# PureOS

7 Hacker News commenters recommended PureOS and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free, FSF-endorsed Debian-based operating system for phones and desktops, valued for privacy and containing no proprietary software. Critics say it lags on software releases and stability.

## Why people recommend it

- FSF-endorsed with no proprietary software (4 comments): "PureOS running on my phone is endorsed by the FSF, i.e., has no blobs whatsoever" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48093406)) "PureOS is endorsed by the FSF and contains no proprietary software." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49351611)) "My smartphone runs an FSF-endorsed OS, PureOS. This is reality." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47098807))
- Actively maintained and based on Debian (4 comments): "The OS is maintained by paid contractors, funded by Purism hardware sales and donations from users." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50229701)) "its PureOS Linux operating system is actively maintained, and patches are still upstreamed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50053344)) "PureOS is actively developed and based on Debian." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48763367))
- Runs on Librem and Pinephone hardware (4 comments): "My Librem 5 running PureOS also supports external storage just fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47050138)) "I personally prefer GNU/Linux phones running Mobian or PureOS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47008410)) "Librem 5/Pinephone can run PureOS/postmarketOS that do." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49322651))
- Privacy-focused and encrypted by default (3 comments): "I can have a lot more confidence that I'm not installing anything that will harm me or spy on me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50279150)) "not everything is fully working but as I said they prioritised privacy and FOSS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48763920)) "it's a good thing that PureOS is LUKS-encrypted by default" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47944254))

## What people warn about

- Not fully working yet (2 comments): "not everything is fully working but as I said they prioritised privacy and FOSS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48763920)) "a not-fully-ready distribution like PureOS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48772806))

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "PureOS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/pureos/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).