a responsive website that will work on a computer or phone. If you have bank to bank transfer (like e-transfer in Canada) that can be done from the mobile website as well.
Payment like NFC payment is a different story. I suspect its unlikely we ever see that.
Exactly. And as I said in another comment, you can make a wrapper for it if their website is not the most mobile-friendly. Any browser can handle everything beneath the skin.
Banks sometimes need a 2FA app, this is what some people need "banking apps" for. The bank website itself is trivial to just use, but you need to be able to log in. In sweden, much of society, from fetching a post package to booking an appointment with a doctor or getting a bus ticket, relies on this 2FA app. You can barely function in society without this app.
It's unfortunate that sweden decided to lock 2FA behind proprietary smartphone apps.
For every country its going to be a different story. I think instead of trying to build an app ecosystem for things like bank apps on linux it would be easier for citizens of those countries to convince the government / banks to allow other 2FA methods like OTPs that can work on any a device using an OTP client. That would honestly benefit more people as whole since they wouldn't be lock down to just Android/Apple or even owning a smartphone. They could do all their important government/finance stuff just with a computer.
Well, they all have standard web interfaces, and so many apps are merely wrappers for it or a rebuilt front-end. On a Linux device one would presume you’ll have a standard web browser so all you need really is a wrapper for the website and the browser engine handles all security. Is there any reason not to just go that route?
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