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CalyxOS
Calyx OS is created as an alternative to Android and iOS, with a focus on security, freedom, and privacy. Powered by Android’s Linux Kernel, CalyxOS comes pre-installed with F-Droid, an alternative app store that protects users’ security and privacy by allowing them to only download apps from the repository. Full disk encryption is enabled by default, and all CalyxOS binaries are open source and available on GitHub. There are various customizations possible on top of the source code.
The hands-on security recommendations and automatic updates make sure that your personal data remain secure. All the communications will be encrypted, whether it be call, text, video chat, or any other. Its features are: secure networking and access control, Mozilla location services, device security, verified Boot, Privacy settings, automatic backups, private dialer, dual sim support, default web browser, Scramble lock screen PIN, and more to add.
CalyxOS Alternatives
#1 PureOS/Librem
PureOS is a new, GNU/Linux-based operating system that is free of the most common proprietary software that poses threats to freedom, security, and privacy. It features multi-layer verification and comprehensive security-focused settings designed with end-users in mind. With a free and open-source operating system, you’ll never have to worry about hidden malware, backdoors, or have to wait for your next phone upgrade in order to get the latest software updates.
PureOS is allowing you to take proper control of your digital life with complete security and productivity features having real-time support. It has various built-in applications with education, games, graphics, internet, office, programming, science, sound, and video. Courtesy having cutting edge technology benefits you with high frame rate videos, frame-perfect animations, and better power management for your computer.
#2 LuneOS
LuneOS is a free and open source mobile operating system that respects users’ privacy. It is a new approach to mobile computing, and its interface resembles a desktop computer because it is built with web technologies. Therefore, existing web applications can be reused on LuneOS without modification or can be interacted with using a full-size mouse. The operating system is designed from the ground up to preserve user data privacy by protecting the user from malicious applications and other threats that induce data leakage.
LuneOS’ data storage model protects users’ documents using encryption, making it extremely difficult for an application or anyone else to access them without authorization. In addition, it protects users’ sensitive data by enforcing permissions on applications and providing the option to disable any application entirely. It is the new mobile operating system that provides a free, customizable, and secure experience on any smartphone.
#3 Mobian OS
Mobian OS is a mobile operating system for mobiles, smartphones, tablets, and the web. It is an innovative mobile operating system that allows developers to create new apps using markup languages and web technologies instead of native languages. It also allows developers to use any technology stack they like, enabling them to create application components that are instantly ready for multiple devices. It makes building cross-platform apps quick and easy, enabling developers to instantly translate between device-specific languages; developers can write mobile apps quickly and easily for both mobile and web.
#4 /e/
The /e/ operating system is designed to provide a simple and intuitive experience for your customers. It has the potential to simplify updating, patching, and maintenance. It’s also the only mobile operating system that is designed specifically to protect users’ privacy and security. It’s built for customization – you can make it your own with simple visual tools and local configuration. It’s simple, efficient, and easy. This new mobile operating system allows developers to create apps more easily than ever before.
This OS runs on completely deGoogled Android, and you can still run your application, access bank account information, play games, and chat with friends. All the application is scanned and analyzed, and you can transparently see which application is safe to use. Instead of a fragmented App Store, users can share apps between friends easily.
#5 Sailfish OS
Sailfish OS is an independent mobile operating system developed by Jolla for modern devices that comes with advanced security functionalities. It provides you with complete built-in support for VPNs, and your data is always remained secured with automatic backups. It comes with a number of new tools and capabilities, and a forum is there for the provision of the active developer community. The alluring thing about this operating system is that it provides a seamless user experience having an exclusive and spotless Scandinavian design.
The fourth generation of Sailfish OS has much more improved legibility through a new brittle visual style, an advanced browser, battery saving mode, and other wide range of UX improvements. With it, you have the ability to run stunning gesture-based native applications motorized by the Qt framework, or there is an isolated sandbox to run your favorite Android apps securely. Its core features are configurable device policies, cloud accounts, VPN solutions, authentication methods, cloud accounts, a wide range of chipset support, personalized interface, dedicated device mode, a wide range of APIs, software management, remotely managed users, automatic backups, automatic replies, new email viewer, and more to add.
#6 Firefox OS
Firefox OS is an open source operating system that is designed for smartphones, tablet computers, smart TVs, and dongles. It offers an app store with thousands of apps, including popular games like Angry Birds, Facebook, and Twitter. From messaging and maps to the web itself, the internet you experience every day is built on open technology. That means that anyone can see the code behind a website or app and even modify it if they wish to make it better. The operation is designed with complete privacy in mind and won’t allow users to put privacy behind whenever it comes to sharing information.
#7 Resurrection Remix ROM
Resurrection Remix ROM is an open source operating system for smartphones and tablet computers. The primary aim of making this operating system is to provide the best available features in one OS and provide users with a complete private browsing experience. It provides simple personalization options, quick advanced settings and lets you enjoy the seamless experience of gesture control having custom gesture controls.
Talking about customizations, the operating system provides an interface, lock screen, and buttons customization to make amendments in ROM, lock screen view, and make an unlimited number of buttons. The technical features are a stable android experience, the latest Android source code, developer’s forums, source code support, OTA updates, optimizations based on source code level, and customizable OS with out-of-the-box support.
#8 AOKP
AOKP stands for Android Open Kang Project, which is a customized distribution of Android for smartphones and tablet computers based on the Android mobile operating system. It adds many features not found in the official Android distribution while retaining most stock functionality. AOKP is one of the first ROMs that was developed from the AOSP source code to bring some of the latest features to Android devices before they’re released by the manufacturer and carriers.
With it, you can dimension your own custom vibration patterns, making it easier to find out who is calling when your phone is in your pocket. It provides flexibility with a wide range of highly customizable application shortcuts and actions, and you can use swipe gestures anywhere without any restrictions. Moreover, you can modify your quick toggles, and also you can create your own custom toggles.
#9 DivestOS
DivestOS is a modern, fully customizable Linux-based operating system designed for mobile devices. It teaches a new generation of programmers how to re-imagine software from the ground up and fosters a more dynamic community of innovation around the world. DivestOS is an open-source platform that enables users to own their data by controlling their software and hardware simultaneously. It is pre-installed with F-Droid, an alternative app store that protects users’ security and privacy by allowing them to only download apps from the repository.
You have best-in-class security recommendations and automatic updates that make sure that your personal data remain secure. There is a free space eraser that allows you to prevent deleted files from being recovered and is helping for the perfect migration process from an unencrypted install. It comes with the Malware scanner that detects thousands of signatures backed by ClamAV signatures.
#10 emteria.OS
Emteria.OS is a new, lightweight operating system that runs on any Android device, enabling you to design and build high-quality apps faster. The platform focuses on ease of development, security and robustness, performance, and tight integration with the underlying hardware. The platform offers a number of unique features that allow it to support the development of operating systems for small embedded devices as well as smoothly scaling up to support power desktop computers running high-resolution desktop environments. Emteria.OS is fully decentralized and server-free, aiming to provide a secure and distributed environment for applications.
The most alluring thing about this platform is that it provides complete OTA updates and remote management with long-term security. It is just more than an Android and is designed in order to provide better portability for new hardware platforms and a unified product configuration interface. The features are Android Core, Root Access, Recovery Mode, Static IP Configuration, License Management, Device Management, Command Editor, On-premise Deployment, Custom Hardware Support, Fleet Analytics, and more to add.
#11 Fairphone Open
Fairphone Open is an open source operating system for Android phones that focuses on privacy and security. The system puts you in control of your privacy and security from the ground up. It’s community-led and continuously developed by a team of talented experts who take the time to listen to your feedback – giving you a secure, private operating system that evolves with you. It’s an open source project governed by The Phone Wiki, a community of contributors. Anybody can help design the features for this new platform and contribute code, or simply download and test the OS. The operating system provides complete OTA updates and remote management with long-term security. It offers the most alluring and customizable features to enjoy a seamless experience and feel the look of your Android devices.
#12 webOS
The Enyo-based webOS platform is a full, standards-based web environment capable of running on multiple types of hardware and smart devices. It combines the productivity of a desktop computer with the simplicity of a smartphone. webOS is an HTML5-based operating system that also incorporates native applications. It is designed to run on smart devices, including personal computers, tablet computers, smartphones, and smart TVs. It supports all the modern web technologies as well as native technologies, including Qt. it provides extensible and pluggable architecture and APIs for application and service development.
#13 B2G OS
B2G OS is a mobile operating system that is developed by Mozilla. It has been discontinued. B2G OS is a project created to explore the feasibility of an open-source and completely standards-based mobile operating system. It consists of a Gecko-based browser application runtime and Gaia, a library application framework layer that includes content and application APIs, device API bindings, and other core functionality. B2G OS is primarily written in JavaScript using the HTML5 API, CSS3, and WebGL. It is Mozilla’s next-generation mobile operating system and is built entirely on web technologies and will be able to run on any device, from low-end to high-end phones. The OS is based on Firefox, so it has a lot more capabilities than most mobile browsers.
#14 LineageOS
LineageOS is a high-performance Operating system for multiple devices. It is based on Android and enables users to customize the features to their liking. It adds several security tools like Privacy Guard that allow the user to control the behavior of their apps. To improve security, it continuously releases updates to all devices. Furthermore, it provides a highly secure lock screen to block unrestricted access to the device.
LineageOS is currently used by over 20 manufacturers worldwide to power their systems. It has many open source apps that help users in their everyday activities. They can unlock the potential of their device using Unix command-line utilities. It offers APIs to assist Android developers in designing high-quality apps for supported devices.
LineageOS comes preloaded with apps that help users accomplish routine tasks. These apps include Trebuchet, AudioFX, Music, Email, Browser, Recorder, Calculator, Calendar, FlipFlap, Gallery, Messaging, Camera, Contact Directory, Phone, Radio, Files, and more.
#15 CopperheadOS
CopperheadOS is an Operating System for mobile phones that provides enhanced protection to Android devices. It is mainly used as an OS for Google Pixel devices and has its own exclusive store known as the F-Droid store. Among many of its features is the ability to utilize different passwords for opening the lock of the device.
Its primary objective is to increase the security capabilities of the Android OS to shield it from any potential hacks. For this purpose, it adds countless security walls that the hacker has to crush to access the system, which ultimately leads them to give up their pursuit.
CopperheadOS includes tremendous security enhancements as compared to base Android. It uses PaX security updates to increase the shield levels to defend against intruding code. Other key features include verified boot, which protects against any virus that may have gained control of the boot process of the smartphone. It also uses a variant of malloc to optimize the memory structure of the device.
CopperheadOS splits the encryption and unlocking passwords of a device. Smartphone owners can use an easy-to-remember password to access their device; however, typing an incorrect password five times in a row will lead to an automatic restart, after which the encryption password has to be entered correctly to gain access.
#16 GrapheneOS
GrapheneOS is an operating system based on Android for Google Pixel smartphones, including Pixel 3 & 3 XL, 3a & 3a XL, 4 & 4 XL, and more. It uses a robust security model to increase the security and privacy of the system to fight against any threat. The main emphasis of the project is to improve the usability and app compatibility of the device.
It features a verified boot that enhances security and reduces overall threats. It utilizes LTE-only mode to decrease cellular radio attacks by deactivating legacy content. Users can set passwords of up to 64 characters and turn on the Fingerprint unlock to improve efficiency and block unrestricted access to their device.
Furthermore, Fingerprint unlock will automatically turn off the smartphone after five failed attempts. GrapheneOS provides tons of other cool features, including PDF viewer, Authenticated encryption, Powerful app sandbox, Hardened kernel & compiler toolchain, Pin scrambling, Vanadium, and more.
#17 Ubuntu Touch
Ubuntu Touch is a replica of the Ubuntu Operating System for smartphones. It is developed and maintained by the UBports community. It has an appealing UI that is coded in Qt and is greatly enjoyable on touchscreen devices.
Ubuntu Touch provides its users a lot of essential features to help them in their tasks. Each app within the OS will require to be opened via a lock screen whenever necessary. The welcome screen shows the amount of activity on the smartphone. It displays several things, such as the current status of the user, past actions, and all the activities performed in the previous month.
The Operating System is pre-loaded with major applications, including a terminal, full-fledged calculator, clock, file manager, e-mail app, and more. The team behind the OS regularly releases new applications to enhance the user experience. Furthermore, most of the applications can also run on the desktop, such as Weather, Browser, Notes, Reminders, Clocks, Terminal, and more.
#18 postmarketOS
postmarketOS is a powerful, open-source operating system for mobile phones developed using the Alpine Linux distribution. The source code for the OS is freely available on GitLab. It can run various Wayland and X-based UI’s like XFCE, Plasma Mobile, and GNOME 3. The developers released further updates, which adds support for more user interfaces including Phosh, and unity8. The goal of the OS is to offer a ten-year lifecycle for smartphones, in which they would receive regular updates featuring better functionality and addressing flaws. postmarketOS can also run Docker, but the device should have cgroups kernel and the required settings turned on.
#19 Android Nougat
Android Nougat is the seventh iteration released by Google for the Android Operating System. It came with several major features, one of which was the ability to view multiple apps side-by-side simultaneously. This characteristic allowed the user to accomplish various tasks in a short time. Other features that came with this version were improved power-saving functionality and inline response to notifications. It uses OpenJDK, which enables it to utilize the highly efficient Vulkan graphics API.
Android Nougat improved the User Experience by revamping the notifications bar. It also updated the emoji library and enabled the user to use multiple languages simultaneously. The most liked quality was the Multi-window view, making it easier to swap between apps by tapping the screen two times. This feature made multitasking much easier than before.
The Operating System provided 3D textures in games, thanks to the Vulkan API, which enhances the sharpness of the display. Another top feature is the VR mode which allowed the user to experience Virtual Reality like never before. Android Nougat preserves smartphone battery through Doze mode. This mode instructs the device to consume less power when it’s not being used. It also introduced more features such as Custom Quick Settings that lets the user change places of icons and Notification Direct Reply that enables them to respond to received messages.
#20 Android 10
Android 10 is the tenth upgrade available for devices running the Android Operating System. Its main talking point is the gesture system and animations. The gesture system allowed the user to accomplish various tasks by performing gestures. Swiping from the edge of the screen resulted in the opening of the previous display, while Swipe in the upper direction leads to the home screen. The user could also launch the Google Assistant by doing a diagonal swap.
The OS introduced a dark mode that would change the GUI into black. It enhanced the device’s security by enabling the user to prevent the apps from accessing information such as location data and deciding which app should be allowed to run in the background.
Besides improving security, Android 10 features a Live caption, which automatically shows the text of any video running on the device. It also captions audio replies, videos, and podcasts without requiring an Internet connection. Users can quickly respond to messages through Smart Reply, an intelligent recommendation system that shows actions. Other features included within the OS are Sound Amplifier, Family Link, Focus mode, Location controls, Security Updates, and more.
#21 KaiOS
KaiOS is a Linux-based Operating System for phones with keypads. It enriches devices with several high-profile functionalities like 4G, GPS, VoLTE, and LTE E. Battery timing of non-touchscreen devices is significantly improved by providing a highly efficient UI that eats less battery and memory. It features apps based on HTML5 and regularly releases over-the-air updates for all devices.
By default, KaiOS comes bundled with popular apps like Facebook and Youtube. It also includes a marketplace similar to the Google Play Store called KaiStore that contains tons of app that the user can download. KaiStore currently has over 500 apps, with more regularly being added to its collection. Lastly, the OS has been optimized to run seamlessly on devices with as little as 256 MB of RAM.
#22 Android Jelly Bean
Android Jelly Bean is the tenth upgrade for mobiles using the Android Operating System. It was released in three cycles, with version 4.1 being the first and version 4.3.1 being the final. Version 4.1 added significant improvements, including speed, responsiveness, and changes to the notification functionality. The next update was released in Version 4.2, which further enhanced the functionality of the OS by providing widgets for lock screen, screen savers, and instant settings.
Android Jelly Bean as a whole introduces massive improvements to the Android Platform. It offers Restricted profiles for tablets to allow the user to control the limitation of apps at the office and residence. This feature enables parents/guardians to use parental controls for restricting the activities of their kids, whereas retailers can transform their tablet device into a full-fledged kiosk.
Users can connect fitness sensors with their devices thanks to Bluetooth Smart support. This feature consumes low power and supports major sensors like Runtastic, Fitbit, Google Fit, RunKeeper, and others, enabling increased efficiency for smartphones or tablets. The Operating System also adds autocompletion for the dial pad, which recommends numbers that are being typed. Lastly, People who speak Hebrew and Arabic will find better support for their languages.
#23 Android Lollipop
Android Lollipop is the successor to Android KitKat and adds major changes to the Android mobile operating system. It was released in several iterations, with version 5.5.1 being the last to launch. It improved the visual appeal of the User Interface through the usage of Material Design, which gave it a paper-like style. Besides UI, Google enhanced the notification system by allowing users to interact with messages on the lock screen. Battery performance was also improved along with applications to give a seamless experience.
Apart from the Phone and Tablet, Android Lollipop also features support for Cars, TV, and watches. It saves users’ progress so that they can resume their activity from any device. The OS allows users to enable/disable devices that can display notifications and restrict specific contacts from sending messages.
Android Lollipop includes a battery saver functionality that increases the battery strength to 90 minutes before dying. It also shows important information such as the time left before the phone turns off and the duration for maximum charging. Lastly, users can grant access to the device to their friends by creating separate accounts for them to log in.
#24 Android KitKat
Android KitKat is an operating system for mobile devices released to the public on September 3, 2013. Its main goal is to increase the efficiency of the operating system to run comfortably on entry-level devices. It adds several enhancements, including an attractive User Interface along with high performance and other improvements. Users can achieve many tasks such as sending messages, finding directions or starting a song through Voice Commands.
Any media playing on the device can be interacted with on the lock screen, which shows the song’s name, album, cover, and actions like pause, play and stop. This feature allows the user to switch to the next song within the album or stop it entirely by touching their lock screen. The Operating system introduces an Immersive mode which allows the reader to dive deeper into their book by removing the status bar and buttons from the interface.
Android KitKat enables the user to interact with several apps simultaneously with faster multitasking. Users can bring up all the apps running in the background, which are displayed in sequential order, and their names so that the user can open the required one, perform the necessary action and then jump back to the previous app without any delays.
#25 BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS is the official and the only operating system for Blackberry devices. It enables multitasking and delivers complete support for input devices used in the BlackBerry phones, such as the trackball, touchscreen, trackwheel, and trackpad. The OS provides all the necessary apps to aid the user in everyday tasks. These apps include contacts, calendar, notes, tasks, corporate email, Novell Groupwise email, and more.
The current version of the BlackBerry OS is BlackBerry 10, which introduces key improvements to enhance the user experience. It offers BlackBerry Flow to enable the user to move from one app to another instantly. Another great feature is BlackBerry Hub which gathers everyday activities and displays them on a single screen to help users manage them with great ease. The OS also includes BlackBerry Hub to allow users to view the unread messages from their social media accounts, email, and text messages and then quickly resume their previous tasks.
#26 Maru OS
Maru is a lightweight, context-aware OS that allows you to use your mobile device as a fully capable Computer System. It unlocks the full potential of the mobile device to make it easy for you to perform daily tasks with maximum efficiency. It is a unique Operating System that provides everyone with a single, context-aware device to transform their lives. It is designed using Android Oreo and is free from bloatware to ensure high speed and free up much-needed space for important apps.
The OS offers top-notch multitasking along with desktop productivity to reduce the time taken to fulfill complex tasks. It runs on top of Debian Linux to help everyone customize it according to requirements. It is easy to set up, and you merely have to connect the phone with an HDMI display, after which the OS will start the detection process and be ready for usage within 5 seconds. The next step involves plugging a mouse and a Bluetooth keyboard. Finally, it is ready for work, and you can start enjoying its features.
#27 Plasma Mobile
Plasma Mobile is an open-source user interface for mobile phones that comes with dozens of apps to help you with daily tasks. It includes apps that help with everyday activities like NeoChat, Alligator, GCompris, Kontrast, Peruse, Spacebar, Elisa, Okular, Calindori, Angelfish Web Browser, Vvave, and many more. It is developed using a Linux distribution to transform your mobile phone it a fully hackable device. It uses state-of-the-art technology like Qt, Plasma Shell, and KDE Frameworks to deliver the best experience possible.
Plasma Mobile employs popular software tools to speed up the performance and efficiency at which tasks are performed. It relies on Ofono to power its telephone solution and delivers communication utilities using Telepathy. It uses a Pulseaudio sound system to make the audio smooth and pleasant to hear. Plasma Mobile learns from your activities and adapts to them so you can quickly execute the required actions without repeating the effort. Everyone can customize it by adding widgets, changing the color schemes, fonts, and many more options.
#28 OpenThos
OpenThos is an open-source, fully-featured operating system developed using the Android x-86 architecture. It offers many features similar to any other operating using the Android x-86 architecture. What makes it unique is the open-source nature which is something other similar OSes lack. You can find and go through the source code on GitHub and the official webpage. Its features include end-to-end encryption, lightweight GUI, a strong security system, enhanced PC performance, application isolation, and permission control, and more.
It has a UEFI Boot Manager, which supports popular desktop operating systems like Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. It can also synchronize with computer systems using the mentioned Operating Systems. OpenThos is free from lags and delivers a 60 FPS drawing frame rate. It has its own native task manager, file explorer, window manager, and more tools. The OS fixes the issues present in many modern desktop operating systems. Lastly, you can run it alongside Wear, mobile phones, and any other device running on Android.
#29 Tizen OS
Tizen OS is a full-fledged standards-based, open-source software platform capable of running on various devices like TVs, smartphones, tablets, and more. It addresses the requirements of every person with a stake in the mobile ecosystem, such as software application developers, manufacturers, mobile operators, and software vendors. It is designed by a community of developers and is freely available under the open-source license. You can also become a part of this effort and show your support.
It comes in several profiles to fulfill the needs of different industries. The profiles include Tizen Wearable, Tizen IVI, Tizen TV, and Tizen Mobile. With the latest release of Tizen 3.0, every profile uses a shared infrastructure named Tizen Common. Device manufacturers have the freedom to sue one of the available profiles or use Tizen Common to build a new profile from scratch. Mobile operators can collaborate with device partners to develop a customized operating system targeted towards a specific user base.
#30 Astian OS
Astian OS is an operating system built by the Astian Foundation using the Firefox OS to provide support for TV, smartphones, and more. It is an open-source project and can be used by anyone free of cost. Its goal is to introduce new advancements in the modern mobile ecosystem and to join the ever-growing list of mobile operating systems developed using JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5. Astian OS is highly scalable and is a great tool that enables interaction with devices via the web. It can run on ChromeBook Acer, Desktop PCs, Devices ARM, and many more.
#31 HarmonyOS
HarmonyOS is a cutting-edge operating system that enables better collaboration and interconnection between smart devices. It offers fast, free from latency interaction that is suitable in all use cases. It unlocks communication among a long list of devices like Televisions, earphones, smartphones, and automobile head units. It has a resource-sharing network in place under which all devices work closely and contribute resources to provide the best experience for everyone. Application developers can start building apps using the Huawei DevEco Studio, an all-in-one platform with all the features to make it easy to develop state-of-the-art apps.
#32 Android
Android is the most widely used smartphone operating system in the world and is available for smartphones and tablets from many manufacturers. It is an open-source operating system for mobile devices based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. It comes with best in class, better cross-device messaging, portrait blur in Google photos, and provides highlights on Google TV mobile. With redesigned UI and state-of-the-art privacy features, it provides you with a seamless experience that is more personal and safe.
Android makes it easier to make the switch from iPhone to Android. Thus, allowing transferring of messages, transfer contacts, photos, and applications. It provides best-in-class hands-free navigation and messaging; just all you need to connect your phone and go. Android provides you with every feature that makes your experience like a pro, whether you are working, traveling, internet surfing, or anything else. It focuses deeply on your security and provides seamless scanning for your application, and you know when your data is being shared with a custom notification.