Android Open Source Project
Ranked 8 of 14 mobile operating systems by recommenders
Recommended as the most private and secure open Android base, and a foundation for other systems; critics say Google's control and infrequent source releases limit it.
Recommended as the most private and secure open Android base, and a foundation for other systems; critics say Google's control and infrequent source releases limit it.
46 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 28
- criticize it
- 18
- approval share
- 61%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 28 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Stronger privacy and security than desktop Linux
“AOSP even without the GrapheneOS improvements has drastically better privacy and security than a traditional desktop distribution”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones” “AOSP is a Linux distribution with drastically improved privacy and security compared to a traditional desktop Linux”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “A new Android malware from Google” “AOSP on a Pixel without the improvements made by GrapheneOS is far more private and secure than desktop Linux”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones” - Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “GrapheneOS has fixed the Android 17 QPR1 kernel performance regression”
- Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “NetBSD 11.0 Released”
- Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones”
- Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “A new Android malware from Google”
- Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones”
- Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Donate to GrapheneOS”
- Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “A new Android malware from Google”
- Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Apple has added persistent 'ads' to iOS, and it's driving users crazy”
Open source, buildable and modifiable
“I can read the sources of AOSP, I can modify it, build it and install it on my device.”
Comment from 26 Jun 2026 in “Spying on kids to save kids from spying is stupid” “AOSP is open source and can be built without Google Play running at the background”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon” “a fully open-source build of AOSP is significantly more complete and useful”
Comment from 26 Jun 2026 in “Jolla Phone, Over 13 500 units sold” - Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?”
Solid base for other systems
“The only approach that has worked better is to base things on AOSP.”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Pocketblue - Fedora Atomic for Mobile Devices” “Which can be done with a small team by building on top of AOSP”
Comment from 30 Apr 2026 in “Phone is about to stop being yours” “AOSP allows alternative systems to hit the ground running”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?” - Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “Qwen3.8 is launching and going open-weight soon”
Mature and usable for years
“I've been using it for about 15 years on many different devices and it works just fine.”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux” “AOSP is still the best Linux-based environment for consumer use case from many aspects”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon” “AOSP, which is a fine open source OS for most people's use cases”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux” - Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Google controls development, releases infrequent
“Google chose to come up with a archaic way of distributing the sources involving someone manually going through a list”
Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Google replaced Git tags for certain source code with obtaining via Google Drive” “I do not believe that AOSP developed by Google will provide the necessary freedom in the future, at all.”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “GrapheneOS has fixed the Android 17 QPR1 kernel performance regression” “AOSP made it increasingly difficult to contribute without being an Android partner”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “A new Android malware from Google” - Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Phone is about to stop being yours”
- Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “GrapheneOS says Pixel 11 has MTE support after all”
- Comment from 24 Dec 2025 in “Google 2025 recap: Research breakthroughs of the year”
Missing basic features, feels undercooked
“AOSP is basically dead (it doesn't even include a functional keyboard nor a functional call manager nowadays”
Comment from 1 Sep 2026 in “AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link” “AOSP just feels extremely rough and undercooked in a lot of places”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Apple has added persistent 'ads' to iOS, and it's driving users crazy” “AOSP requires a rooted device or adb in order to use many commands”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “The Advantages of Mobile Linux over AOSP (LineageOS, CrDroid, GrapheneOS, etc.)” Forks may include spyware
“Granted most of those AOSP forks in China also often have spyware of sorts, but at least there are multiple active forks”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “/e/OS is a complete "deGoogled", mobile ecosystem” “Chromium and AOSP immediately come to mind - into vendor lock-in and spyware”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features”
Other mobile operating systems people recommend
The four most recommended other mobile operating systems, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GrapheneOS | 895 | 312 | 74% | 13 | 1 yr87 owners | Approved |
| Android | 372 | 694 | 35% | 13 | 10 yrs26 owners | — |
| Apple iOS | 308 | 841 | 27% | 12 | 3 yrs40 owners | — |
| LineageOS | 186 | 66 | 74% | 13 | 10 yrs8 owners | Approved |
| Android Open Source ProjectThis page | 28 | 18 | 61% | 9 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 70 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“AOSP requires a rooted device or adb in order to use many commands”
“AOSP employs a runtime permission model where the user is asked what access they want to grant to an app”
“install your own AOSP-based OS that does not track you, will not have a 24 hour waiting period”
“Luckily we have one that is open source (AOSP).”
“AOSP allows alternative systems to hit the ground running”
“I do not believe that AOSP developed by Google will provide the necessary freedom in the future, at all.”
“AOSP is many times more secure than the traditional Linux desktop and has many times more apps available”
“AOSP just feels extremely rough and undercooked in a lot of places”
“Even AOSP is head-and-shoulders better than iOS.”
“Google has closed off AOSP and only does source code drops twice a year.”
“AOSP is basically dead (it doesn't even include a functional keyboard nor a functional call manager nowadays”
“Google chose to come up with a archaic way of distributing the sources involving someone manually going through a list”
“AOSP even without the GrapheneOS improvements has drastically better privacy and security than a traditional desktop distribution”
“AOSP on a Pixel without the improvements made by GrapheneOS is far more private and secure than desktop Linux”
“No, it doesn't come anywhere close to the privacy or security provided by AOSP.”
“AOSP has an increasingly usable desktop mode”
“AOSP is much more private and secure than traditional desktop Linux distributions.”
“AOSP, which is a fine open source OS for most people's use cases”
“I've been using it for about 15 years on many different devices and it works just fine.”
“AOSP and Android are much more hardened when it comes to isolation between GUI applications.”
“AOSP is much more private and secure than the desktop Linux software stack”
“Chromium and AOSP are great counterexamples.”
“building out AOSP and or just something forked/from scratch is... actually... accessible now in my opinion”
“AOSP is just as open-source as desktop Linux is, and has vastly better security.”
“None has anything close to the privacy or security of AOSP or iOS.”
“AOSP is a Linux distribution with drastically improved privacy and security compared to a traditional desktop Linux”
“AOSP made it increasingly difficult to contribute without being an Android partner”
“a fully open-source build of AOSP is significantly more complete and useful”
“I can read the sources of AOSP, I can modify it, build it and install it on my device.”
“AOSP is still the best Linux-based environment for consumer use case from many aspects”
“AOSP is open source and can be built without Google Play running at the background”
“Which can be done with a small team by building on top of AOSP”
“AOSP obeying Google's development strategy long term. It will not end well.”
“Granted most of those AOSP forks in China also often have spyware of sorts, but at least there are multiple active forks”
“I do believe that AOSP is actually a good deal (a lot better than iOS which is proprietary)”
“someone has done the hard work of creating a decent UI and solved the other real issues”
“The only approach that has worked better is to base things on AOSP.”
“It was a nice nicotine patch but after a while my phone was so quiet and boring without proprietary social apps demanding my attention”
“I have been upset by the way AOSP is being deprioritised by Google”
“Chromium and AOSP immediately come to mind - into vendor lock-in and spyware”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.