I ordered a refurbished phone compatible with Sailfish OS a couple days ago to give it a try, hoping to have it up and running by the end of the week. I'm happy to post a review here once I've given it a try, if anyone's interested. Planning to keep it entirely free of Google/Meta apps, so I am expecting there to be some compromises compared to my current Android phone.
this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2025
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Definitely would love to hear your honest thoughts about it when you have tested it!
Since you were interested in hearing my experience with Sailfish OS, I've come back here to share my experience.
First off, installation was fairly straightforward. It required copy pasting some code into the command line, and that was about as advanced as it got. I got my phone up and running in about 20 minutes.
I found getting started with Sailfish VERY different than starting with a new Android or iPhone. The gestures and layout I think are quite nice, but definitely very different from what we are you used to on most modern smartphones. Apps cannot be kept on the home screen as far I've been able to figure out. Instead, they stay in the app drawer, and active apps are displayed kind of like open windows on a desktop. It is also very basic in comparison when you first start using it. Other than some basic productivity apps, there is nothing installed. To me it very much felt like using a smartphone from an earlier and simpler time, and I quite enjoyed that part. I had some trouble figuring out how to be able to install apps, but eventually was able to install apps from both the Jolla Store as well as Android apps.
In terms of using it as a daily driver, I think it could work. I've so far been able to install some of the apps I use on Android either through F-Droid or by downloading the APK files. I do have to point out, I was already heavily relying on more privacy friendly apps like Proton Mail, Bitwarden and NewPipe. You might have a harder time using more commercial apps and might have to resort to using the browser instead.
There's also a bunch of Sailfish OS clients available that you can download as a .rpm file. I've found these easy enough to install as well, once I had a file manager installed.
So all in all, if you're willing to do a bit more tinkering to get your device setup, and are willing to put up with a phone that might miss a few more modern features like a wallet, I think it could work. It is definitely more of a niche product, and it won't be for everyone, but I don't dislike it. I have not made up my mind yet whether I will go with Sailfish OS in the end, and am gonna try installing /e/ os on another old phone I have lying around before making up my mind. But I am definitely glad I gave it a try and I'm hoping more people will be willing to give it a chance.
Personally I would love to see it gaining ground as I would love Europe to have its own phone OS.
Ubuntu Touch is German and Postmarket OS is european. I'm not so sure about Mobian.
I'm surprised to learn Ubuntu Touch is german, especialy since the main version of Ubuntu and their parent company (Canonical) is South-African.
Canonical Ltd. is a privately held computer software company based in London, England. It was founded and funded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth to market commercial support and related services for Ubuntu and related projects. Canonical employs staff in more than 70 countries and maintains offices in London, Austin, Boston, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Tokyo and the Isle of Man.
AFAIK, Sailfish OS has quite strong ties with russia. I love the approach and the choice of technology, and enjoyed it a lot (much more than the iOS/Android approach) โย the platform is indeed magnificent and has quite a few great things about it. Although, I see relying on Sailfish OS to be quite a risky choice, given their close ties with russia and unknown status of their support of russian version of the OS.