One thing I can't stand about conventional smartphones, from Android to Apple and pretty much all of them these days, is the practice of hiding or forcing certain software in the device either for the sake of a company or that of the government. There's been news in recent years that some devices made it impossible to uninstall Facebook if you don't want to use it: Obviously there's no such issue with the Pinephone thank goodness... I take it there isn't even a Facebook app to begin with, you probably use that from a web browser like on a normal computer the way it's meant to be.

But I was also wondering about things some pesky governments have been pushing smartphone manufacturers to include in their devices. I know encryption backdoors aren't a risk thankfully; They haven't gotten their way with that and never will... especially not on open-source devices where it wouldn't even be possible to maintain them, people would find out and the community wouldn't accept it thus replacing any compromised software packages.

On the other side, there was talk many years ago about the government of South Korea doing the extremely creepy thing of trying to force phone manufacturers to install tracking software on every teenage user in the country, even threatening teens or their parents with arrest if the state's spying software is removed from any device. I take it Koreans can still buy Pinephones despite this, which of course don't come infested with such a disgusting product thank the gods.

Another big example closer to home is an alert system that was discussed a few years ago if I'm not mistaken; Something that allowed authorities to track where your phone is located, and if you're in an area where a calamity is happening they'd have the ability to force a message on your device and you couldn't disable the thing. As an optional service I'm definitely not against it, quite the contrary... but forced and hardcoded into my device, no way I don't want any of that stuff.

So other than compliance with certain radio frequencies and normal technical stuff: Is all top level software in the device free from services or practices that can't be disabled, based on the desire of any authority other that the user of each device? I don't doubt it should be so but asking just to ensure there's no such risk.

To be clear: I'm in no way thinking of not getting a Pinephone based on the answer to this question, nor have anything against the creators of this beautiful device if the answer happens to be yes (especially if it's out of necessity). I generally encourage others to do the same and be constructive on the matter, for angry social justice only ruins every good cause it starts out being against without doing anything to achieve the goal of stopping the original issue in the end.

So with increasing discussion on the matter, I wanted to at least know the truth for my curiosity: Does the Pinephone rely on parts produced in China, particularly in regions or by manufacturers suspected of using slave labor? And if so, is there no way to replace some of those supply chains, without having to sacrifice the amazing price the Pinephone is offered to us at?



In recent months it's been uncovered that a lot of smartphone parts, including those used by companies in the West, were created using slave labor in China... because that's somehow still a thing in the 21th century because CCP. Apple in particular has come under fire after it was uncovered they knowingly use parts made by enslaved Uighurs in Xinjiang... namely for the fact that they've been actively trying to hide it, whereas hardened Apple fanboys also refuse to hear of it or anything that could make the company less holy in their eyes. Like I said I won't blame the PP team whatever the case here, but believe this should be known if it affects us too so we may think of ways to discourage it, for instance by supporting suppliers that have the same prices but don't rely on medieval practices to keep them low.

Hi team,

Can you please advise is the POE on the H64 B is 802.3af/at? Does it come built in. I can’t see the detail on the wiki or the store.

Hi team,

Can you please advise is the POE on the Rock64 is 802.3af/at? Does it come built in. I can’t see the detail on the wiki or the store.

Question: What are the community intentions about the size of the Pine64.
Question: Will it change size periodicaly (design crazyness), are remain stable over time.
Question: Will I be abble to keep the device for at least 5 years.

I dont fill like interested anymore being force to change device every two years (800$) because of design changes that brings up size modifications in the physical stack (sandards or what ever).

Thank you!

I'm working on a project to make a flashing tool for pinephone keyboard's firmware, and to make a FOSS firmware compilable by sdcc.

My notes are here: https://xnux.eu/log/#035 (+ some general notes on the current keyboard design)

Thoughts (and prayers ) welcome.

After receiving my 2nd Pinephone recently, I noticed that while wf-recorder works flawlessly on Phosh, it doesn't work on PlaMo.
On PlaMo I'm getting:

Loving the Pinebook Pro on i3 Manjaro, but the power button is too close to the backspace and I keep hitting it.

I've tried the two things in this guide: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...wer+button

1. Editing the logind.conf file
2.  this fancy commmand : systemd-inhibit --what=handle-power-key --who=i3 --why="accidental strike defense" sleep infinity

Neither of these two things worked and I've not found a solution on the manjaro forum. 


Any advice?

i have to limit util-linux to version 2.36-r0 (apk add util-linux=2.36-r0) to prevent apk from aborting upgrade.  Otherwise it tries to upgrade to util-linux-2.36.2-r2, which results in a conflict.  I had several similar upgrade issues which I was able to correct by removing obsolete programs; however, I have failed to locate the program requiring util-linux-2.36-r0.  Has anyone else had or solved this conflict?

Basically unused. 1 month old. Running Mobian. All working as well as expected and battery takes full charge.
Hoped I could use it as daily phone but it's not to my liking.
I supported the project by buying and now it seems like an expensive ornament so looking to sell in the hope someone can make better use and actually contribute to the project.
I've installed the OS, connected to wifi, checked out some apps and updated the OS. That's all I've done with it. As I said, basically unused.
Happy to post in UK. £165 inc tracked postage. All customs duties already paid on initial purchase. Available now.
All original items - box, lead, hub connector, leaflets etc. As new.
DM me if interested.