Would it be possible to dumb down a linux phone?
Regardless of the distribution, would it be possible to have a phone that can be simplified to include only the features you want? For example, I would only want a calendar, notes, a calculator, calls and messages. I wouldn't want a browser, an app store or any other way to easily install them. Is this possible on a Linux mobile distro? Does it require a lot of work, like making a specific distro for it?
2 replies
Yes, you can just install the apps you want, then remove the ones you don't, like the browser or app store. Though if you care about updates (app, security) you may want a script that does that for you
It's easy to uninstall software you don't want, but making it difficult to install those things would be tricky without making it difficult to install everything. I mean, you could remove the default repo, but then you wouldn't be getting system updates. And you could still download and install unwanted types of packages from Github or somewhere like that, unless you got rid of your package manager altogether. Is the phone for a child or someone you don't trust not to install random things?