Potential apps
These are applications which already exist for Linux and could be reused in postmarketOS with little to no adjustment.
| Application | License | Type | Package link (if available) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2048 | GPL3 | Sliding tile puzzle game. Touch-friendly. | Alpine repo |
| axolotl | GPL3 | complete cross-platform Signal client, compatible with the Ubuntu Phone and more. | |
| brickman ui | GPL2 | Simple retro-themed touch UI written in vala | |
| Calligra Gemini[1] | GPL2 | Word processor and presentation application designed for touchscreen devices. Part of the KDE Calligra suite. | |
| Dillo | GPL3 | Extremely lightweight web browser, using very little RAM. Not touch-optimised but can display most mobile websites well (no HTML5 support), and hence may be the only usable browser on older devices, besides Netsurf. Uses ~20MB RAM. | Alpine repo |
| Dino | GPL3 | Modern Jabber/XMPP Client using GTK+/Vala https://dino.im/ | PostmarketOS repo |
| drawing | GPL3 | Basic image editor for the GNOME desktop. Also designed for GNU/Linux smartphones. | Flatpak |
| Ekiga | GPL2 | VoIP and video conferencing application for GNOME | |
| Gnome web (epiphany) | GPL3 | The web browser for the GNOME desktop. Purism is working on making it phone-friendly for their Librem 5 phone. | PostmarketOS repo |
| Evince (reader) | GPL2 | GTK3 document viewer (for PDFs and other formats). Supports highlighting and is touch-friendly. | PostmarketOS repo |
| Gajim | GPL3 | An XMPP client written in Python with Gtk+3.0 | manual installation |
| GNU Ring | GPL3 | Peer-to-peer messaging client and protocol. No registration required. | |
| GNOME Weather | GPL2 | GTK3-based simple weather application. Touch-friendly. | Alpine repo |
| GNOME Maps | GPL2 | GTK3-based simple maps application with routing. Reasonably touch-friendly. | Alpine repo |
| GNOME Notes | GPL3/LGPL | Scales perfectly and is very touch-friendly. | flatpak |
| GNOME Files | LGPL | GTK3-based file manager. | Alpine repo |
| GNOME Cheese | GPL2 | Photobooth-style camera app. "Fullscreen mode" is touch-friendly. | Alpine repo |
| GNOME Photos | GPL3 | Photo gallery application. Reasonably touch-friendly. | Alpine repo |
| GNOME Usage | GPL3 | System monitor. Purism made a mobile config for the Librem 5. | Alpine repo |
| Index FM | GPL2 | Touchscreen file manager for Plasma Mobile | |
| Kaidan | GPL3 | Kirigami-based (QT) XMPP application | Alpine repo |
| KCalc | GPL2 | Qt-based application. Made for desktop but also suitable for touchscreen use. | Alpine repo |
| KDE Marble (maps) [2] | LGPL | Touch-optimised mobile application. X11 and Wayland support. | Alpine repo |
| links2 | GPL2 | Simple web browser for saving on data consumption. Can be resized to a phone's aspect ratio when running in graphical mode. | Alpine repo |
| Liri Browser | GPL3 | QtWebEngine-based browser built with complete touch (including smartphone) support, Material Design, and support for coloured-site windows | Flatpak |
| Liri Calculator | GPL3 | Simple Qt5 calculator using Material Design, with touch support | Flatpak |
| Liri Text | GPL3 | Simple Qt5 text and code editor using Material Design, with touch support | Flatpak |
| LLs Video Player | GPL2 | Touch-based Qt Wayland application. Ported to Plasma Mobile. | |
| Marker | GPL3 | Markdown editor. Very touch-friendly. | Flatpak |
| Maya (calendar) | GPL3 | GTK3 based calendar application from Elementary OS. Supports the CalDAV sync protocol. Resizes well to a phone's aspect ratio although a few dialog boxes may not be accessible easily. | |
| Midori | LGPL2.1 | Fairly lightweight web browser, using very little RAM. Touch-capable but not touch-optimised and not hardware-accelerated. It can display websites well, with HTML5 support. Uses ~40MB RAM. | Alpine repo |
| Modest Mail | BSD and LGPL | Lightweight, touch-friendly email client designed for Nokia Maemo devices. (Not updated since 2010. Their source link is broken, but the code can be found here.) | |
| MoNav | GPL3 | Lightweight touchscreen Qt-based map application (using OSM). Includes routing. | |
| Navit | GPL2, LGPL | Open source GTK+ and SDL based car navigation software. Uses OSM, Garmin and other map sources. | |
| Netsurf | GPL2 | Extremely lightweight web browser, using very little RAM. Not touch-optimised but can display most mobile websites well (no HTML5 support). Uses ~20MB RAM. | Alpine repo |
| Photos | LGPL2.1 | Photo gallery and editor for Elementary OS. Originally a fork of Shotwell. Resizes well to a phone's aspect ratio although a few dialog boxes may not be accessible easily. | |
| Peruse | LGPL2 | Comic book reader with touch support, for plasma mobile (in development) | PostmarketOS repo |
| Public Transport | GPL3 | Real time information for public transportation (currently) in Germany | Flatpak |
| QTodoTxt2 | GPL3 | todo.txt GUI, not mobile optimized, but scales well | |
| QTox | GPL3 | Peer-to-peer (Tox) messaging client (other FOSS clients also available) | |
| QtWebBrowser | GPL3 | Lightweight and touch-friendly web browser based on qt (source [3]). | PostmarketOS repo |
| RetroArch | GPL3 | Frontend for emulators, game engines and media players. Can be touchscreen friendly with a few tweaks (see wiki page here). | Alpine repo |
| Spice-up | GPL3 | Simple presentation program made for Elementary OS. Already very touchscreen friendly. | |
| sphone | GPL3 | sphone is a GTK+ based phone application for linux. It uses ofono for telephony backend. | |
| Thunar (file manager) | GPL2 | Default file manager on Xfce4 (GTK3-based). Reasonably touch friendly when menu bar and status bar are disabled. | Alpine repo |
| Timetrack | GPL3 | Timetracker for GNOME. Touch-friendly. | Flatpak |
| Transmission | GPL2/GPL3 | BitTorrent client. Main interface is touch friendly but settings is not. | Alpine repo |
| Tuxemon | GPL2 | Monster fighting RPG. Capture and battle monsters against others! (more games) | |
| Ubports Morph browser | GPL3 | Morph browser (previously known as webbrowser-app) is a lightweight touch-friendly web browser tailored for Ubuntu, based on the Oxide web engine. |
Apps that only work with proprietary services
 |
Using proprietary networks takes away your freedom, consider not using these altogether (e.g. by replacing Skype/WhatsApp with XMPP or Matrix). |
| Application | License | Type | Package link (if available) |
|---|---|---|---|
| caprine (FB Messenger) | MIT | X11 application (Electron web wrapper). Touch-friendly | |
| cchat-gtk | GPL3 | A Gtk frontend for cchat, a set of interfaces (currently only for Discord) | |
| FreeTube | GPL3 | Electron-based YouTube client | x64 tar |
| ghetto-skype | GPL3 | X11 application (Electron web wrapper). Touch-optimisation and notifications support. | |
| IGDM | MIT | Electron-based Instagram direct message client | AppImage |
| ramme (Instagram) | MIT | X11 application (Electron web wrapper). Touch-friendly | |
| Signal Desktop | GPL3 | Electron based client for the Signal messaging protocol | |
| Flare | GPL3 | An unofficial Signal GTK client | Flatpak |
| smtube (YouTube) [4] | GPL | X11 application (Native Qt5) with some touch-optimisation | |
| telegram-desktop | GPL3 | X11 application (Native) | |
| Viber Desktop for Linux | Closed source | Official Desktop Linux Viber client (x86) | AppImage |
| YakYak | MIT | Open source Google Hangouts client | Flatpak (x86) |
See also
Other Mobile Linux platforms
- Ubuntu Touch app store - Some of these applications may be reusable on pmOS
- Maemo packages - These applications should be reusable in pmOS, and integrate well with the Hildon UI
- Meego/Sailfish/Nemo applications - Will require some reworking for pmOS
- LuneOS apps - Will require some reworking for pmOS
- Mobile GNU/Linux Apps - A similar list
Other frameworks
- box86 - Allows applications compiled for x86 Linux to be executed on ARM devices
- Anbox - Under-construction Android compatibility layer
- Darling - Darwin/macOS compatibility layer for Linux
- oFono - Open Source Telephony Framework
- Ginn - Allows non-multitouch-aware applications to support multitouch gestures making a lot more applications usable on a touchscreen. [5]
- MicroEmulator - Runs J2ME MIDP feature phone applications on Linux devices. Can be used to run apps e.g. Opera Mini and Facebook, for the pmOS feature phone idea.
- touchHLE - Only supports Windows, macOS, and Android for now, may support Linux in the future. Is a 32 bit iOS app compatibility layer made originally for games, may support other apps in the future.
- [maemo.org/packages/view/preenv/ preenv] - A webOS compatibility layer for Meamo, may be worth investigating.