I glanced at Ubuntu Touch, but its device compatibility looked severely lacking (https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/).... I have old Pixel phones I could potentially try it out on, but the last Pixel phone that is officially supported is the 3a. So that is a bummer.

Device compatibility is not a feature occurred naturally, it's the result of people wanting and then working to get it supported.

So, if you're interested in adding more devices, join the community and see what you can do!

Chicken egg situation. I would be interested to contribute, but I cannot run it on any of my devices. Alas I am not contributing.

There are decent Linux phones you can buy now, such as the FuriPhone FLX1 (Debian), Volla Quintus (Ubuntu Touch), Jolla C2 (SailfishOS) etc. The best part is that all of them also support running Android apps (via Waydroid or similar compatibility layer), so you get the best of both worlds.

Just buy a FairPhone. That's what I'm considering to buy ATM.

"Refreshing" is an interesting adjective to use. I don't want a refreshing OS. I want a rock stable OS that sips battery.

There are so many ways one can go about telling people that Android and iOS are not the only viable options for a mobile OS.

If an adjective is sufficient to make you fall back to the mean then there wasn't much one can do to convince you, I'm afraid.

I wonder if banking and messaging apps will work on it in the future

Re: banking, not until adoption of non-Android and non-iOS devices grows. To break this chicken and egg problem, one can get an Android phone and use it exclusively for the banking app, treating it like one of those hardware security keys the banks used to give out in the early 2010s. One used to just leave it at home; maybe take it to work occasionally. Another option is to live like the early 2000s and go to an ATM/bank for all bank things, including account consultation.

Or use the banks website from a computer? Which banks do not allow this?

My bank in Australia has a great desktop website, but you have to do 2FA on your phone to access it. That means even though I prefer to use the desktop site, I still need to be able to run the app too.

The biggest bank in the Netherlands at least requires the app to confirm payments. Although they do still have these paper slips (maybe) for transfers but that cannot be used for ecommerce

> The biggest bank in the Netherlands at least requires the app to confirm payments

This is (I believe) part of PSD2, so basically all EZ banks require this now. Hilariously enough, they still have absurdly weak passwords but apparently they meet security requirements by forcing you to confirm stuff on your phone.

ING? You can choose to receive a hardware device instead of using the app.

> Although they do still have these paper slips (maybe) for transfers

Are you describing checks?

Written (on paper) transfer orders. You fill them out at home and throw them into a special mailbox at the bank. Old people still use them, I even used them occasionally 20 years ago or so because they sometimes came with invoices, pre-filled with receiver details, so they were about as convenient as online transfer.

Ubank in Australia just told me they’re retiring their website in a few months, the app will be the only way to access your account. It’s digital only, so no real world branches either.

This would be enough of a reason for me to immediately move all my savings to another bank. No website, no business.

> the app will be the only way to access your account

Maybe also on the ATMs of other banks?

Many banks in Europe are app-only and don't allow you to log in with a web browser.

In Germany at least, that's only the ones that advertise being an "app bank". It's the last thing that I want, but they exist.

Yikes. That sounds tough.

Ubuntu touch has an Android compatibility layer

Yeah... Does it support WhatsApp? If not that's a deal-breaker in most of the world.

Most of the world loves being shackled by a Meta product for some reason. The allegiance to WhatsApp is mindbending.

Signal desperately needs "Signal for Business".

Sell a way for businesses to send trusted communications to their customers in sensitive industries - i.e. healthcare would be a big one.

They need both an actual revenue stream, but also that sort of professional messaging can drive adoption which ultimately furthers the Signal mission.

Plus all those things could desperately use good secure messaging systems.

Huh, that wouldn't be a bad idea at all.

WhatsApp works with your phone number. If you have someone's number, you have their WhatsApp. And since basic text messaging is terrible and RCS still isn't universal, WhatsApp is used.

Because WhatsApp is really good, much better than SMS, and everybody uses it.

Meta only bought it after it was already the de facto standard. And to be fair they are only just starting to ruin it after quite a few years. So I would say the world made a pretty good decision there.

Free unlimited global text messaging in a time when people with very low incomes dealt with very low limits or per-message fees.

Much of the love was built before Facebook took it over.

Moving to an open operating system and improving existing Android emulation is the first step. Once we have enough people on our alternative system, native apps can follow.

Using Waydroid, you can run many/most Android apps unmodified.

So, yes, it's possible :)

Ubuntu touch has a locked-down filesystem, like Android does. Mobian, PureOS and postmarketOS behave much more like regular GNU/Linux.

Not a lot of life left in Pixel 3 phones.