Android has become the de-facto operating system for smartphones, IoT devices, cars, TVs, and other electronic devices. The open-source project is being deployed almost everywhere because of the vast app support, lightweight profile, compatibility with a variety of hardware, huge developer support, etc. Apple’s iOS is putting up a good fight, but it’s nowhere close to Android’s dominance. In such a scenario, there is almost no competition and we are on the verge of an Android monopoly in the market. Such a situation is not good for innovation and competition. So to find out potential alternatives to Android, we have compiled this article with the best Android alternative. We have compared privacy, security, features set, and a lot more in this article. On that note, let’s go ahead and find out the top 12 Android alternatives.
Why We Need Alternative to Android?
With around 72% market share, Android has become a monopoly in the mobile operating system market. There is not much choice for consumers, except to choose an Android device or go for the pricier iPhone. In such a scenario, we need more alternatives to accelerate innovation, bring more choices to consumers, add better privacy standards, and more. For the past many years, Android’s security has been lackluster. After Android 8, Google got serious about hardening the security of Android and closing the loopholes. In fact, in earlier Android days, there was no concept of runtime permission.
Currently, Android is on a course-correction phase where it’s bringing much-needed security features and privacy controls. Apple is forcing Google to bring privacy insights of apps, restricting apps from accessing clipboards, permission reminders, and so on. These are essential privacy features that are available on other mobile platforms for many years. Even today, we don’t have a user-facing network permission toggle on Android. Third-party apps can regularly scan all your installed apps, access your clipboard, and so on.
While Android is fixing some of these issues, most users are not getting the updates due to fragmentation. Google tried to resolve the fragmentation problem with Project Treble, but the truth is that, except for some manufacturers, not many are offering longer security and feature updates. To combat this situation and to put consumers on the safer side, we need an Android alternative that respects your privacy, does not trade user data for cheaper hardware, and comes with stronger security.
Best Android Alternative Mobile Operating Systems
1. iOS
With a 27.5% market share, iOS is slowly becoming the mainstream alternative to Android. Gone are the days when Android was feature-packed and iOS was for average users. iOS now comes with advanced features such as Shortcuts for automation, SharePlay to co-watch movies and shows with your friends and family, live text translation, and more. Siri is also getting quite better and the ecosystem support from various Apple devices is unparalleled in the Android world.
Not to mention, iOS is much more respectful of your privacy in comparison to Android. Recently, Apple added privacy report to the App Store where it displays all the user data the app is trying to collect. It also lets you request apps to disable tracking which is a great privacy feature to have. iOS is also simpler to use, although Google is working on Android to make it more accessible to a varied group of users. To sum up, if you want peace of mind with top-notch privacy and security, along with a legion of handy iOS features, Apple’s iOS positions itself as a suitable alternative to Android.
Pros Cons Beautiful UI, Smooth operation, easier to use Not open-source Much longer updates Devices are costly Great quality of apps Limited customization
2. GrapheneOS
If security and privacy are your main reasons behind your search for an Android alternative, GrapheneOS fits the bill perfectly. It’s a security-hardened operating system, built with top-notch privacy protection in mind. GrapheneOS, earlier known as CopperheadOS, is also developed on Android, but the main developer, Daniel Micay has worked extensively to make GrapheneOS a completely secure mobile operating system. Even Edward Snowden endorsed GrapheneOS and said that “If I were configuring a smartphone today, I’d use Daniel Micay’s GrapheneOS as the base operating system“.
Currently, it only supports Pixel devices including the latest Pixel 6 series. GrapheneOS has deployed major technologies to restrict a number of vulnerabilities and exploits. The app sandbox feature makes it harder for malware to attack your smartphone. There are additional permissions as well including network permission, sensors permission, USB access, camera access, and more.
Other than that, GrapheneOS ships with a hardened variant of Chromium called Vanadium for browsing the web, there is a security-focused PDF viewer, a secure camera app, Seedvault for encrypted backup, and a lot more. Not to mention, it does not ship with Google Play Services or microG, making it a completely deGoogled Android fork. All in all, if you are looking for a secure alternative to Android, GrapheneOS would be my top recommendation.
| Pros | Cons |
| Top-notch security and privacy protection | Limited device support |
| Based on Android | |
| First-party apps available |
3. KaiOS
For feature phones, KaiOS is a great alternative to Android. We know that Android has become quite heavy at this point. So to bring a lightweight mobile operating system to the masses, KaiOS serves the purpose really well without missing out on major features. It’s a Linux-based OS, forked from the discontinued Firefox OS, and can run on devices with just 256MB of RAM.
KaiOS packs its own KaiStore where you can find over 500 apps which include WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, Google Assistant, Google Maps, Google app, UC Browser, lightweight games, and more. There are hundreds of models available around the globe and the starting price of these phones is just $10 which is amazing. In India, JioPhone is quite popular which costs around $20-25 and runs KaiOS. To sum up, KaiOS is a perfect alternative to Android in regions where affordability is preferred over a long list of features.
Pros Cons Lightweight OS, a forked version of Firefox OS Not for the main Android smartphone market Supports Web-based apps Continually updated
4. Sailfish OS
Sailfish OS has been one of the oldest alternatives to Android, competing and developing a mobile operating system since 2013. It is currently in its 4th generation and is being actively developed by a Finnish company Jolla Ltd. Sailfish OS has been built on top of Linux along with many other open-source projects. While it’s not built on Android, Sailfish OS can run Android apps using its dedicated App Support solution. And that’s one of the selling points of Sailfish OS.
In Sailfish OS, user data is fully encrypted by its sandboxing solution called Firejail. All the connectivity and traffic runs behind a firewall with support for VPN. In terms of security, Sailfish OS is quite good and the company is making an investment to make it even more secure. Apart from all that, Sailfish OS has a distinct visual style and the gesture-based apps are fun to use. You can try Sailfish OS on Sony Xperia phones and Gemini PDA.
Pros Cons The visual style is quite good, gesture navigation A bit buggy Can run Android apps via a layer Not as performant as Android Built-in VPN and sandboxing
5. Plasma Mobile / postmarketOS
Unlike many other Android forks, Plasma Mobile is a great alternative to Android that runs on top of a Linux distribution. It has been developed using the multi-platform toolkit Qt and KDE framework that powers so many Linux distros out there. To make the skin look fluid and mobile, it uses a Plasma Shell that feels polished out of the box. Note that, it does not run Android apps, instead uses the Kirigami UI framework to create apps for Plasma Mobile. Using Plasma Mobile, many Linux distros for phones have been released, but the most popular one is postmarketOS.
It already comes with a lot of alternative apps, built on Kirigami such as Calculator, Angelfish Web browser, AudioTube (a YouTube music client), Calindori (Calendar), Elisa (Music Play), Index (File Manager), and more. In essence, Plasma Mobile is one of the true alternatives to Android that is built on a completely different framework and has a different package manager. Currently, it supports PinePhone, Purism Librem 5, and community-supported devices like OnePlus 6, PocoPhone, etc. So if you are looking to try something new, go ahead and install Plasma Mobile on your smartphone.
Pros Cons Linux-based OS No Android apps Developed Mobile shell using new frameworks First-party apps available
Visit Website (Plasma Mobile / postmarketOS)
6. Ubuntu Touch
Ubuntu Touch is another Linux-based alternative to Android that is focused on bringing trust and privacy to smartphones. As the project is open-source, it has a huge community of developers and users who want to test, experiment, and contribute to the project. Ubuntu Touch feels and looks very identical to the Ubuntu desktop OS, however, it has been heavily optimized for touchscreen operations.
The UBports community also claims that none of your data leaves your device unless you explicitly allow it which is a good thing from the privacy point of view. Currently, Ubuntu Touch supports PinePhone, PineTab, Fairphone, Volla, Nexus 5, and OnePlus One. There are also 81 devices that are community supported so in terms of device support, Ubuntu Touch excels. Not to mention, you get all the necessary apps including the Camera app, Music, Gallery, Terminal, Clock, Dialer, etc. I would say if you want to try an open-source OS similar to Android, do give a look at Ubuntu Touch.
Pros Cons Open-source operating system, based on Linux Cannot match the third-party app support of Android Comes with all the basic apps Can function as a desktop
7. Mobian
Mobian, as the name suggests, is a Debian-based operating system for mobile devices. Currently, it does not support a whole list of devices, but Mobian can run on PinePhone, Poco F1, OnePlus 6, and some more devices. Unlike Android, it runs Linux apps and the UI is surprisingly good. It comes with all the basic apps including a Calculator, Camera, Call, Settings, and more. There is also Terminal support, in case you want to dive deep into the system.
Needless to say, it does not support Android apps and the app support is limited. However, Mobian sets out to bring an alternative mobile OS to Android which is quite nice. Mobian uses Phosh, a mobile shell built by Purism, and deploys well-known frameworks like Gnome and GTK. All in all, I would say, Mobian is a potential alternative to Android and you can definitely give it a try.
| Pros | Cons |
| Mobile derivative from Debian | Limited app support |
| Popular device support | |
| Built on Phosh, Gnome, and GTK |
8. Tizen OS
If you are looking for an alternative to Android for larger screens such as TVs then Tizen OS is a better choice. Developed by Samsung, Tizen OS was aimed to run on all Samsung devices, be it smartphones, wearables, IoT devices, TVs, etc. However, fast forward now, and we are noticing Samsung is embracing Android for all its products except for the TV segment. Samsung has stopped developing phones with Tizen OS and recently, on Galaxy Watch 4, it moved to Wear OS from Tizen OS.
Having said all of that, for smart TVs, Samsung continues to use its Tizen OS as the project has gotten popular and lots of third-party apps have been launched including Netflix, Prime Video, etc. We have detailed a dedicated comparison between Android TV and Tizen OS so go through our article to learn more about the differences. To make it clear, as far as smart TVs are concerned, Tizen OS rules the roost and is more performant than Android TV, even on low-end hardware.
Pros Cons Great HTML5 support Third-party app support is limited Better performance than Android TV Best for the TV ecosystem
9. CalyxOS
CalyxOS is another privacy-focused alternative to Android which is completely deGoogled and puts a major focus on hardening security and privacy. It has been built by the Calyx Institute which is a New York-based nonprofit organization to make digital security more accessible to the masses. CalyxOS currently supports a handful of Pixel and OnePlus devices and Xiaomi Mi A2, but support for more devices will be added soon.
It ships with Signal for encrypted messaging; Tor browser to access the web without any tracking; a free and trusted VPN from the Calyx Institute; the open-source Aurora Store, a Play Store alternative, and more. There are no Google services included in CalyxOS but if you want, you can sideload microG to get some of the Google services without sacrificing your anonymity. To sum up, if privacy is what you are looking for on your smartphone, CalyxOS is a great alternative to other Android forks.
Pros Cons Privacy-centric OS, Based on Android Limited device support Many security features include VPN, Tor, etc. No Google Services
10. LineageOS
If your Android smartphone has hit end-of-life and no longer receives OTA updates from the manufacturer, LineageOS will come to your rescue. It’s a custom Android ROM, not much different from the standard Android that you are running on your device, however, you get to taste the latest Android version, even when the manufacturer is no longer supporting your device.
On top of that, LineageOS comes clean without Google services. You can, however, sideload the GApps package and get Play Store and other services running. It supports more than 200 devices and continuously brings the latest updates to outdated hardware. Even many custom ROMs fork LineageOS to add more functionality and features due to its rock-solid base. LineageOS has even brought the latest Android 12 update to more than 41 devices which is amazing. Simply put, LineageOS, despite being an Android fork, is a go-to alternative because of long-life support, better performance, and no Google bloatware.
Pros Cons Based on Android AOSP, Supports Android 12 None as such Supports a long list of devices Stable and Usable
11. /e/ OS
After GrapheneOS and CalyxOS, if you want another alternative to Android that is highly secure and private then you can try /e/ OS. It’s also based on Android (LineageOS), but the operating system has been completely deGoogled and there are alternative apps in place of popular Google apps. You can install apps from its own store and it even displays privacy and energy ratings, similar to iOS’ AppStore.
/e/ OS is completely open-source and has been developed by the non-profit /e/ Foundation which is based in France. Currently, it supports more than 240 smartphone models which include popular Samsung phones and some Fairphone models. You can also buy smartphones preloaded with /e/ OS from its website. Overall, /e/ OS is a great solution for users who are looking to buy a privacy-focused smartphone but without Google lurking from behind.
Pros Cons deGoogle Android fork, based on LineageOS /e/ preloaded smartphones are a bit expensive Vast device support Privacy rating in app store
12. HarmonyOS
After the US ban, Huawei had no recourse but to develop its own operating system for smartphones and other devices. The company developed HarmonyOS which is basically a fork of vanilla AOSP so essentially it runs Android under the hood. That said, Huawei has developed its own app packaging container called APP. You can also sideload APKs on HarmonyOS which is awesome.
It also comes with its own AppGallery where you can find thousands of popular Android apps. The company has also developed its own compiler called ARK in place of Android’s ART (Android Runtime). And the new EROFS file system is said to be better than EXT4 and F2FS. While HarmonyOS is deep inside an Android OS, chances are that Huawei will come up with an alternative to Android in upcoming years. The company is due to release HarmonyOS 3.0 in September with new APIs and SDK.
| Pros | Cons |
| Supports APK sideloading | The core is still Android, uses the AOSP base |
| Suitable OS for Huawei ecosystem | |
| Developed its own APP package manager |
What Do You Think of These Android Alternative Operating Systems?
So these are the Android alternatives that you can try on your smartphone right now. A majority of them allow you to flash the OS on your existing smartphone, while some have partnered with hardware manufacturers to launch standalone devices with preloaded OS. Anyway, that is all from us. But what do you think about these Android alternatives? Which one of them is going to become more mainstream in the coming days? Let us know in the comments section below.
Comments
71
Arjun Sha
Arjun Sha
Arjun Sha
Arjun Sha
Sagnik Das Gupta
Arjun Sha
Anshuman Jain
Arjun Sha
Anshuman Jain
Screw Google and their YouTube censorship. You heard me Google. Screw you.
Screw you even harder, Goggle!!!
Developers only can unite and support an alternative OS that is not US based, (or China based, Russia based and any geopolitical ambitious country based). It should be developed in a small independent nation like Switzerland or Japan so not to ever interfere with political decisions. In the end the US can ban Huawei from the US if it wants but Huawei should be able to operate in the rest of the world. It is a matter of fact that the US and China own most of the software the world uses today so a better distribution is needed.
Paolo, Huawei is banned precisely because it is facilitating the ability of the Chinese government to watch people and control things, and not just in China, but rather all over the world.
That IS why Trump banned them.
Huawei is literally the the Chinese government’s version of Google, except they also have their own hardware. Google kind of has it’s own hardware, androids and chromebooks, but our system doesn’t as easily facilitate complete control over things like that as China’s does.
The point is, our Democrats have Google, and the Chinese government has Huawei.
You don’t want anything to do with Huawei. Don’t be brainwashed. Actually, you know what. You probably need to learn the hard way anyway. I’m guessing you like Huawei because Trump doesn’t. So, you go get Harmony, and put all of your personally identifying information on it. Then when the Democrats and their buddies finally hand this nation over to the Chinese government, you can see how much Huawei doesn’t share your information when you say something even just minorly critical of the Chinese government in an anonymous way using your Huawei OS, and suddenly somehow they know who you are and exactly what you said.
Bloody hell! I just going to revert to telegrams and a more key! Lol
“The point is, our Democrats have Google, and the Chinese government has Huawei” and the CCP has our Democrats…
so correct about dems having google.. and ppc has H… we are Fd … just Fd… and now its all just going to get worse… just wait just wait… everyone is gonna end up beging told when to eat and what to eat..
and all activity monitored.. right on Me..
Japan and Switzerland independent give me a break. They are U.S. vassals with no sovereignty.
the article seems to miss a few points. like all these os es are basically spyware android being the worst. trusting huawei is pretty much just handing your os life to china. what we need is an os that is not a marketing tool or spy tool without the bloat of a full Linux kernal. i would cheer for Ubuntu but linux has not made much headway in twenty some odd years into the phone and tablet market not counting the bastardization called android.
Been a few months. Have you learned anything new?
Good article overall; I hadn’t heard of sirin. But I do want to point out that you can use lineage without google services as I have been for a while. Quite a few custom roms have “vanilla” versions which do not include Google services or “gapps”. There’s even a way to iinstall fake playstore called micro g; it’s justa bit complicated for my level of know how. I have found that fdroid is an excellent resource for open source apps that can replace most things you find in the playstore.
Check out Aurora Store. You can install it using F-droid. Most of play store’s apps are available on aurora store (without the privacy concerns, of course).
Ubuntu Touch is back in business. Make sure to check out the PinePhone Ubuntu Touch CE and future projects supported by the PinePhone, like postmarketOS with Plasma Mobile, Debian etc.
I’ve been waiting for a true Linux mobile for years. Finally the time has come, and hardly soon enough.
With today’s announcement that Ape and Google are rolling out “contact tracing” and will “soon” be baking it into their respective OSs, I am now in search of an alternative. This post seems old, but I’m betting my comment will be seen a LOT after this announcement.
Anyone out there with an idea as to how to get away from Google (my current phone OS developer) w/o ending up at Apple please reply to this comment. Not only will it help me, but the others who will inevitably end up here after today’s announcement.
Thanks!
Just don’t update system and you’re fine.
I´m also reading this in 2020,, i´m surprise how I was been in the google-facebook bubble… i want an alternative !!
Sailfish was my expectation
You can say that again , we may have to start using cbs, radio again ,lol . But it is getting to that point .
Tizen os is not continuation of Meego. Those who were working on the project confirmed it. Sailfish was the actual successor of meego.
Privacy and security are my main goals in changing my ever invasive Google (Android) operating system.
How do the above mentioned rate for Privacy and security?
I would not touch any OS that has any relationship, licensing, investments from the alphabet agencies, or their outlets like Apple, Google, Microsoft or other Spyware producers.
What’s about Sailfish os?
You can no longer download the MIUI roms anymore. (At least for 3rd party phones)
Google has patented software to allow themselves to listen to all of our phone calls, and they are routinely doing this to everyone! They are even listening to us (you) when we are not on the phone talking! They listen through our phones! Do a search on this, using the excellent search engine DuckDuckGo.com (not Google) and find out for yourselves! Google IS Big Brother! Boycott Google!
I have used DuckDuckGo as my search engine for almost 20 years and it is every bit as good as Google, except more secure, no ads, no malware and no tracking!
Using DuckDuckGo you can easily see that it was founded September 25, 2008, so unless you are from the future I’m going to go out on a limb and label you as a big fat liar if you say you’ve been using it for twice as long as it has been around (ten years and one month as of today).
What’s stopping me from buying something like sirins Finney is that I can’t find a phone plan to pay off the phone over time
I wonder how exactly you used 11 years old DuckDuckGo for 20 years!!!
BTW I use DDG as well.
JustSomeOne, believe that was just a little Irish Emphasis on Jim’s part. 😉
Internet years.
I am a big fan of DuckDuckGo. I have found, that DuckDuckGo provide’s a better variety of non-repetitive result options. It’s refreshing not to have the first 6 results be EBay, and Amazon.
I wish there were more tech companies like DDG,
that were concerned about privacy, and security!
If Google wasn’t so busy snooping, they would improve greatly, with a little competitive competition.
Puri.sm Librem 5
I switched to Mint Mate years ago it it is much better than any windows O/S and I have suffered through them all except DOS or DROS. there is a slight learning curve but only slight. I am here looking for a google alternative and sad I cannot find it for phone.
BTW, Mozilla/firefox gets $168 million a year from google with no explanation as to why but I guess they sell our info to Goog. I think UBUNTU ( CANNONICAL) is on the payroll too.
This information is very new to me. Specially the CyanoGen OS. However, I wonder why nobody is interested in that that powerful OS.
Cyanogenmod was a good clean OS at one time – you could get it without gapps (google apps). “They” paid off all developers who kept cracking OS’s to allow rooting of phone and alternative clean OS versions. Had hope for the One plus… at any rate those days have been gone since 2014 or so. The last phone I had that was clean & worked like a phone should work was Samsung Galaxy SII running a cyanogenmod os. Fast, no bloat, no spy, no google and battery lasted a week.
I am now hating android as much as ios and windows. useless bloated crap installed without my permission. i just wanna be left alone. I just need to make phone calls. I.d like to go more than 6hrs between charges. I don.t want movies or tv or games on my bloody phone . . . makes me sick
Totally agree. Bloat ware and no permission to delete from user. And if they did give us permission, they would have sneaky ware still running that would recapture the device any way. Google wants to keep the search locked up to boot. The internet is total blackhole these days anyway.
I want to get out of Android but I don’t want to get to iOS. I hope there will be a main third competitor.
It a damn shame that they canceled the Ubuntu phone. They really don’t seem to understand their users weren’t complaining about a decent replacement for Android. They were complaining about being made to have an utterly useless desktop; for the sake of trying to make it behave like a phone.
The only option seems to be Sailfish OS. I do not want my phone or tablet spying on me or others. I prefer a light weight laptop and a stupid cell phone. I want to be able to do a lot of things simultanously but on tablets and smart phones it seems impossible. Maybe Tizen OS could be an alternative some day but I AM NOT SURE IF THEY WOULD LIKE TO SPY ON ME. For photos I prefer a real camera , for music mp3 player, for calls a stupid phone. I hate all this spying, clouds, data mining, advertising, virus etc. Multiprocessing seems bad on Sailfishs competitors.
I want an Android OS replacement because Android OS has too much ads, google ads is built in I think.
Just annoying to see ads and ads and more ads.
Im also looking for a Android alternative, for privacy reasons. Google is selling our every private details.
i agree 101% i use linux on my pc, my sons too with no problem for many many years. i hope a xubuntu style OS for smartphone.
I don’t need stupid apps that want free use of my phone like microspy, i need programs working…
alternative could be blackberry, closed or not OS it work great
windows OS on smart phones is terrible and difficult to adjust to.
I thought it made sense for me to get a windows phone seeing as I have 3 PCs I could work everything together better but there are so many limitations its unreal. My PC wouldn’t even recognize my windows phone.
Saving files received through email isn’t possible and I was secretly happy the day I dropped and smashed it because that gave me an excuse to replace it
Personally, I’m sick of Google trying to take over every aspect of my life.
It’s a shame about Ubuntu. I think I read somewhere that Samsung tried to hinder the development of the Ubuntu phones.
“Personally, I’m sick of Google trying to take over every aspect of my life.”
AMEN to that!
Larry Page is not running a company, he’s running a CULT. And they are trying to take over the freaking globe.
From today I’m discontinuing use of all Google products… Company-emails. Emails all apps, the browser and I came here to find an alternative to Android.
Facebook is out as well. Our privacy is not secure with these companies. Changing to Linux as well as fast as possible.
I am also sick of being tracked, spied on, and sold by big corporations like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. I’m installing Linux on my laptop and I’m looking for a Android Alternative for my phone
Ubuntu in April 2017 has dropped Ubuntu mobile phone initiative