My server is a phone now
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
A developer replaced a Hetzner VPS with a rooted CMF Phone 1 running Termux and chrooted Linux services.
The author migrated personal infrastructure from a VPS to a CMF Phone 1 after rejecting postmarketOS for breaking hardware support. The final setup uses stock Android, Termux as the host, runit for supervision, and rooted Debian chroots (not PRoot) for application compatibility. Services include a remote browser (Surf), a finance tracker, and a screen-sharing app. Ingress uses Cloudflare Tunnel for HTTP and WebSocket-wrapped TLS for Surf. The phone provides battery-backed uptime, Wi-Fi, 5G, and 8 GB RAM. The entire configuration is Ansible-managed from a Git repository, with secrets derived via 1Password SSH agent signing.
What commenters are saying
Commenters focused on battery safety: leaving a phone plugged in as a server risks fire from swollen cells and long-term degradation. Several noted that lithium-ion batteries degrade fastest when kept at 100% charge and warm temperatures. Suggestions included limiting charge to 80%, using a smart plug to cycle power, or removing the battery entirely, though some phones refuse to boot without one. A few debated whether bypass-charging circuitry or time-regulated supplies mitigate the risk. One commenter preferred the title "My phone is a server now" for clarity, while another praised the article as "liberating."