Mobile Linux distributions

This is a list of GNU/Linux distributions designed to run on smartphones. While many support phones designed to run a mainline Linux heart including a PinePhone and Librem 5, there are others that are means to run on phones that creatively shipped with Android interjection to collection like Halium that concede them to use Linux kernels supposing by makers of those Android phones.

Keep in mind that many of a handling systems listed next handling systems are a work in swell and might not be as fast or rapid as Android, might not support all of a phone’s hardware, and might not be means to run as many mobile-friendly applications. But many have during slightest a operative web browser, that enables we to run web applications. Some concede we to run Android apps in a enclosure interjection to collection like Anbox. And many will let we run desktop Linux applications, even if they don’t scale good to phone-sized screens. If we bond a keyboard, mouse, and display, we can even use your phone as a tiny desktop computer.

Another thing to note is that Linux isn’t a usually choice if you’re looking for a giveaway and open source, privacy-focused handling complement for your phone. Some other options are listed next a Mobile Linux comparison table.

Mobile Linux DistributionsHomepage and/or Download linksUser interfacesDevices supportedDescription/Notes (as of March, 2021)Update frequencyArch Linux ARMGitHub

Downloads

PhoshPinePhone

PineTab

This customizable handling complement is accessible with a choice of a Phosh user interface or a lightweight, barebones build that we can control with keyboard and rodent or around SSH from another computer. It’s underneath active development, with visit updates released.Frequently updatedDroidianHomepage

Bug Tracker

Downloads

PhoshMultiple phonesThis GNU/Linux placement is formed on Mobian (see below), that is a Debian-based placement optimized for mobile inclination including smartphones and tablets. While Mobian is designed for smartphones that can use a mainstream Linux kernel, Droidian uses Halium and libhybris to move a handling complement to Android phones.?ExpidusOSHomepage

Wiki

Downloads

Xfce-based UIPinePhoneThis flare of Void Linux boots on a PinePhone, though wireless capabilities are taken in a initial pre-alpha build that has been expelled so far.OccasionalFedoraWiki

GitHub

PhoshPinePhoneThe mobile pier of Fedora is still in a early stages, though there are a set of packages designed for mobile devices accessible for a PinePhone.Monthly (or longer) releasesGentooGentoo Wiki

Install instructions

Lomiri

Plasma Mobile

Phosh

Sway

Framebuffer depot with keyboard

PinephoneThe mobile pier of Gentoo is in a unequivocally early stages of growth and contingency be built from blemish given there are no pre-compiled images.?LuneOSWiki

Devices (click for download links and designation instructions)

Luna Next 

PinePhone and several Google, HP, and Raspberry Pi devices

LuneOS is an open source chronicle of a webOS handling complement designed for a HP TouchPad inscription and Palm phones like a Palm Pre. Based on webOS Open Source Edition, a handling complement has a Linux kernel, a Luna Next user interface. Unfortunately growth has mostly slowed to a yield in new years.Infrequent (last vital refurbish in 2019)Maemo LesteHomepage

Wiki

Downloads

HildonPinePhone

Motorola Droid Bionic Droid 4

Nokia N9, N900 N950

PineTab

Raspberry Pi 2, 3 4

Generic ARM64 images

 

Maemo Leste is community-developed open source delay of Nokia’s deserted Maemo handling system. The latest chronicle is formed on Devuan Linux and it has a user interface that’s a tiny opposite (and some-more retro) than many other smartphone handling systems.Varies by device, though sincerely frequentManjaro ARMForum

Downloads

Lomiri

Phosh

Plasma Mobile

PinePhoneOne of a many actively grown Smartphone Linux distributions, this is a default OS for PinePhone models that will boat starting in Q2, 2021.Frequent alpha, beta, and dev buildsMobianHomepage

Wiki

Downloads (milestone builds)

Downloads (daily builds)

PhoshLibrem 5

PinePhone

PineTab

This unaccepted build of Debian for smartphones was initial introduced in a summer of 2020 and fast became one of a some-more strong GNU/Linux distributions accessible for phones.Nightly builds are availableNemo MobileHomepage

GitHub

Downloads

GlacierPinePhoneThis community-supported, open source plan continues a growth of a MeeGo handling complement creatively corroborated by Intel, Nokia, and a Linux Foundation. Like Sailfish OS, Nemo Mobile is formed on a Mer handling system, though while Sailfish has some exclusive components including a user interface, Nemo does not. Starting in mid-March, 2021 Nemo for a PinePhone is based on Manjaro.After a delayed start, growth has picked up. Recent builds formed on Manjaro are accessible during GitHub.Mobile NixOSHomepage

GitHub

Install instructions

No default UIManyThis mobile chronicle of a NixOS GNU/Linux placement can be commissioned on a PinePhone and a series of smartphones that creatively shipped with Android. It’s designed to be rarely configurable, though there are no pre-built images. You’ll need to build your possess following a installation instructions and notes for your specific device. But we can see what it looks like with an X11 arrangement manager (not optimized for mobile).Monthly swell updates posted to mobile.nixos.org OpenMandriva LxDownloadsPlasma MobilePinePhoneStarting with OpenMandriva Lx 4.2, a handling complement has been ported to run on inclination with 64-bit ARM processors with builds accessible for Raspberry Pi and Pine64 computers, among others. There’s also a PinePhone build that’s not deliberate “final quality” yet.Too early to tellopenSUSEWiki

Downloads (stable)

Downloads (dev)

Phosh

Plasma Mobile

PinePhone

 

OpenSUSE is a renouned desktop GNU/Linux placement that has started charity mobile builds for a PinePhone comparatively recently. Early builds have been a tiny severe around a edges, though like many handling systems for a PinePhone, OpenSUSE has been improved over time as developers urge stability, performance, and supplement features.Frequent releasespostmarketOSHomepage

Wiki

Installation Guide

PinePhone images

ManyHundreds though a PinePhone is a many actively supportedPostmarketOS was founded in 2017 as a plan that would give smartphones a 10-year lifecycle by permitting users to reinstate Android with a GNU/Linux placement formed on Alpine Linux that would sojourn adult to date indefinitely even after manufacturer’s finish support. Now over 250 opposite inclination can during slightest foot a handling system, nonetheless some facilities might not be accessible on all devices.Weekly releases for a PinePhonePureOSHomepage

Wiki

Source

Pipeline Image builds for a Librem 5

Installation beam for a PinePhone

PhoshLibrem 5

PinePhone

Originally grown by Purism for a PinePhone, this handling complement was a initial to use a open source phosh “phone shell” user interface optimized for tiny touchscreen displays. It’s now used by many other distros, as are other packages grown for PureOS including a practical keyboard. PureOS is formed on a same GNU/Linux placement that runs on Purism’s laptop computers, and can run desktop applications as good as mobile apps (but they’ll demeanour best with an outmost display). It’s also been ported to run on a PinePhone.Actively grown by PurismSailfish OSHomepage

Wiki

 

 

LipstickSelect Sony phones

Gemini PDA

PinePhone

This Mer-based handling complement is a delay of a open source Maemo plan that had been deserted by Nokia. While a underlying OS is oen source, it has a exclusive user interface formed on Lipstick. Developed by a association called Jolla, we can purchase a Sailfish X permit for certain smartphones, or register fr a giveaway hearing with a singular underline set and singular support. If we have a PinePhone we can also download a pre-built image or follow Pine64’s instructions for regulating a flashing script. TActively grown by JollaSkiffOSGitHubN/APinephoneSkiffOS is a lightweight OS designed to foot fast and support containers, permitting we to run guest handling systems in a containerized sourroundings while updating a horde OS (SkiffOS) separately. Available for a wide-range of inclination including PCs, Macs, Cloud VMs, and single-board computers like a Raspberry Pi, SkiffOS also offers images for a PinePhone with support for Manjaro, KDE Neon, and Ubuntu Touch.?SxmoLatest imagesSxmoPinePhoneSxmo is unequivocally a user interface and set of collection regulating “suckless” pattern rather than a standalone handling system. Images accessible for download are formed on postmarketOS. More sum can be found in a Sxmo documentation.OccasionalUbuntu TouchHomepage

Installer (for upheld devices)

PinePhone designation instructions

PinePhone picture downloads

Porting guidelines

LomiriManyIn 2013 Canonical announced plans to pier a renouned Ubuntu Linux placement to run on smartphones and launch a phone called a Ubuntu Edge. But after a failed crowdfunding campaign a association scrapped a phone and continued work on a handling system… for a few years. Canonical ended growth of Ubuntu Touch in 2017, though a plan was picked adult by an eccentric growth group called UBPorts, that has continued to support and refurbish Ubuntu Touch ever since. This creates Ubuntu Touch one of a oldest, and one of a many strong GNU/Linux distributions with a entirely designed user interface (Lomiri, that was before famous as Unity), and an installer concentration that creates it easy to bucket a handling complement on dozens of phones.Actively grown by UBPorts

Other open source smartphone handling systems

These are some other open source handling systems that aren’t indispensably GNU/Linux distributions. Some are fundamentally forks of Google Android that are formed on Android Open Source Project code, though nude of exclusive Google apps and services in sequence to concentration on giveaway program and/or offer a some-more privacy-focused experience. Others are

Other open source smartphone handling systems (not indispensably Linux)

• Genode is a giveaway and open source handling complement horizon that uses a possess microkernel designed to run on x86, ARM, or RISC-V hardware. While Genode itself isn’t an OS, it’s a record behind handling systems like Sculpt OS, and a developers behind Genode have announced plans to pier a horizon and a chronicle of Sculpt OS to run on a PinePhone in 2021.
• Potabi is an arriving mobile and desktop handling complement that will use a FreeBSD kernel. It’s approaching to use a Lomiri user interface on mobile devices, though growth is still in a formulation stages. Developer Fivnex skeleton to sell a possess hardware with Potabi pre-installed.
• Google-free Android
  • /e/ is a chronicle of Android that’s been nude of all exclusive Google apps and services. Designed to stress user control and privacy, a handling complement still looks and works like Android, though it uses non-Google app stores and services to capacitate many Android apps to run in a approach that respects user privacy. /e/ can be installed as a deputy for a software that ships on many Android phones, though we can also buy some phones that come with a handling complement pre-installed.
  • Replicant is an open source Android placement designed to rest as many as probable on giveaway program including a bootloader. While many phones have exclusive modem firmware, Replicant’s developers also suggest regulating a program on inclination that can besiege a modem from a rest of a system. As a result, usually a handful of comparison phones and tablets are strictly supported.
  • GrapheneOS is an open source Android flare designed to stress remoteness and security. Not usually does it boat though Google services, though a developers concentration on improving a confidence of a web browser, app permissions, sandboxing, and more. GrapheneOS officially supports Google Pixel 3 and after smartphones and we can find installation instructions during a GrapheneOS website.
  • There are also dozens of other custom ROMs formed on Google Android, many of that are open source projects in their possess right. LineageOS is substantially a many good known, though we can find other popular options during a xda-developers website.