{"slug": "plasma-mobile", "name": "Plasma Mobile", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 3, "warners": 0, "score": 2.675, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2025-12-11", "latest": "2026-08-05", "why": "I had a pinephone and switched from phosh to plasma-mobile. The hardware was very limited but with plasma it was much much better at least.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I had a pinephone and switched from phosh to plasma-mobile. The hardware was very limited but with plasma it was much much better at least.", "icon": true, "domain": "plasma-mobile.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://plasma-mobile.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Plasma Mobile"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 787086832, "item_id": 49192927, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49192927", "by": "LtWorf", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I had a pinephone and switched from phosh to plasma-mobile. The hardware was very limited but with plasma it was much much better at least.", "excerpt": "I had a pinephone and switched from phosh to plasma-mobile. The hardware was very limited but with plasma it was much much better at least.", "context": "Pinephone user", "use_case": "Linux phone UI", "switched_from": "Phosh", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}, {"id": 759142689, "item_id": 47446418, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47446418", "by": "bityard", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Plasma Mobile (https://plasma-mobile.org) looks very nice indeed.", "excerpt": "Welp, I guess my current Android phone will be my last one. At least half of the apps I use on a daily basis come from f-droid. This enforced 24-hour wait is simply not acceptable. Android has always been a far inferior overall user experience compared to iPhone. Android's _only_ saving grace was that I could put my own third-party open-source apps on it. There is nothing left keeping me on Android now. I'll probably", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android: Balancing Openness and Choice with Safety"}, {"id": 757100592, "item_id": 47318787, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47318787", "by": "cookiengineer", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You should instead check out Plasma Mobile devices.", "excerpt": "You should instead check out Plasma Mobile devices. They're _very_ close to releasing something for daily use and the whole KDE stack on mobile has come a long way. I have no idea about the state of ModemManager though, because that has been historically always painful to use. I'm currently betting personally on a Hackberry Pi variant. It's a Wi-Fi only device, so doesn't have a SIM without a breakout/addon board tho", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Jolla on track to ship new phone with Sailfish OS, user-replaceable battery"}, {"id": 745044816, "item_id": 46565301, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46565301", "by": "cookiengineer", "date": "2026-01-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "check out how far Plasma Mobile got, it made insane progress over the last years.", "excerpt": "Check out Hackberry Pi devices. Then check out how far Plasma Mobile got, it made insane progress over the last years. I'm currently working on an OS image for the Hackberry devices, maybe it'll get some traction. [1] [1] https://github.com/rogueberry", "context": "", "use_case": "open mobile OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Changes to Android Open Source Project"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "LtWorf", "context": "Pinephone user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49192927", "date": "2026-08-05"}, {"by": "cookiengineer", "context": "porting it to the Hackberry", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46241431", "date": "2025-12-11"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["linux phone ui", "linux phone", "mobile os", "open mobile os", "mobile ui on hackberry"], "compared": [{"slug": "phosh", "name": "Phosh", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "f-droid", "name": "F-Droid", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49188022", "title": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47442690", "title": "Android: Balancing Openness and Choice with Safety", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47311456", "title": "Jolla on track to ship new phone with Sailfish OS, user-replaceable battery", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46524379", "title": "Changes to Android Open Source Project", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46239177", "title": "Nokia N900 Necromancy", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 787086832, "item_id": 49192927, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49192927", "by": "LtWorf", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I had a pinephone and switched from phosh to plasma-mobile. The hardware was very limited but with plasma it was much much better at least.", "excerpt": "I had a pinephone and switched from phosh to plasma-mobile. The hardware was very limited but with plasma it was much much better at least.", "context": "Pinephone user", "use_case": "Linux phone UI", "switched_from": "Phosh", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}, {"id": 759142689, "item_id": 47446418, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47446418", "by": "bityard", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Plasma Mobile (https://plasma-mobile.org) looks very nice indeed.", "excerpt": "Welp, I guess my current Android phone will be my last one. At least half of the apps I use on a daily basis come from f-droid. This enforced 24-hour wait is simply not acceptable. Android has always been a far inferior overall user experience compared to iPhone. Android's _only_ saving grace was that I could put my own third-party open-source apps on it. There is nothing left keeping me on Android now. I'll probably", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android: Balancing Openness and Choice with Safety"}, {"id": 757100592, "item_id": 47318787, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47318787", "by": "cookiengineer", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You should instead check out Plasma Mobile devices.", "excerpt": "You should instead check out Plasma Mobile devices. They're _very_ close to releasing something for daily use and the whole KDE stack on mobile has come a long way. I have no idea about the state of ModemManager though, because that has been historically always painful to use. I'm currently betting personally on a Hackberry Pi variant. It's a Wi-Fi only device, so doesn't have a SIM without a breakout/addon board tho", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Jolla on track to ship new phone with Sailfish OS, user-replaceable battery"}, {"id": 745044816, "item_id": 46565301, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46565301", "by": "cookiengineer", "date": "2026-01-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "check out how far Plasma Mobile got, it made insane progress over the last years.", "excerpt": "Check out Hackberry Pi devices. Then check out how far Plasma Mobile got, it made insane progress over the last years. I'm currently working on an OS image for the Hackberry devices, maybe it'll get some traction. [1] [1] https://github.com/rogueberry", "context": "", "use_case": "open mobile OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Changes to Android Open Source Project"}, {"id": 739862896, "item_id": 46241431, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46241431", "by": "cookiengineer", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'm currently in the process of porting Plasma Mobile onto the device", "excerpt": "Check out the Hackberry designs from ZitaoTech. They're pretty amazing. I'm currently in the process of porting Plasma Mobile onto the device so that there's a better UI for it. [1] https://github.com/ZitaoTech/HackberryPiCM5", "context": "porting it to the Hackberry", "use_case": "mobile UI on Hackberry", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nokia N900 Necromancy"}]}