I’m considering a 2nd hand phone and am looking at Google Pixel for GrapheneOS for privacy or Linux phone or Sony Xperia with SailfishOS.
The change to Linux would be great as that’s all my desktop and most phone apps anyway.
My concern is using normie apps like Uber and other mainstream stuff that doesn’t have a website as a work around.
A bonus is privacy, if I can control my data which I expect from the Linux community, however I don’t fully understand with the phone.
So, my question is are mainstream apps workable on SailfishOS, as people tell me iOS and Android apps won’t work on Linux phones?
The privacy is a 2nd question I’m curious how private SailfishOS might be? Scale from iPhone to GrapheneOS to TailsOS/Qubes perhaps? Location on the phone is a metric not applicable to desktop OSes.
Theoretically it is possible. It’s a computer afterall. Practically you would need the documentation, a group of willing developers and lots of time and money. If you are a billionaire: Yes. Otherwise: No.
“It depends”.
Sailfish OS has Android App Support, which is great, but some of the apps that are most asinine about faux security or google integration will not work. Also do understand that it runs in a container - so things like Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi management, VPN management etc are not hooked in to it. There has been some developments on re-routing Bluetooth (taking it away from the actual OS) - and NFC is somewhat likely to work the same - but basically, don’t depend on it.
This has been asked a gazillion times before, and there is no yes-or-no answer. Expect sacrifices.
Also please don’t bunch in Graphene and other Android distributions with actual alternative OSes.
Furthermore it seems you have been sold this new privacy-as-a-product (or worse privacy-as-a-service) misconception/scam.
SFOS may be hardened in places, sure, but first and foremost it is old-school fundamentally uninterested in your data.
SFOS has native Android Application Support bit you need to buy a license. There are also free (no money needed) ways. I recommend a bit of search and read.
Try searching from the forum. Quick search indicated at least to me that Uber should be doable and Duolingo apparently work with some voice bugs. Public transport and bank apps depends heavily which ones. Quite many reports their finding on this forum, so you may find answers to your most critical apps. I would imagine that more android apps can be run on GrapheneOS compared to SailfishOS as it is android OS after all…
Audio works as it’s connected by the OS but you can forget things like for example connecting the app of your smart scale with the scale or the fancy app to change the sound or RGB profile on your Bluetooth headphones.
Don’t get the more recent Sony devices. Jolla is lying when it says it supports Xperia 10 IV and 10 V.
Either get the official turd of a phone Jolla C2 or get a phone for which there is a community port of Sailfish OS, like the OnePlus 6 (or 6-something; I forget the exact name).
Some community ports are better supported than the “official support” for recent-ish Sony devices.