Hello all,
I recommend Threema! It's a lesser known, open source chat app, and it's
very secure. You don't need to provide a phone number to register, and
messages are end-to-end encrypted.
-Katie
On 2026-01-28 15:58, Trevor James via linux wrote:
What I like about Signal, is I can give a “username” instead of an
email or phone number. As for end to end encryption and auto delete,
one can configure WhatsApp to cover everything. WhatsApp is used
everywhere and still my goto.
T.
From: David Nikkel <dnikkel [ at ] gmail [ dot ] com> On Behalf Of David Nikkel via
linux
Sent: January 28, 2026 3:55 PM
To: linux [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org
Subject: Re: [linux] Using de-googled android and Linux mobile devices
Attention : courriel externe | external email
Hi Lucas,
You don't mention needing/wanting a chat app but that's the app I've
recently moved away from Google. My family and I were big users of
Google Chat, really our main way of communicating. We've moved to
Signal and it's been working great so far. The native app for Linux
makes it very handy for Linux users.
For Linux focused phones, you might want to review this article [1]
from itsfoss.com [2].
Dave
On Wed, Jan 28, 2026 at 1:14 PM Lucas Fryzek via linux
<linux [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org> wrote:
Hello All,
I'm curious if anyone in the OCLUG has tried using de-googled
android
or linux based phone OS like PMOS? How has your experience been?
I'm interested in switching especially with the current political
climate to try and use tech that doesn't depend on US companies.
I've been doing a test to try and use f-droid for most of my apps on
my
pixel (haven't fully migrated to a fully de-googled ROM), but my
experience trying to use FOSS apps that don't depend on google
servers:
* E-mail
- K9 mail works great for anything I need
* Web
- I've been using firefox on android forever and fennec in
fdroid
works great, you can use unified push for notifications as
well so
you don't even depend on google's notification serers
* Files, notes, and pictures
- I've setup nextcloud on my personal server and it works okay
for
file storage.
- Image sync is not as great. All my images get auto uploaded
but
viewing them on the server can be quite laggy. I've heard
better
things about immich for images but I really like the nextcloud
ecosystem besides these problems
- Quilpad is a really great notes app, and can use
nextcloud/webdav
for sync. Supports things like markdown formatting as well
* Contacts & Calendar
- With nextcloud I have caldav and carddav for calendar in
contacts
and I can use them on Android using DAVx5. I'm still using the
default calendar and contacts app on my pixel phone but the
data is
coming from my server
* Passwords
- I have a Keepass password DB I keep synced between devices
using
nextcloud and then I use KeepassDX on android to access it.
Works
great for me
* Authenticator
- I use Aegis for TOTP, and it works great
* Notifications
- I have unified push setup with Nextpush which can use a
nextcloud
server as a Webpush endpoint. This works great for any apps
that
support unified push, and allows you to have push
notifications
without depending on google's Firebase cloud messaging
platform.
- There are other unified push distributors that I tried like
ntfy.sh
& sunup that also work, but like I mentioned before I'm a bit
sucked
into the nextcloud ecosystem.
* Maps
- This is the biggest pain point. OSMAnd I've found really
annoying to
use. Co-maps/Organic maps are nice to use but don't support
public
transit. I recently found out about the e-foundation Cardinal
map
app which works alright. Navigation for driving isn't as good
as co-
maps/organic maps but it does support public transit through
transitous which has OC transpo data.
- There is also Bimba, a dedicated public transit app that can
use
transitous for public transit routing. It works okay, but I
find the
UI a bit off putting.
I'm curious about other people's experience, have you been able to
use
a de-googled phone? I'm especially interested if anyone is running
post
market os or some other linux phone. What device do you use, how's
the
experience for receiving calls, get notifications, battery life,
etc.
I'm interested in buying a device that has decent linux support to
try
out a dedicated linux phone device. So if others have experience I'm
keen to here it.
Thanks & Regards,
Lucas
Links:
------
[1] https://itsfoss.com/linux-phones/
[2] http://itsfoss.com/
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