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Has anyone experience with Sailfish? Can it run apps like Signal and WhatsApp? Is it stable? I know the website says that it can, but I'm looking for actual use

by p4bl0 5y ago

Has anyone experience with Sailfish? Can it run apps like Signal and WhatsApp? Is it stable? I know the website says that it can, but I'm looking for actual user feedback. EDIT: What about the KDE Connect app?

letharion 5y ago
No experience, but the shop (https://shop.jolla.com/ https://shop.jolla.com/ ) claims "Android App Support" so I'd expect you can run most apps.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
memling 5y ago
> Has anyone experience with Sailfish? Can it run apps like Signal and WhatsApp? Is it stable? I ran Sailfish in the 2.x days on an old Moto G Falcon. They did not support Android apps at the time, but recent versions are supposed to.[1] My experience with Sailfish was pretty positive, but I have a high pain tolerance and don't need or want my phone to be more than a phone. (I need it to make calls and handle SMS/MMS. MMS messaging was iffy: reception was fine, but multiparty conversations didn't always thread well. I consider web browsing on the phone a bit of a mixed bag. Tethering is a bonus.) It was pretty. I liked being able to SSH into the phone. I appreciated the easy way to change themes (and that they migrated settings like volume, etc.). It was a slick O/S. Sadly my Falcon died, and I got a burner phone. It's hard to argue with $40 for the phone (KaiOS) and an MVNO that handles my comms on the cheap. I've toyed with the idea of picking up another one that's compatible and flashing the phone--but it looks like it's harder to get the OS onto newer devices these days. [1] https://sailfishos.org https://sailfishos.org
- ryantgtg 5y ago
  I think they did support Android apps at that time, but only on the official devices (which is the same situation as now). I flashed 2.x back then, too, back in the glory days of flashing ubuntu touch and firefox os, etc. I loved the UI of Sailfish. Fatal flaw for me was the inability to group text. As far as I know there is still no group texting. The European users/devs claim this isn’t an issue, because they all use third party messaging apps. I’m glad they’re still developing Sailfish!
c-c-c-c-c 5y ago
I had the original jolla phone. Fun device and great for starting out developing simple apps. Back then they had a 3rd party whatsapp client called mittäkuuluu (litteraly what's up in finnish) in addition to the official one running through the android layer. Since then whatsapp has blocked 3rd party clients and i believe youre not able to run whatsapp on the consumer version of sailfish. Something really cool they had was integration with whatsapp and the facebook messenger with the sms app with contacts synced across the three.
- mpol 5y ago
  There were even two apps, Mittäkuuluu by coderus, and Whatsup from older Symbian and Meego times. Both worked fine and were lovely to use, untill the company Whatsapp sent threatening letters from their lawyers to the developers. Whatsapp also often blocked users using those apps (I had it happen multiple times) and you could reactivate your account if you logged in with the official whatsapp.apk again. A few days later the Sailfish apps were updated and I would switch to one of those again :) So now there is no other option then use the whatsapp.apk, or just not use it and switch completely to Signal.
fractallyte 5y ago
It's my daily driver (on a Sony Xperia XA2). Signal and WhatsApp work perfectly, without any issues.
mpol 5y ago
Yes, the Android layer can run Whatsapp and Signal. I also run Firefox as an apk on it, I use the last v68 version of that. The Android layer is only available on the commercial version, and only on officially supported device. It has been available since 2013 on the original Jolla 1, which was for me the reason to upgrade from a Nokia N9. For me it is stable on my XA2. Though the software is made by a small company and their efforts are spread relatively thin. They don't have thousands of developers working on their mobile OS. For Android apps, the bluetooth stack of Android and Linux/Bluez is different, and the middleware called libhybris does not support offering bluetooth to Android apps. It might come in the future, many people in the community wish it to come available. There are many native apps, and there might not be that much need for all kinds of Android apps. Also, there is talk about offering Android support for community devices, like the Sony Tama devices (high end, small form factor) or Xiaumi devices.
sakebomb 5y ago
I use it a majority of the time. (Seldom need Android for work). It runs Signal just fine, along with all the other chat apps. I enjoy Sailfish very much. I will say that installing the google play store is not a simple click through, but I also don't care for it. A majority of the apps I want don't use google play anyway. I would highly recommend you give it a try for a few weeks and you won't go back.
- ahnick 5y ago
  What do you use for maps/navigation?
  - mpol 5y ago
    Not the parent poster. For maps I use OSM. I have 3 apps installed, Pure Maps, OSMscout and modRana. I don't use navigation, but I understand that with OSM the navigation can be somewhat of a disappointment. There was a native app for Here Maps, but IIRC it was only licensed and available for the Jolla 1. I don't have it installed on my Sony XA2 and I think it's not available either.
    - bitL 5y ago
      I have HERE Maps on Xperia 10 ii, straight from Jolla Store. Maybe it's because I bought their paid package?
- ahmedfromtunis 5y ago
  I'm just curious: when you say "I enjoy Sailfish very much" what does that entail? What does it mean to enjoy an OS. I ask this because I find myself numerous times disappointed: after installing a new OS, there's mostly nothing "new" or outstanding to enjoy other than the few limited different features. After that, it's just the same old terminal and Chrome with the occasional trip to the file browser.
  - mpol 5y ago
    Not the parent poster, but I often say similar things :) For me it's the idea that the software provider thinks privacy is important and I trust them much more than Google or Apple. It's also very close to desktop linux. Root access over ssh is just one checkbox away in the settings. After that I can install any software that is available on Linux, or I can mess about in /etc. The Ambience system is very nice as well. With almost only native apps and a white-on-black ambience, my phone is visually very quiet and not that much distracting. It feels like I own this phone, almost as much as my desktop computer. I am not renting it where someone else has root access and I don't (or I have to fight for it).
poetaster 5y ago
Sigal via whisperfish. In rust!. I'm still on 3.4. Community port. Gigaset gs290. SFOS rocks.
ravenstine 5y ago
On that topic, are there any desktop-oriented Linux distros that support Android apps? Seems like that could fill some gaps in some places where a native Linux app sucks but an Android equivalent would be sufficient. (obviously in a few but perhaps not most cases) Maybe emulation would be needed for most current machines and be really slow, but with more ARM laptops coming in the future it seems like something GNU/Linux would need to do to compete in that space.
- zozbot234 5y ago
  It can be done via Anbox or WayDroid, but additional steps (e.g. via QEMU) are needed to run ARM-based apps on a typical x86 desktop, and performance might be a bit underwhelming.
bitL 5y ago
There is Whisperfish Signal client available on OpenRepos.net, if you don't want to install Android subsystem (I don't): https://openrepos.net/content/rubdos/whisperfish https://openrepos.net/content/rubdos/whisperfish

by p4bl0 5y ago

letharion 5y ago

No experience, but the shop (https://shop.jolla.com/ https://shop.jolla.com/ ) claims "Android App Support" so I'd expect you can run most apps.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

memling 5y ago

> Has anyone experience with Sailfish? Can it run apps like Signal and WhatsApp? Is it stable? I ran Sailfish in the 2.x days on an old Moto G Falcon. They did not support Android apps at the time, but recent versions are supposed to.[1] My experience with Sailfish was pretty positive, but I have a high pain tolerance and don't need or want my phone to be more than a phone. (I need it to make calls and handle SMS/MMS. MMS messaging was iffy: reception was fine, but multiparty conversations didn't always thread well. I consider web browsing on the phone a bit of a mixed bag. Tethering is a bonus.) It was pretty. I liked being able to SSH into the phone. I appreciated the easy way to change themes (and that they migrated settings like volume, etc.). It was a slick O/S. Sadly my Falcon died, and I got a burner phone. It's hard to argue with $40 for the phone (KaiOS) and an MVNO that handles my comms on the cheap. I've toyed with the idea of picking up another one that's compatible and flashing the phone--but it looks like it's harder to get the OS onto newer devices these days. [1] https://sailfishos.org https://sailfishos.org

ryantgtg 5y ago
I think they did support Android apps at that time, but only on the official devices (which is the same situation as now). I flashed 2.x back then, too, back in the glory days of flashing ubuntu touch and firefox os, etc. I loved the UI of Sailfish. Fatal flaw for me was the inability to group text. As far as I know there is still no group texting. The European users/devs claim this isn’t an issue, because they all use third party messaging apps. I’m glad they’re still developing Sailfish!

c-c-c-c-c 5y ago

I had the original jolla phone. Fun device and great for starting out developing simple apps. Back then they had a 3rd party whatsapp client called mittäkuuluu (litteraly what's up in finnish) in addition to the official one running through the android layer. Since then whatsapp has blocked 3rd party clients and i believe youre not able to run whatsapp on the consumer version of sailfish. Something really cool they had was integration with whatsapp and the facebook messenger with the sms app with contacts synced across the three.

mpol 5y ago
There were even two apps, Mittäkuuluu by coderus, and Whatsup from older Symbian and Meego times. Both worked fine and were lovely to use, untill the company Whatsapp sent threatening letters from their lawyers to the developers. Whatsapp also often blocked users using those apps (I had it happen multiple times) and you could reactivate your account if you logged in with the official whatsapp.apk again. A few days later the Sailfish apps were updated and I would switch to one of those again :) So now there is no other option then use the whatsapp.apk, or just not use it and switch completely to Signal.

fractallyte 5y ago

It's my daily driver (on a Sony Xperia XA2). Signal and WhatsApp work perfectly, without any issues.

mpol 5y ago

Yes, the Android layer can run Whatsapp and Signal. I also run Firefox as an apk on it, I use the last v68 version of that. The Android layer is only available on the commercial version, and only on officially supported device. It has been available since 2013 on the original Jolla 1, which was for me the reason to upgrade from a Nokia N9. For me it is stable on my XA2. Though the software is made by a small company and their efforts are spread relatively thin. They don't have thousands of developers working on their mobile OS. For Android apps, the bluetooth stack of Android and Linux/Bluez is different, and the middleware called libhybris does not support offering bluetooth to Android apps. It might come in the future, many people in the community wish it to come available. There are many native apps, and there might not be that much need for all kinds of Android apps. Also, there is talk about offering Android support for community devices, like the Sony Tama devices (high end, small form factor) or Xiaumi devices.

sakebomb 5y ago

I use it a majority of the time. (Seldom need Android for work). It runs Signal just fine, along with all the other chat apps. I enjoy Sailfish very much. I will say that installing the google play store is not a simple click through, but I also don't care for it. A majority of the apps I want don't use google play anyway. I would highly recommend you give it a try for a few weeks and you won't go back.

ahnick 5y ago
What do you use for maps/navigation?
- mpol 5y ago
  Not the parent poster. For maps I use OSM. I have 3 apps installed, Pure Maps, OSMscout and modRana. I don't use navigation, but I understand that with OSM the navigation can be somewhat of a disappointment. There was a native app for Here Maps, but IIRC it was only licensed and available for the Jolla 1. I don't have it installed on my Sony XA2 and I think it's not available either.
  - bitL 5y ago
    I have HERE Maps on Xperia 10 ii, straight from Jolla Store. Maybe it's because I bought their paid package?
ahmedfromtunis 5y ago
I'm just curious: when you say "I enjoy Sailfish very much" what does that entail? What does it mean to enjoy an OS. I ask this because I find myself numerous times disappointed: after installing a new OS, there's mostly nothing "new" or outstanding to enjoy other than the few limited different features. After that, it's just the same old terminal and Chrome with the occasional trip to the file browser.
- mpol 5y ago
  Not the parent poster, but I often say similar things :) For me it's the idea that the software provider thinks privacy is important and I trust them much more than Google or Apple. It's also very close to desktop linux. Root access over ssh is just one checkbox away in the settings. After that I can install any software that is available on Linux, or I can mess about in /etc. The Ambience system is very nice as well. With almost only native apps and a white-on-black ambience, my phone is visually very quiet and not that much distracting. It feels like I own this phone, almost as much as my desktop computer. I am not renting it where someone else has root access and I don't (or I have to fight for it).

poetaster 5y ago

Sigal via whisperfish. In rust!. I'm still on 3.4. Community port. Gigaset gs290. SFOS rocks.

ravenstine 5y ago

On that topic, are there any desktop-oriented Linux distros that support Android apps? Seems like that could fill some gaps in some places where a native Linux app sucks but an Android equivalent would be sufficient. (obviously in a few but perhaps not most cases) Maybe emulation would be needed for most current machines and be really slow, but with more ARM laptops coming in the future it seems like something GNU/Linux would need to do to compete in that space.

zozbot234 5y ago
It can be done via Anbox or WayDroid, but additional steps (e.g. via QEMU) are needed to run ARM-based apps on a typical x86 desktop, and performance might be a bit underwhelming.

bitL 5y ago

There is Whisperfish Signal client available on OpenRepos.net, if you don't want to install Android subsystem (I don't): https://openrepos.net/content/rubdos/whisperfish https://openrepos.net/content/rubdos/whisperfish