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I had the same thought. Got an older laptop laying around and might try to fiddle with it.
The issue that arises for me is electricity cost. A smartphone doesn’t have a fan and I trimmed for efficiency, unlike many other devices.
What do you want to use the cluster for?
I get that, using phones as servers is a pain because of cooling, but I was thinking maybe wire a fan to a custom made 3d printed rack, and also create a script for batteries, so the phones are not charging not stop.
Creating a cluster could help me self host more websites I create as I want to move away from using hosting services, I do have 2 mini pcs as servers right now, but they are kinda shit.
Creating a cluster could help me self host more websites I create as I want to move away from using hosting services
Just jeep an eye on electricity prices. This is probably not an issue with a phone server, but for me, hosting at home with a decent server PC costs more per month just in electricity compared to using a cheap VPS. Continuous draw of 50W 24/7 is ~37kWh per month which can cost $15 or more in California.
I do still host some things at home, but all my sites are on VPSes. The enterprise hardware and fast, data center grade internet connection is worth it for me. Some of my VPSes are only $40/year.
Completely depends on where you are too, my NAS uses ~30W, which means ~22kWh in 30 days, which translated into local electricity costs are 53SEK or $5.39.
It has enough CPU (Intel Celeron J4125) to run my production loads, RAID1 16TB drives and 18GB RAM so it successfully hosts DNS, DHCP, Jellyfin, Vikunja and network shares. And I get the knowledge that it is all local and under my control.
Sounds like a good idea! I read somewhere, that you can also launch Docker via Termux on Android. Just in case Postmarket OS won't work.
Hardware Haven had a go at it and made an interesting video covering this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBOoDffWF0Y
I would instead look into old Chromeboxes. They have about the same compute but don't have a battery and can typically run mainline Linux (assuming they are supported by mrchromebox)
I would root it and use Droidspaces. With all postmarketOS pros, not properly battle tested custom Linux ROM is not something I would use for any kind of hosted service.
Droidspaces is nice, give it a try.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, automates assignment of IPs when connecting to a network |
| DNS | Domain Name Service/System |
| NAS | Network-Attached Storage |
| SSD | Solid State Drive mass storage |
| VPS | Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting) |
[Thread #109 for this comm, first seen 21st Sep 2026, 07:00] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
It can work as long as the phone has an option to limit the battery charge to 80% or less. Keeping the battery fully charged for an extended amount of time will damage it and may even cause it to puff up.
Yeah, I think creating a custom script for it won’t be an issue, for example when battery hits 80% it stops charging, and resumes charging when it hits 40%
I have an ESP32 based switch between the power and my tablets which turn on /off the power between 80% and 20% using an automation in Home Assistant:
https://devices.esphome.io/devices/sinilink-xy-wfusb-usb-switch-relay/
Been working well for a couple of years now, but still, the batteries in the tablets are gonna be the thing that determines how long this will work for.
I'm not sure about the Note, but the Samsung Galaxy S series phones have an option to limit charging to 85%.
Cycling the battery is a good idea too though. I used to do that with a wall mounted tablet and a smart plug, until I swapped it for a Lenovo tablet that has this as a built-in feature
I think it's a very good idea for reusing old, unused phones and make them useful again. No need to buy a phone for that.
This is the point where having a 24/7 up server is not the smartest thing to do and a device that is sometimes turned off is fine
