![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Librem5_phone_convergence_-_screen_keyboard_mouse.jpg/440px-Librem5_phone_convergence_-_screen_keyboard_mouse.jpg)
This is a list of mobile phones with open-source operating systems.
Scope of the list
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Ubuntu_Phone_3_devices.png/220px-Ubuntu_Phone_3_devices.png)
Cellular modem and other firmware
[edit]Some hardware components used in phones require drivers (or firmware) to run. For many components, only proprietary drivers are available[1] (open source phones usually seek components with open drivers.[citation needed]) If firmware is not updatable and does not have control over any other part of the phone, it might be considered equivalent to part of the hardware. However, these conditions do not hold for cellular modems.[1]
As of 2019[update], all available mobile phones have a proprietary baseband chip (GSM module, cellular modem),[2][3][4] except for the Necuno, which has no such chip and communicates by peer-to-peer VOIP.[5][6] The modem is usually integrated with the system-on-a-chip and the memory.[4] This presents security concerns; baseband attacks can read and alter data on the phone remotely.
The Librem 5 mobile segregates the modem from the system and memory, making it a separate module, a configuration rare in modern cellphones.[3][4] There is an open-source baseband project, OsmocomBB.
Operating system: middleware and user interface
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Mer_and_mobile_operating_systems.svg/370px-Mer_and_mobile_operating_systems.svg.png)
Generally, the phones included on this list contain copyleft software other than the Linux kernel, and minimal closed-source component drivers (see section above).
- Android-based devices do not appear on this list because of the heavy use of proprietary components, particularly drivers and applications.[7][1][8]
- There are numerous versions of Android which seek to replace the proprietary components, such as LineageOS (successor to the now-defunct[9][10] Cyanogenmod) and Replicant, that can be installed on a large number of phones after-market. There are also devices using Ubuntu Touch and Droidian which are using GNU/Linux and Android hardware adaptation layer Halium.[11] Phones natively running these are included.
- There are multiple projects to implement mainline Linux on mobile phones. Mobian is an open-source project focusing on Debian GNU/Linux on mobile devices.[12] postmarketOS is based on the Alpine Linux.[13] Arch Linux ARM based Manjaro is focusing on PinePhone hardware.[14]
- WebOS (LG Electronics) was initially available only under a proprietary license but the source code was later released under a free permissive license by HP. Open WebOS will not run on all WebOS devices. LuneOS is Halium based fork of WebOS.[15]
- Firefox OS was released under a permissive MIT license but its KaiOS successor is proprietary; the former is included.
- All Maemo, Meego and Sailfish OS devices running open Maemo Leste or Mer middleware are included. Tizen devices are not included.
- Open QTMoko/OpenMoko phones of Qt Extended are included to the list.
Note that it is often possible to install a wide variety of open-source operating systems on any open-source phone; the higher-level software is designed to be largely interchangeable and independent of the hardware.[16]
Devices with formal support
[edit]Model | Organization | Mobile operating system | Operating system support | Date released (or cancelled) |
Current state | List Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SHIFTphone 8 | Shiftphone | ShiftOS (Android 14),[17] postmarketOS | Yes | 2023[18] | pre-order | €699 |
Fairphone 5 | Fairphone | Fairphone OS (Android, not open-source), CalyxOS, /e/OS (Murena), iodéOS, postmarketOS[1] | Yes | 2023[19] | Shipping | €699 |
Volla Phone X23 | Hallo Welt Systeme UG | Volla OS (based on Android Open Source Project), Ubuntu Touch, multiboot option[20] | Yes | May 2023[20] | Shipping | €564 |
Mudita Pure | Mudita[21] | MuditaOS (GPLv3, based on FreeRTOS)[22] | Yes | 2022 | shipping used handsets[2] | $370 ($310 used from manufacturer) |
uConsole (mobile option) | ClockworkPi | Debian, Ubuntu, or Raspberry Pi OS;[23] Debian-based Clockwork OS]][3], OS can be swapped by swapping an SD card[4] | Yes | 2022 | Shipping[5] | $139-$209 (1-6 CPU cores, 1-4 GB RAM), +$50 for mobile extension[6][7][8] |
Volla Phone 22 | Hallo Welt Systeme UG | Volla OS (based on Android Open Source Project), Ubuntu Touch, Droidian[24] | Yes | 2022[25] | Shipping | €452 |
PinePhone Pro[26] | Pine64 | Manjaro Linux with KDE's Plasma Mobile by default;[27] | Yes. 20+ other (mostly Linux) operating systems can be swapped[28] by swapping an SD card.[29] | 2021-12[30] | Shipping | $399 |
F(x)tec Pro1 X[31] | FX Technology Limited. | Ubuntu Touch, Droidian, LineageOS or Android | ? | 2022-07[32] | shipping[32] | $899 |
Volla Phone X | Hallo Welt Systeme UG | Volla OS (based on Android Open Source Project), Ubuntu Touch[33] | Yes | 2021[34] | Shipping | |
Fairphone 4 | Fairphone | /e/OS, CalyxOS, DivestOS, IodéOS, LineageOS, postmarketOS, Ubuntu Touch | [35] | 2020 4Q | Shipping | €529 |
DragonBox Pyra Mobile Edition[36] | OpenPandora GmbH [37] | Debian[36] | Yes | 2020-12 (started shipping pre-orders) | shipping pre-ordered backlog[9] | €600/€626 (2/4 GB RAM) |
Volla Phone[38] | Hallo Welt Systeme UG | Volla OS (based on Android Open Source Project), Ubuntu Touch, Droidian or Sailfish OS | Yes | 2020-11 | Shipping | |
Fairphone 3+ | Fairphone | /e/OS, DivestOS, LineageOS, Ubuntu Touch | [35] | 2020 3Q | sale discontinued, but supported | |
Librem 5[39] | Purism | PureOS, a Debian derivative developed by Purism for their mobiles | PureOS has a lifetime support guarantee | 2019-11[40][41] | Shipping[42] | |
PinePhone[43] | Pine64 | Beta "Braveheart" Edition had a choice of user-installed OS;[44] Later "Community Editions" sold from June 15, 2020 to February 2, 2021, each of which donated $10/phone to the developer community that wrote the OS it shipped with.[45][46][47] Subsequently, Pinephones all shipped with Manjaro and Plasma Mobile. | Yes. Twenty-odd different operating systems[46] can be user-installed as of March 2021[update]; OS can be swapped by swapping out an SD card. | 2019-11 | Shipping | $199 |
Fairphone 3 | Fairphone | /e/OS, DivestOS, LineageOS, Ubuntu Touch | [35] | 2019 3Q | sale discontinued, but supported | |
Gemini PDA | Planet Computers | Android, Debian, Sailfish OS | 2018 | Discontinued | ||
GTA04 based motherboard, fitting inside the shell of a Nokia N900. | Neo900 | QtMoko, Debian, SHR (Stable Hybrid Release), Replicant | 2018-03 (last updated) | Stalled[48] | ||
Pop Mirage Cyanogen | Alcatel Mobile | CyanogenMod[49] | Discontinued | 01-11-2016 | Discontinued | |
Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition | Meizu | Ubuntu Touch | UBports, community-driven[50] | 2016-02 | Discontinued[51] | |
Zuk Z1 | Lenovo | CyanogenMod[52] | Discontinued | 2015 | Discontinued | |
Andromax Q | Smartfen | CyanogenMod[53] | Discontinued | 2015 | Discontinued | |
Fairphone 2 | Fairphone | Fairphone Open OS, /e/OS, LineageOS, Ubuntu Touch | [35] | 2015 3Q | sale discontinued, but supported | |
Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition | Meizu | Ubuntu Touch | UBports, community-driven[50] | 2015-07 | Discontinued[51] | |
BQ Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition | BQ | Ubuntu Touch | UBports, community-driven[50] | 2015-06 | Discontinued | |
BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition | BQ | Ubuntu Touch | UBports, community-driven[50] | 2015-02 | Discontinued | |
BQ Aquaris X5 Cyanogen Edition | BQ | CyanogenMod,[54] postmarketOS[55] | postmarketOS, community driven | 2015 | Discontinued | |
Wileyfox Storm | Wileyfox | CyanogenMod[56] | Discontinued | 2015 | Discontinued | |
Wileyfox Swift | Wileyfox | CyanogenMod[57]postmarketOS[58] | postmarketOS, community-driven | 2015 | Discontinued | |
YU Yureka YU Yureka Plus |
YU Televentures (Micromax Informatics) | CyanogenMod[59] | Discontinued | 2015 | Discontinued | |
YU Yuphoria | YU Televentures (Micromax Informatics) | CyanogenMod[60] | Discontinued | 2015 | Discontinued | |
OnePlus One | OnePlus | CyanogenMod[61] | Discontinued | 2014 | Discontinued | |
GeeksPhone Revolution | GeeksPhone | Firefox OS | Discontinued; formerly developed by the Mozilla Foundation under the Mozilla Public License, later proprietized as KaiOS | 2014 | Discontinued | |
GeeksPhone Peak+ | GeeksPhone | Firefox OS | Discontinued; formerly developed by the Mozilla Foundation under the Mozilla Public License, later proprietized as KaiOS | 2013-11 (cancellation)[62] | Cancelled[62] | |
Alcatel One Touch Fire | Alcatel | Firefox OS | Discontinued; formerly developed by the Mozilla Foundation under the Mozilla Public License, later proprietized as KaiOS | 2013-07 | Discontinued | |
ZTE Open | ZTE | Firefox OS | Discontinued; formerly developed by the Mozilla Foundation under the Mozilla Public License, later proprietized as KaiOS | 2013-07 | Discontinued | |
GeeksPhone Keon | GeeksPhone | Firefox OS | Discontinued; formerly developed by the Mozilla Foundation under the Mozilla Public License, later proprietized as KaiOS | 2013-04-23 | Discontinued | |
GeeksPhone Peak | GeeksPhone | Firefox OS | Discontinued; formerly developed by the Mozilla Foundation under the Mozilla Public License, later proprietized as KaiOS | 2013-04-23 | Discontinued | |
GTA04 | Golden Delicious | QtMoko, Debian, SHR (Stable Hybrid Release), Replicant | 2012-04 | "Currently not in stock" | ||
Developer phone | Aava mobile | MeeGo | Discontinued | 2011 | Discontinued (was available to developers only)[63] | |
N950 | Nokia | MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan | Discontinued; formerly hosted by the Linux Foundation | 2011 | Discontinued (available to developers only) | |
N9 | Nokia | MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan | Discontinued; formerly hosted by the Linux Foundation | 2011 | Discontinued | |
N900 | Nokia | Maemo 5 (Fremantle) (some proprietary components until Maemo Leste) |
Discontinued | 2009-11-11 | Discontinued | |
Neo FreeRunner (code name GTA02) | OpenMoko | Openmoko/QTMoko Linux, Debian, SHR (Stable Hybrid Release), Gentoo (all Linux-based), Inferno[clarification needed][citation needed] | 2008-06-24 | Discontinued | ||
Neo 1973 (code name GTA01) | OpenMoko | Openmoko Linux (Linux-based) | 2007-07-09 | Discontinued | ||
Eten G500[64] | E-TEN | GPE Palmtop Environment | 2006 | Discontinued, developer phone | ||
Greenphone[65] | Trolltech | Qtopia | 2006 | Discontinued, developer phone |
Devices with 3rd party support
[edit]Model | Organization | Mobile operating system | Operating system support | Date released (or cancelled) |
Current state |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SHIFT6mq | SHIFT | Shift-OS (Android), postmarketOS[66] | partial mainline Linux support | 2021 | shipping |
XFone Mobile Pro (re-launched Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro with Ubuntu Touch) |
SageTea | Ubuntu Touch | UBports, community-driven[50] | 2022-01-19 (originally 2019) | Shipping |
XFone Mobile (re-launched Google Pixel 3a with Ubuntu Touch) |
SageTea | Ubuntu Touch | UBports, community-driven[50] | 2021-06-19 (originally 2019) | Shipping |
OnePlus 6, OnePlus 6T | OnePlus | multiple | partial mainline Linux support[67][68] | 2018-05-21 | Discontinued, used market |
Pocophone F1 | Xiaomi | multiple | partial mainline Linux support[69] | 2018-08-22 | Discontinued, used markets |
Snapdragon 410/412 based phones | multiple | postmarketOS | partial mainline Linux support[70] | Discontinued |
Distributions for existing phones
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Plasma-mobile-hammerhead_01.jpg/220px-Plasma-mobile-hammerhead_01.jpg)
postmarketOS, Ubports, and KDE Neon are open-source distributions running on existing smartphones originally running Android. Maemo Leste is available for Nokia N900 and Motorola Droid 4.
There exists a database listing which older phones will run which open-source operating systems.[71][72]
Custom-made phones
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/CircuitMess_%28Anarch%29.jpg/220px-CircuitMess_%28Anarch%29.jpg)
It is possible to home-build a phone from partially open hardware and software.[73][74] The Arduinophone[74] (touchscreen) and the MIT DIY Cellphone (segmented display)[75][76] both use the Arduino open-hardware single-board computer, with added components. Circuitmess Ringo (previously MakerPhone) is another DIY Arduino phone with open source firmware[77] and available schematics,[78] focusing on education. The PiPhone,[79] ZeroPhone[80] and OURphone[81] are similar, but based on the Raspberry Pi.
The main components to make an open mobile phone are:
- Back cover
- Touch screen
- Battery
- Logic board
Another notable mention would be Paxo Phone at paxo.fr
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Stallman, Richard (19 September 2011). "Is Android really free software? – Google's smartphone code is often described as 'open' or 'free' – but when examined by the Free Software Foundation, it starts to look like something different". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
the software of Android versions 1 and 2 was mostly developed by Google; Google released it under the Apache 2.0 license, which is a lax free software license without copyleft. ... The version of Linux included in Android is not entirely free software, since it contains non-free "binary blobs"... Android is very different from the GNU/Linux operating system because it contains very little of GNU.
- ^ Welte, Harald (5 February 2010). "OsmocomBB Project Rationale". Retrieved 26 September 2013.
Every mobile device that is connected to a cellular network runs some kind of baseband processor with highly proprietary and closed-source firmware.
- ^ a b Amadeo, Ron (26 September 2019). "Purism's Librem 5 phone starts shipping—a fully open GNU/Linux phone". Ars Technica. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
Purism actually couldn't find an open provider for the cellular modem, so the best it could do was isolate it from the rest of the system in an M.2 slot.
- ^ a b c FaerberCTO, Nicole (4 September 2018). "Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department". Purism.
The cellular modem is arguably the most complex part of a mobile phone. The modem is the component that has to implement all the familiar protocols you would associate with a phone (like 2G, 3G, 4G and the upcoming 5G). It does so by running its own proprietary black box operating system. The cellular modem is also covered by thousands of patents held by hundreds of patent owners. Now imagine this… This cellular modem sits right on the same RAM bus as the SoC! Non-free software not only has access to the data flowing to and from the SoC, but also has the ability to modify it. Because this modem operating system is a propreitary black box, we have no idea what this component does or what kind of vulnerabilities it has... The situation is further complicated by the fact that during our research into cellular modems, we realized that there are only a handful of silicon vendors in the world that make these chipsets and nearly all of them integrate their model with the SoC on the same bus. In addition, you historically need to acquire a license to run the proprietary firmware to power the modem on SoCs.. This left us with only one choice: to use ready-made modem "modules" and our own layout that isolates the modem from the SoC. There are a number of these modem modules available in different form factors with various available options in speed, bands, etc. By going the module route we can both provide supplier choice in modems that meet our strict standards, and also allow modem isolation from the RAM and host CPU.(text is CC-by-SA 4.0)
- ^ Aufranc, Jean-Luc (30 November 2018). "Necuno Mobile Open Source Linux Smartphone is Powered by NXP i.MX 6 Processor". CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.
- ^ "Necunos - Redefining Mobile Security". Necuno Solutions.
- ^ Android (operating system)#Licensing "drivers and firmware vital for the proper functioning of Android devices are usually proprietary"
- ^ Stallman, Richard (5 August 2012). "Android and Users' Freedom – Support the Free Your Android campaign". gnu.org. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
Even though the Android phones of today are considerably less bad than Apple or Windows smartphones, they cannot be said to respect your freedom.
- ^ "Yes, this is us". lineageos.org.
- ^ "A fork in the road | CyanogenMod". 25 December 2016. Archived from the original on 25 December 2016.
- ^ "Linux on Android smartphones: Project Halium wants your handset to run Ubuntu, Sailfish". ZDNet. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ "Mobian OS For PinePhone Aims To Bring Debian Linux To Mobile Devices". Fossbytes. 20 June 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
- ^ Prague, Liam Proven in. "postmarketOS 22.06 aims to revive end-of-life smartphones". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ "The Next PinePhone Community Edition Will Feature Manjaro Linux". Fossbytes. 31 August 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
- ^ "Related projects — Halium documentation". docs.halium.org. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
- ^ Braam, Martijn (20 December 2019). "Yet Another Librem 5 and PinePhone comparison". TuxPhones.
- ^ CNX-Software, 8.5.2024 ,SHIFTphone 8 Preparing Mainline Linux Support Ahead Of Launch
- ^ SHIFT, 2023-08-31, SHIFTphone 8 status page
- ^ CNX-software, 2023-08-31, Fairphone 5 smartphone comes with 8-years of software updates with qualcomm qcm6490 industrial iot processor
- ^ a b "Volla Phone X23". Ubuntu Touch.
- ^ "Mudita". Mudita.
- ^ "Mudita OS". Github.
- ^ CNX-software, 26-10-2022, uConsole is a modular Arm or RISC-V handheld computer with optional 4G connectivity
- ^ "Volla Phone 22 runs Ubuntu Touch or a Google-free Android OS (Crowdfunding)". CNX-software. 20 April 2022.
- ^ postmarketOS, Volla Phone 22 (volla-mimameid)
- ^ T., Raffaele (15 October 2021). "PinePhone Pro released: specs, pricing and very first impressions". TuxPhones - Linux phones, tablets and portable devices.
- ^ "Pine64 komt met PinePhone Pro-Linux-smartphone met sterkere hardware". Tweakers (in Dutch).
- ^ "PinePhone Pro". PINE64.
- ^ "October Update: Introducing the PinePhone Pro". PINE64. 15 October 2021.
- ^ PinePhone Pro Developer Edition
- ^ "Pro¹ X". F(x)tec.
- ^ a b "Pro1-X shipping has begun!". F(x)tec. 26 July 2022.
- ^ "The Volla Phone X". Volla Phone.
- ^ postmarketOS, Volla Phone X (volla-yggdrasilx)
- ^ a b c d forum.fairphone.com, Operating systems for fair phones
- ^ a b "The Pyra". Official Pyra and Pandora Site. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
The mobile edition adds mobile internet, and also has telephony services (making the Pyra a phone)
- ^ "More Information". Official Pyra and Pandora Site.
- ^ "The Volla Phone". Volla Phone. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
- ^ Librem 5 – A Security and Privacy Focused Phone. 15 November 2017.
- ^ "First Librem 5 Smartphones are Shipping". Purism. 24 September 2019.
- ^ Weaver, Todd (5 September 2019). "Librem 5 Shipping Announcement". Purism. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
- ^ "Librem 5 store page". 2019–2020.
- ^ PinePhone website. 2019-10-02.
- ^ "PinePhones Start Shipping - All You Need To Know". PINE64 +. 15 January 2020.
As for software, the phone arrives preloaded with a factory test image rather than an end-user operating system. This preloaded factory test suite is running on Linux – postmarketOS to be precise – which allows you to test various features of the phone and run an automated test. ... I assume that everyone getting a Braveheart PinePhone understand that it's up to them to find the operating system build they are interested in, flash it and take part in the community discussion and ongoing development. Most builds are available on the PinePhone Wiki
- ^ Erecinski, Lukasz (15 June 2020). "June Update: postmarketOS CE PinePhone, Shipping & PINE64 Cluster". PINE64.
- ^ a b "PinePhone Software Releases". PINE64.
- ^ "The end of Community Editions". PINE64. 2 February 2021.
- ^ "Neo900". neo900.org.
- ^ Phoneradara, 25-08-2015, Alcatel Pop Mirage Smartphone announced with Cyanogen 13.1 & 2500mAh Battery
- ^ a b c d e f UBPorts - UBPorts keeps Ubuntu Touch alive. 04 September 2017.
- ^ a b "Meizu Phones Sold out". Archived from the original on 21 December 2016.
- ^ Talk Android, 25-08-2015, Lenovo Zuk Z1 launches in India with Cyanogen OS onboard
- ^ Android Headlines, 09-06-2015, Smartfen Unveils Cyanogen OS-Powered Andromax Q Handset
- ^ Zdnet, 04-01-2016 , BQ Aquaris X5 Cyanogen Edition review: Affordable Android with extra security features
- ^ postmarketOS, BQ Aquaris X5 (bq-paella)
- ^ Android Authority, 25-08-2015, WileyFox launches Swift and Storm running Cyanogen OS
- ^ Android Central, Wileyfox Swift review
- ^ postmarketOS, Wileyfox Swift (wileyfox-crackling)
- ^ GSM Arena, 02-11-2015, YU Yureka and Yureka Plus start getting Cyanogen OS 12.1 update
- ^ "Micromax launches Yu Yuphoria with Cyanogen 12, targets Redmi 2". Android Authority. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
- ^ Android Authority, 25-09-2020, The evolution of OnePlus software: From Cyanogen to Oxygen, and beyond
- ^ a b "Peak+ cancellation". 28 November 2013.
- ^ "Aava Mobile Oy". www.aavamobile.com. 17 June 2022.
- ^ Linux Devices, 2006-01-08. Linux hacked onto GPS-enabled PDA/phone
- ^ Linux Devices, 2006-09-12, User-modifiable Linux phone ships
- ^ postmarketOS SHIFT SHIFT6mq (shift-axolotl)
- ^ postmarketos.org: OnePlus 6T (oneplus-fajita)
- ^ postmarketos.org: OnePlus 6 (oneplus-enchilada)
- ^ postmarketos.org: Xiaomi Poco F1 (xiaomi-beryllium)
- ^ postmarketos.org:Qualcomm Snapdragon 410/412 (MSM8916)
- ^ Mehta, Tushar (12 November 2019). "Here's a list of 200+ smartphones that can run Linux distributions". xda-developers.
- ^ Gatti, Matteo (12 November 2019). "Linux: ecco una lista di oltre 200 smartphone compatibili con il pinguino". Linux Freedom (in Italian).
- ^ Making your own phone is easier than you might think, Lisa Grossman, Issue 2909, New Scientist Magazine
- ^ a b Arduinophone designer's description
- ^ DIY Cellphone on the designer's MIT homepage
- ^ David A. Mellis & Leah Buechley. 2014. Do-It-Yourself Cellphones: An Investigation into the Possibilities and Limits of High-Tech DIY. In Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems (CHI '14).
- ^ "Official Review: Circuitmess Ringo". GBAtemp. 13 February 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ "CircuitMess-Ringo". GitHub. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ Hunt, David (25 April 2014). "PiPhone – A Raspberry Pi based Smartphone".
- ^ ZeroPhone – a Raspberry Pi Zero based smartphone
- ^ Robinson, Evan (7 May 2023). "OURphone - DIY Open-Source Linux Smartphone". GitHub.