this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2025
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Linux Phones
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The Discussion on Linux-based Phones.
Benefits:
- Hardware freedom.
- Perfect operating-system competition.
- Full utilization of specs.
- Phone lifespan raises to 10+ years.
- Less e-waste.
Linux Mobile Distros:
- Ubuntu Touch
- Sailfish
- FuriOS
- Postmarket OS
- Mobian
- Pure OS
- Plasma Mobile
- LuneOS
- Nemomobile
- Droidian
- Mobile NixOS
- ExpidusOS
- Maemo Leste
- Manjaro Arm
- Tizen
- WebOS
Linux Mobile Hardware:
- Fairphone 5
- Volla Phone
- PinePhone
- FLX1
- Librem 5
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The most important thing fo me is not to fix a new Linux phone or linux compatible phone. It is to pressure the banks and digital ID providers here in Sweden and EU to support Linux.
I wanted a Linux phone, I was open and prepared to have a worse camera, battery, stability, user experience. You name it. Just to break free from the duopoly. But then I wouldn't be able to use my bank, healthcare services, insurance, file my taxes, etc. Cause there is no support for Linux only Android and iOS, windows, Mac OS.
Services needed to exist in a modern society locked to platforms owned by private corporations. Even if ASOP gets a fork that continues without Google's version of ASOP for future version's, there is a good chance none of the bank apps would function without integration of google services.
I'm running /e/OS on a fairphone, that was the best option out there for my requirements. But with the latest developments around ASOP I'm not sure about how long this will be an option.
I hate BankID with a fiery passion. I complain to all my Swedish colleagues how messed up it is that government services are locked behind a private company that only supports American big-tech operating systems. They are finally coming around to my way of thinking now.
I'm one of the only people I know in Sweden without a smartphone, just a dumbphone.
I couldn't get BankID to work with Wine or Waydroid so I just use an old Windows laptop when I need to access government services with the physical dongle. But I hate going back to Windows so it's always a pain.
BankID is so ass, the one we have here in Finland is a bit better, but the one we have in Estonia is the best.
The Estonian one is by far the most comfortable to use of the three, with even a working and maintained Linux version. It is also tied to the PCKS#11 certificate stored in your ID card, instead of a corporate bank account.
Back when BankID was young, in the wee 00s, it was actually just a certificate on your computer. The management software for this is still around I believe, it's called BankID Säkerhetsprogram. The Linux support for it was dropped in 2014.
The reason it took off the way it did is because it was in early, and the banks backed it. The government has been really slow implementing their own solution. They had DIGG work on it for a while, but then transferred the assignment to Polismyndigheten.
It's annoying to have to have a card reader though, so everyone just uses Smart-ID or Mobiil-ID anyway. But at least we have the option not to.
Mobiil-ID and Smart-ID just register a new certificate to your ID, so it's the same mechanism, different UX :)
Yes but the UX works better much of the time. Downside of course is that you can't sign documents without an Internet connection, if that's something you may need to do. And the fact that you need a phone
I'm pretty sure that you can use something like a YubiKey as a PKCS#11 certificate store, if the issue is just the card reader form factor.
kagis
Yeah:
https://developers.yubico.com/yubico-piv-tool/YKCS11/
That solves one issue, the other being how buggy it can be to use in the browser. The file signing feature is separate software (which has an official Linux port!), but to log into your bank, etc, browsers often pre-decide for you which certificate you want to use and then complain that it's not present. Perhaps it's changed now, I haven't used it much in quite a few years now because Mobiil-ID and Smart-ID have just worked 99% of time.
I know some people on the internet is against the whole idea behind digital identification. But if its only used for things that would normally require identification in the physical world. Like banks and government interactions. I don't have anything against it per say. It can even be administered and handed out by a company (although that is against my personal ideology) but they have to then be forced to either release the source code or support at least one distro of Linux, or flatpack works too. Let's not get in to snap packages, it opens a whole other can of worms.
Exactly.
Through Handelsbanken I have two physical card readers.
My hope was that I would be able to use the first physical card reader to scan the QR codes that come up for mobile bankID for other sites, but the QR code scanning functionality only works with Handelsbanken's website.
If I could login to everything with the wireless card reader then they wouldn't even need to make a version that specifically works for Linux, just a version that works for all browsers. It doesn't seem like it would need to be that big of a change from perspective.
We have that but it's just a website we go to login to. And every 3 or 6 months forget which it asks for your drivers license. So we can login to governmment sites on any platform since it is another website used for verification.
Yeah we have that in BC Canada, your digital ID gives you access to BC services and as a login credential partner to federal tax account.
Isn't it just a webiste though?
If you mean the federal tax access, yes. However their security has increased after breaches so to login you need username, and a pass code they mail to you to setup a login and password. Then they send you a printable cyptic gridded square. So you login with a user name and password , they send a challenge code and you cross reference it on your chart to send back the codes to get access. If your paper is expired or you lose your password you have to through snail mail again. OR you use your BCID key tied to your personal device, website waits for code generated from phone. It simplifies access, and ensures only the person holding the device can login and not a brute force from a random person
This is why I prefer websites, and try to avoid apps. I can use them across any device.
Sure, there are some things I may not be able to do, like pay by phone, but I have a little card to do that.
The problem isn't really the app, it's that a private organisation is controlling the default digital identification system, and how it is accessed. Until 2014 they had a Linux client for it, but it was discontinued. BankID has been around for a long time, so it's absolutely engrained in so many aspects of society here.
Past few weeks, these are instances I've used BankID, off the top of my head
Honestly I'm sure I've missed a bunch. In general though, doing something digitally and authenticating with BankID is the primary way of getting things done here. The "old fashioned way" is unconventional, and tends to be woefully slow. When my previous roomie didn't have a social security number (and subsequently not access to BankID) every single administrative thing they needed doing took forever, registering for school, doing tests, updating licenses, registering your address, even just plain buying things can be tricky.
Yeah you are basically soft-locked out of society without a phone with bank ID here in Sweden.
Aye. The amount of phone calls my friend had to do to get things done, and people generally had no idea how to go about things if you didn’t have BankID. Things were slow and unreliable.
This is the worst part. They all have functional websites, but to login you need digital ID(bankID) so one app is acting as the gate keeper
This
I would have been in Linux for my phone years ago if it wasn't that so many companies are ~~conspiring~~ working together to lock down every service just to make sure that spyware phones are the only option to citizens.
Fuck. That. Shit.
I want to be able to make payments with my phone. THROUGH LINUX. MY PHONE, MY RULES.
Puri.sm