I’ve heard about this, but never tried it. Has anyone here done it?
For that matter, has anyone removed iOS from an Apple phone?
You may want to start with XDA - https://www.xda-developers.com/
Go to the forums
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Makes me wonder, why he is posting this here?
Discussions about jail breaking fall into the piracy realm, and are not allowed here
I’ve been corrected by @silex - technically this discussion is actually on the safe side of the line legally, although definitely still a gray area. I’ve tentatively re-opened the thread
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I was surprised at allegations of potentially illegal activity. Certainly for Android phones there is no requirement to use a pre-installed OS, and android is open source anyway, so a spin off is still legal.
I can’t speak to Apple phones, but I’d be surprised if installing a 3rd party OS was against the rules, provided that it doesn’t infringe Apple’s copyright.
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What do you mean by “remove android from a smartphone”?
Do you mean turning on a phone and it boots into the bootloader because it has no OS installed? Technically it could be done (I think i may have done it back in the day) but I don’t think anyone has invested time in trying to get a phone in that state as it doesn’t serve a purpose.
If you mean something else then please explain further.
Not sure why it would be illegal to remove software from a device you bought. Last I checked it is well within legal bounds to modify your own property as you see fit, as long as you don’t try to use said product to connect to services in ways to bypass specific protections online. You also destroy any warranty you have, but if you are already thinking of modifying it then you probably don’t care about that part.
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Let’s move past the legality argument, as that was just a mistake on my part, and focus on the topic at hand, thanks!
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Or… just follow the link from the second post ?? Because it is properly different for different vendors and models… For example xda-developers → category → tutorials: How to unroot you Android phone… or (my o my that would be an idea) search for it on a non goo… search engine to be sure you find something what a big company maybe don’t want you to find ?? And then you could also use your phone model in the search to get a hit…
Well no, obviously the ultimate intention would be to get it to run something OTHER than Android. There are quite a few Linux phone distros, but I can’t remember their names at the moment though 
Actually Android is based on linux…
Wikipedia: Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the [Linux kernel] and other [open-source] software…
You may have alook here:
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-smartphone-operating-systems/
As someone has pointed out, android is based on linux.
But the answer to your question is yes, it is possible to remove Google’s version of Android from your phone and install something else.
Usually this is replaced by custom versions of android where people have given it a new skin or tweaked certain stuff under the hood. This is because drivers can be reused, rather than people trying to write drivers scratch, so stability and compatibility will be better.
You could have a none Android based OS, but getting working drivers will be the key hurdle.
Hopefully this answers your question
Yes someone…
Actually the drivers are the problem… they are part of the installed OS… if you delete the current android… they are gone… so the new install can only be sucessfull if some developer reverse engineierd (?) them on this specific model and it is mostly only done for models where the rooting can be done easyly and/or they are cheap (because you can brick it while doing…) or… and the vendor doesn’t share the driver sources… it’s their secret (and also for security reasons…).
I want an OS that is NOT Google - that’s the entire point. I remembered one of the names:
If you own the phone you can do what you want with it. If you have another OS to put on it then just install it as per instructions. However, if you are making payments on a phone, the phone company owns that phone until fully paid for. The phone companies lock the phones and it is illegal to violate that lock as that phone is not fully your property yet.
Keep in mind, some phone features may require certain parts of a specific OS to work properly. Another OS may not be configured for all the hardware in your phone.
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Apart from all legal talk in this thread, for which this is a consent: “If your case is illegal don’t do it”…
I have one device with LineageOS running instead of Android and had also installed the same OS in a phone from a friend… And I can only tell that it’s not easy!
But if you wanna try, make a backup of your device just before anything. Then read everything about your device’s hardware, and check if your desired OS is compatible with your hardware. Follow the instructions to the letter, but verify how recent the instructions may be and make sure that your device is in the ‘considered’ default state (if it’s not, it might well mean that you’re are infringing the law!).
The process can be “simple” (if you have the perfect OS version for your device), but mostly it is not.
Most of the times, you’ll need to compile the kernel with specific drivers for your device, and depending on your hardware, you might need to compile the drivers with some minor tweaks in the code.
In the end, if everything has gone great, you’ll still have the software compability issue. Most apps require the Android environment to work (appstore, googleIDs, etc). So unless you only use the device for apps that work well in it, or apps that you developed, I’d not recomend the swap.
ps: Oh!!.. and mind your warranty! most warranties are lost with such actions.
First step is to check if the manufacturer provides a method allowing you to unlock the boot loader on your phone. Pixel phones from Google are the easiest and are able to run several different OSs including straight up Linux, but these are pretty bad compared to Android, mostly driver issues. I have two perfectly usable phones, but one manufacturer (Xiaomi) provides no method to unlock the boot loader any more, the other (Huawei) never did. Sad, as they are pretty good phones at their original price.
If you can unlock your boot loader, you will need to check if there is a version of Android that runs competently on your phone, though the list of these phones is depressingly short. Your best option is probably to buy a used Pixel or a used Samsung model that is supported. Don’t bother with a Pine phone, which from my point of view is the saddest, but hope springs eternal.
That said, if your are not comfortable or have a bit of experience hacking hardware, you are in for a harrowing and often frightening journey. I managed to convert my beloved Asus Transformer into a remote terminal for my Creality Ender 3, but the machine is so old, it was an absolute nightmare. Luckily this machine has a bit of a cult following amongst hackers and a kind gentleman set up a remote server allowing me to spoof an unlock code.