CalyxOS is an

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

-based

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

for select

smartphones A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as mult ...

, foldables and tablets with mostly

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a Software license, license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term ...

software. It is produced by the

Calyx Institute The Calyx Institute is a New York City, New York-based 501(c)(3) research and education nonprofit organization formed to make privacy and digital security more accessible. It was founded in 2010 by Nicholas Merrill, Micah Anderson, and Kobi Snit ...

as part of its mission to "defend online privacy, security and accessibility." CalyxOS preserves the Android security model, using Android's Verified Boot system of cryptographic signing of the operating system, and running with a locked bootloader. CalyxOS also features an installer that guides the user through the process of unlocking and then re-locking the bootloader.

History

The Calyx Institute annual reports state CalyxOS was publicly launched during their 2018–2019 fiscal year. Inspiration included Tails and

Qubes OS Qubes OS is a security-focused desktop operating system that aims to provide security through isolation. Isolation is provided through the use of virtualization technology. This allows the segmentation of applications into secure virtual mach ...

, and goals were said to be "completely open source", removing proprietary Google tracking, and including apps Tor, Signal and CalyxVPN for increased privacy. CalyxOS supports select

Google Pixel Google Pixel is a brand of portable Consumer electronics, consumer electronic devices developed by Google that run either ChromeOS or the Pixel version of the Android (operating system), Android operating system. The main line of Pixel products ...

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

and

Fairphone Fairphone is a Dutch electronics manufacturer that designs and produces smartphones and headphones. It aims to minimise the ethical and environmental impact of its devices by using recycled, fairtrade and conflict-free materials, maintaini ...

devices, While offering "extended support" for some older Google Pixel devices and the SHIFT SHIFT6mq. Around April 2022, CalyxOS announced support for the

Fairphone 4 Fairphone 4 is a smartphone designed and marketed by Fairphone. It succeeds the Fairphone 3+ and was succeeded by the Fairphone 5. It was announced on 30 September 2021, and was available for order from 25 October 2021 to December 2024. Major ...

OnePlus 8T The OnePlus 8T is an Android-based smartphone designed and marketed by OnePlus. It is the sixteenth phone released by OnePlus, and was announced on 14 October 2020, and released on 16 October 2020. A variant of this phone is sold by T-Mobile U ...

, 9, and 9 Pro. However, in May 2022, CalyxOS announced OnePlus builds were pulled because the bootloader could no longer be relocked on newer device

firmware In computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...

. In March 2024, CalyxOS added support for the

Fairphone 5 Fairphone 5 is a smartphone designed and marketed by Fairphone, following its Fairphone 4. Announced on 30 August 2023, the Fairphone 5 has been shipping since 14 September 2023. As of August 2023, the company was focused on Western Europe wit ...

Software

CalyxOS ships with

MicroG MicroG (typically styled as microG) is a free and open-source implementation of proprietary Google libraries that serves as a replacement for Google Play Services on the Android operating system. It is maintained by the German developer Marv ...

as an open-source alternative to the

Google Mobile Services Google Mobile Services (GMS) is a collection of proprietary applications and application programming interfaces (APIs) services from Google that are typically pre-installed on the majority of Android devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and ...

, including

Mozilla Location Service Mozilla Location Service (MLS) was an open geolocation service that allowed devices to find their position by processing received signals of publicly observable radio transmitters: cellular network antennae (and their Cell IDs), Wi-Fi access po ...

s as an optional replacement to the location services provided by Google, but gives the user the option to disable microG and its location services.

Reception

In October 2020, Moritz Tremmel reviewed CalyxOS. A month later, Tremmel explained why he preferred CalyxOS over

LineageOS LineageOS is an Open-source software, open source Android (operating system), Android operating system for smartphones, tablet computer, tablets, and set-top boxes. It is community-developed and serves as the successor to CyanogenMod, from which ...

. A year later in September 2021, Tremmel further explained how CalyxOS was different from other ROMs because it did not require as much "fiddling". Rahul Nambiampurath, writing for MakeUseOf in March 2021, termed CalyxOS, "

ne of the NE, Ne or ne may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Neutral Evil, an alignment in the American role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' * New Edition, an American vocal group * Nicomachean Ethics, a collection of ten books by Greek philosopher Ar ...

best ndroidROMs for privacy ... offers the perfect middle ground between convenience and privacy". In August 2021, Android Authority wrote CalyxOS "puts privacy and security into the hands of everyday users." In 2022, the book ''c't Sicher ins Netz: How to block out monitors and attackers'', said "CalyxOS is one of the youngest custom ROMs, it will only celebrate its second birthday in summer 2022. With a built-in Datura firewall, VPN and Cloudflare DNS, Calyx promises more security than some other mobile systems." In 2023, CalyxOS was the one alternative phone operating system recommended by Carey Parker in the book ''Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons''.

References

{{Mobile operating systems Android (operating system) software ARM operating systems Computing platforms Custom Android firmware Embedded Linux distributions Free and open-source Android software Linux distributions Linux distributions without systemd Mobile Linux Operating system families Software using the Apache license

History

Software

Reception

See also

References