So I picked up a used OnePlus 6T and decided to go full de-Googled with postmarketOS + Phosh. The goal: a phone that talks exclusively to my self-hosted infrastructure. No Android, no Google, zero cloud subscriptions.
The homeserver foundation: A self-hosted stack running on a home server -> file sync, photo management, calendar/contacts, password manager, task manager, media server, messaging, DNS filtering and a VPN endpoint. All behind a reverse proxy with valid SSL certs and accessible via WireGuard from anywhere.
What I got running on the phone:
- 📡 WireGuard VPN (autostart via systemd)
- 📁 File access via rclone mount to self-hosted cloud storage (autostart)
- 📅 Calendar & contacts via self-hosted CalDAV/CardDAV
- 📧 Mailbox.org via Geary
- 💬 Self-hosted Matrix via Fractal
- 🎵 Self-hosted media server via Finamp
- 🔐 Self-hosted password manager in Chromium
- ✅ Self-hosted task manager as PWA
- 📝 Markdown vault synced via cloud mount
- 📸 Auto-upload to self-hosted photo management every 15 min via cronjob
- 🦊 Firefox with uBlock Origin + Bitwarden extension as default browser
The bad news: Camera works... technically. ISP tuning on the SDM845 is still early days. Let's call it "impressionist photography".
The good news: Everything else just works. Calls, SMS, mobile data, WiFi, Bluetooth – solid. Phosh is genuinely usable as a daily driver UI. And it's a real Linux system – WireGuard, SSH, cron, the works.
The install experience: Rough. pmbootstrap is not for the faint of heart. The WebUSB installer saved the day in the end.
Would I recommend it? If you're comfortable in a terminal, run your own infrastructure, and don't need Instagram-quality photos – absolutely.
AMA.