# Sailfish OS 80 Hacker News commenters recommended Sailfish OS and 56 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 4 years (16 owners). **Verdict:** Linux-based phone OS with a gesture UI and Android app support, valued as a real third option. Critics often cite weaker privacy and security than AOSP. ## Why people recommend it - Polished gesture-based touch UI (5 comments): "The SailFishOS is a delight technically and aesthetically - the business side though needs a major overhaul." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47314774)) "it was buttery smooth, even with all its fancy animations and gesture-based navigation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46163524)) "Sailfish's UI is WAY ahead of iOS and Android. It's simple, consistent, and intuitive" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47313933)) - Good Android app emulation (4 comments): "Sailfish OS Android emulation is quite good, good or even the best one I used on the Android emulation front." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45786575)) "The Android emulation layer is quite good and it runs on many mass market Xperia phones from Sony" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45786602)) "The android support improved a lot such that all the apps I used worked there." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45786104)) - Third option beside iOS and Android (4 comments): "Sailfish is actually trying to be a real third option rather than an open source proof of concept" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49764635)) "You do have an alternative to both Google and Apple, which gives you the best of both worlds" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46802856)) "there's a third alternative which is neither iOS nor Android - and that's a killer feature" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45788813)) - Mature enough for daily use (4 comments): "it's usable as a daily driver and, with a critical developer mass, it could get somewhere." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48896532)) "I have been using Xperia 10 III as my main phone for years with Sailfish OS just fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45786524)) "Sailfish is a mature mobile OS, sufficient in many cases to be a daily driver" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45788792)) ## What people warn about - Proprietary components in open platform (4 comments): "the last vestiges of Lipstick (the Sailfish OS UI), which are not released under an open source license" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46164034)) "They claim full commitment to free software, but their entire internal infrastructure is built entirely on proprietary solutions." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45821211)) "Not fully open-source though, as far as i understood it some of the important GUI, android compat bits are propreity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45786529)) - Weaker privacy and security than AOSP (5 comments): "SailfishOS drastically reduces privacy, security, usability, battery life and app compatibility compared to simply using AOSP" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49600114)) "SailfishOS has far worse privacy, security, functionality and usability than the Android Open Source Project." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47053198)) "It has much worse privacy and drastically worse security than the Android Open Source Project" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47248719)) - Limited hardware support and ports (3 comments): "The lack of hardware ports (apart from Jolla's lack of vision) is what is really holding Sailfish OS back." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49050827)) "the new patch isn’t released with kernel support that actually makes the IO work properly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46183108)) "has rough edges (many of the hardware issues should be fixed in the next release)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45990135)) - Outdated apps, missing payments (3 comments): "I still use Sailfish daily. I have no problem with the UI, but their Firefox is seriously outdated and predictive text for the keyboard is no longer available." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47319252)) "it's kind of backwards, first offering a Gnu/Linux phone, but then a fundmental application like web browser should be run under Android." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45791248)) "I don't think I can send or receive money to and from my friends or pay my public transport fare from Sailfish." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46802873)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Android](https://hackerapproved.com/p/android.md): 372 recommend - [Apple iOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ios.md): 308 recommend - [LineageOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lineageos.md): 186 recommend - [/e/OS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/e-os.md): 89 recommend - [Ubuntu Touch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ubuntu-touch.md): 35 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Sailfish OS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/sailfish-os/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).