Phosh
Hacker ApprovedMobile shell in Phones & tablets
Recommended for a daily-usable, easy-to-use graphical interface on mainline Linux phones; critics say it is slow and memory-heavy.
Recommended for a daily-usable, easy-to-use graphical interface on mainline Linux phones; critics say it is slow and memory-heavy.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 68%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Daily-usable, easy-to-use mobile interface
“Phosh aims to provide a daily-usable, robust and easy to use graphical user environment for mobile devices running mainline Linux.”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “A new Android malware from Google” “Phosh aims to provide a daily-usable, robust and easy to use graphical user environment”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “A new Android malware from Google” Good on tablets and docked use
“Both Phosh and PlasmaMobile turn into a "proper" desktop when "docked"”
Comment from 13 Mar 2026 in “Your Phone Is an Entire Computer” “Absolutely the best tablet experience for Linux.”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Phosh 0.56.0” Improving fast and community-maintained
“the company gave a lot to the community by developing libadwaita and Phosh”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “The Advantages of Mobile Linux over AOSP (LineageOS, CrDroid, GrapheneOS, etc.)” “The software side (Phosh, KDE, etc) is now improving fast”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?” “can be maintained by the community”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “The Advantages of Mobile Linux over AOSP (LineageOS, CrDroid, GrapheneOS, etc.)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow and unoptimized performance
“The slowness of Phosh is purely a consequence of the current, unoptimized software state”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux” “how unbearably slow Phosh and Linux apps are on the Furiphone”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux” “the software is unbearably slow due to Phosh and libhybris”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without releasing to the AOSP” - Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux”
- Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux”
Heavy RAM use and GNOME dependencies
“On my phone there's 770MB RAM consumed by the entire system with Phosh running right now.”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Phosh 0.56.0” “Phosh pulls in GNOME - gnome-settings, gnome-session etc. Seems like a very strange bundle to bring in for an extremely power constrained device”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Phosh 0.56.0” “But now I know it's running gnome I won't even consider trying”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Phosh 0.56.0” Clunky on older devices
“Phosh on a <2015 device is much more painful though.”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Phosh 0.56.0” “it's still a bit clunky and fiddly.”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “Windows 8 Desktop Environment for Linux”
What people recommend instead
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plasma Mobile | 16 | 3 | 84% | 7 | — | Approved |
| PhoshThis page | 15 | 7 | 68% | 4 | — | Approved |
What people said
26 of the 27 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“can be maintained by the community”
“the company gave a lot to the community by developing libadwaita and Phosh”
“The software side (Phosh, KDE, etc) is now improving fast”
“the software is unbearably slow due to Phosh and libhybris”
“The slowness of Phosh is purely a consequence of the current, unoptimized software state”
“Phosh runs well on much less powerful devices”
“how unbearably slow Phosh and Linux apps are on the Furiphone”
“Phosh and updates via Flatpak are unbearably slow.”
“Phosh being an obese sloth.”
“Plasma mobile was slower then Phosh by a very noticeable amount.”
“On my phone there's 770MB RAM consumed by the entire system with Phosh running right now.”
“many apps work suprisingly well on Phosh”
“a phone is basically the perfect application for it”
“Absolutely the best tablet experience for Linux.”
“there's Android app compatibility, but it is a little rough”
“None of these services are memory heavy and all have a purpose”
“no reason to reinvent the wheel, 100mb more ram and 1% more battery drain for an OS aiming to be a daily driver is something that's worth it”
“Terrible name. It's going to fail on those grounds alone.”
“But now I know it's running gnome I won't even consider trying”
“The fact I thought it was a custom UI over stock android means they got this well rounded.”
“Phosh on a <2015 device is much more painful though.”
“Phosh pulls in GNOME - gnome-settings, gnome-session etc. Seems like a very strange bundle to bring in for an extremely power constrained device”
“Phosh aims to provide a daily-usable, robust and easy to use graphical user environment”
“Phosh aims to provide a daily-usable, robust and easy to use graphical user environment for mobile devices running mainline Linux.”
“Both Phosh and PlasmaMobile turn into a "proper" desktop when "docked"”
“it's still a bit clunky and fiddly.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.