One of my clients in particular uses SharePoint. After verifying my identity with an e-mailed code AND an automated phone call, SharePoint insists that I install Microsoft Authenticator to complete the process. Absolute madness.

Another one pays exclusively via Wise unless you’re in Europe. Wise stopped letting me log in when I could not provide a photo of an ID taken via their mobile app. (And that was back when I still had my previous smartphone and the pictures just never turned out good enough for the AI to accept them, and they refused to process them manually.)

Just little things like that preventing me from working or getting paid.

Quoting: SlaxerBeing a hassle to get a hold of is kind of a blessing, it'll show you who your real friends are. I guess I'll just have to try and see for myself. I like to try and get the world to follow me, instead of the other way around 😀.

While I’ve also "forced" people to adopt certain platforms, I don’t really abide by that reasoning. It goes both ways: am I not a bad friend for not caving and using Facebook to keep in touch with them?

And then there’s all the people who aren’t my friends and couldn’t care less about what happens to me due to their failure to reach me.

Quoting: SalvatosOne of my clients in particular uses SharePoint. After verifying my identity with an e-mailed code AND an automated phone call, SharePoint insists that I install Microsoft Authenticator to complete the process. Absolute madness.

Another one pays exclusively via Wise unless you’re in Europe. Wise stopped letting me log in when I could not provide a photo of an ID taken via their mobile app. (And that was back when I still had my previous smartphone and the pictures just never turned out good enough for the AI to accept them, and they refused to process them manually.)

Just little things like that preventing me from working or getting paid.

Except for your clients abroad, couldn't you just set the terms by which you do business with your clients? I do.

Quoting: SalvatosWhile I’ve also "forced" people to adopt certain platforms, I don’t really abide by that reasoning. It goes both ways: am I not a bad friend for not caving and using Facebook to keep in touch with them?

And then there’s all the people who aren’t my friends and couldn’t care less about what happens to me due to their failure to reach me.

Other way around. A good friend is someone that's not afraid to tell you how much Facebook sucks 😀. The idea that we need Facebook to keep in touch with friends or family is an illusion.

A phone call and a little get-together once in a while too much of a hassle for them? I'll take that over anything Facebook could offer any day.

Quoting: SlaxerExcept for your clients abroad, couldn't you just set the terms by which you do business with your clients? I do.

To some extent, but that is getting more difficult thanks to LLMs ousting humans from my profession. If I'm too difficult to work with, there's no shortage of other providers (many desperate for work) to choose from. (And all of my clients are abroad.)

Quoting: SalvatosTo some extent, but that is getting more difficult thanks to LLMs ousting humans from my profession. If I'm too difficult to work with, there's no shortage of other providers (many desperate for work) to choose from. (And all of my clients are abroad.)

Sounds rough. My condolences.

While talking about Linux on phones... what do you all think about the new Commodore [Callback](https://commodore.net/callback/)? Yes, it is outdated technically, overpriced and retrohyped, but i really, really like the design. I love real buttons for input, because somehow my fingers seem not to work well with touch interfaces, and i alwas loved the clamshell thing in phones. It is based on sailfish, but they say that they'll block any browser related stuff (i guess this is simply a firewall rule to block http ports or something like that). That, and the price, would be the only thinkgs keeping me back.
Of course i would like to have the basic beige one.
I would love to read your thoughts about this. 8)

Quoting: ChrisznixWhile talking about Linux on phones... what do you all think about the new Commodore [Callback](https://commodore.net/callback/)?

Commodore - Sailfish OS collaboration in 2026 was truly unexpected. But it blocks web browsers by default with no way to turn them back on, I get the point but truly inconvenient and possibly a deal breaker.

Quoting: mr-victoryMy dream "phone" would be an x86 PC with phone call functionality and phone like idle battery life lol. My most major complaint regarding phones is not the OS but rather the form factor. Why does everything that can perform a call needs to be small enough to fit in my pocket and stop receiving OS updates after a few years?
Partly why I got hyped so much about the FW 13 Pro. Sure it can't make calls but it is also a framework and the community mods them to death sooooo

I had Waydroid installed on my laptop for some time. I also installed e-mail & WhatsApp and made Waydroid automatically start on system boot up. This unexpectedly help me cut down my phone usage. WhatsApp Android on PC is not the best UX, say sharing a file from desktop to WhatsApp takes many steps. I also sometimes need to dismiss notifications multiple times, once on desktop and once within Android because they are synced. But Waydroid doesn't nuke my battery life from orbit unlike WhatsApp Web. Notifications are rock solid despite lack of Google Play Services, even if I suspend and resume WhatsApp wakes right back up and fetches new messages immediately.
If I didn't have a smartphone I could partially handle stuff with my PC.

Quoting: ChrisznixWhile talking about Linux on phones... what do you all think about the new Commodore [Callback](https://commodore.net/callback/)?

Clearly not for me either way, but I find the decision to block e-mail at the system level but pre-install WhatsApp, and their justification for it, quite dubious. I've seen several companies request WhatsApp contact with workers, and conversely I use e-mail a lot for personal communication that I would want access to on a "no-work" device. If I needed to cut down my Internet/computer use, I would need and want to do it with a much finer brush than this.

Since I am using a pocketcomputer, the question is a bit out of scope to me. Never using something else again. But I am also nobody who has a self-control-doomscroll-issue.

I also hate buttons from the old Nokia bones on. Never was feeling good to touch them. Touchscreen was the only reason I ever wanted a "smartphone". But if you want those, you probably have to build a custom keyboard for your Linuxphones and connect it to the breakout board (or use USB-C/Bluetooth). Otherwise you have to stick with such special devices.

By the way, the high price is caused by the little amount of produced devices and because they cannot sell phones with a lose like camera manufacturers do (as ad for their real products).

Last edited by PlayingOnLinuxphone on 20 Jun 2026 at 3:48 pm UTC

I feel so dumb now, I switched back to Android from iOS in 2024 and now my Android's becoming just as locked-down.
I'm kinda considering a Linux phone, but there's so much crap I need that needs a smartphone.
I need my two-factor, I need my banking, and so on. I don't need social media apps, but I do need my chat apps, and I would very much like to have RCS. (I sure wish the two main standards for texting more advanced than MMS weren't so locked-down.)
I dunno.