Puffin OS FAQ

What is Puffin OS?

Puffin OS is a mobile operating system based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and CloudMosa’s Avatar Technology.

How is Puffin OS different from other existing mobile OSs?

The Avatar Technology makes Puffin OS different from any other mobile OSs. It empowers a device with a powerful avatar from Puffin's cloud servers and use it to access, execute, and display mobile apps on Internet.

With the Avatar technology, Puffin OS can make the same device run faster than other existing mobile OSs and protect the physical device by isolating malicious code in the cloud.

How are apps for Puffin OS different from those for other mobile OSs?

Puffin OS runs web apps that are built using HTML (along with CSS and JavaScript) through the Avatar Technology to execute those web apps fast, safely, and efficiently.

Besides web apps, Puffin OS also runs native Android apps for backward compatibility considerations. In the long run, Puffin OS encourages developers to use open web standards to develop Web Apps. During the transition period, Puffin OS supports selected Android apps that do not have web versions yet for user convenience.

Does Puffin OS have an app store?

Yes. Puffin OS does have the Puffin Web App Store that allows end users to find and install apps easily. But Puffin OS is also an open platform. That means developers use open standards to develop apps and release them freely. Mobile apps on Puffin OS do not require an app store for installation.

How many web apps does Puffin OS have now?

Puffin OS has ability to convert any existing websites into a mobile app form. Since there are more than 1.5 billion websites on the Internet now, Puffin OS potentially has more than 1.5 billion web apps to use, much more than Google Play's 2.1 million and Apple's 1.8 million.

Most major mobile apps also have the mobile web version that can run on Puffin OS now, e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, and so on.

Does Puffin OS have the Google Play Store?

No. Puffin OS does not have Google Play Store on it. Puffin OS encourages developers and users use open web standards for mobile apps. It only allows selected Android apps preinstalled for backward compatibility. The preinstalled Android apps differ for different Puffin OS Phone, mainly based on user needs in different areas.

Will the phone still work without internet connection?

The phone itself will still work, and the local files can still be accessed. Only web apps will not work. We will support offline mode (as defined in PWA standard, as a future milestone) if the web app supports it. However, the cloud acceleration from the Avatar Technology will not be enabled in offline apps.

Will web apps consume more data than native apps?

Web apps do not need to be downloaded and installed before usage. Compared with apps that require frequent updates or are seldom used, web apps actually consume less data than native apps if we include data used by native app installation. For example, the Facebook Apk file is 74MB.

In runtime, web apps on Puffin OS benefit from data compression and resources caching from the Avatar Technology. They use less data than web apps in other browsers.

The data usage patterns between web apps and native apps are very different. Web apps save data because they do not need to be downloaded. Native apps save data if they just display local generated content. In a nutshell, web apps have data saving advantages over frequently updating and web content-oriented apps; e.g., Facebook and Twitter. Native apps have data saving advantages on static apps that don’t need Internet access, e.g., calculator or clock apps.

Do I need a good network connection to use a Puffin OS Phone?

Puffin OS works well on 3G or even 2.5G connection. Users don’t need to have an excellent connection (4G or even 5G) to enjoy web apps on Puffin OS.

How well does Puffin OS work under poor connection quality/unstable network connection?

Depending on the connection quality or stability, the experience of web apps on Puffin OS ranges from being comparable (under am extremely bad connection, e.g. very lossy network, on which virtually no apps requiring network connection could work well) to being much better than using web apps on feature phones. (Thanks to the avatar technology to boost the app by reducing the amount of data to transfer.)

Can I play games on Puffin OS?

Most web-based games (either HTML5 based games or legacy Flash based games) work very well on Puffin OS. There’s no need to worry about game performance on Puffin OS Phone.

Will I be able to install/sideload native Android apps on Puffin OS?

Puffin OS is based on AOSP so it can run Android apps. However, due to the fact that Google apps/Play Framework will not be available, apps depending on Google Play Framework are not supported.

We can definitely preload several "primitive" Android apps on Puffin OS as long as they work well on AOSP without the Google Play Framework.

We have tested WhatsApp, LINE Lite, Telegram, Messenger Lite and can confirm they all work well on Puffin OS. (Actually Telegram mobile web works well, except that it still requires a mobile app to create an account.)

If you must sideload a native Android app on Puffin OS, it is possible to do so via adb commands.

Will Puffin OS support non-touch phone devices?

Currently we only plan to support touchscreen mobile devices. Even though the vision of Puffin OS includes support for desktop scenarios with keyboard and mouse, we don't plan to cover traditional feature phones, as most mobile web apps will not work well on the feature phone UI.

Does Puffin OS mean a bigger lock-in since it requires an internet connection to use, and all data are transferred through Puffin’s Servers?

Not at all.

For internet connection, Puffin OS will allow web apps run in offline mode (as a future milestone) when network connection is unavailable.

For data privacy concerns, we promise no violation on net neutrality. There are no restrictions on the websites users can access on Puffin OS. We do not limit traffic to any specific websites for their corporate benefits.

Does Puffin OS support parental control so that I can let my children use Puffin OS Phone?

Yes. the parental control feature will be provided as a future milestone of Puffin OS.