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I just started experimenting with SailfishOS, a Linux (non-Android) OS for phones. It's got an app store, but since it's not Android the app selection is pretty limited. I was actually wondering if this could be a compromise between full smartphone and full dumbphone.
I am able to run some Android apps, by installing them through F-Droid, like Bitwarden, but it seems like I wouldn't be able to install Facebook I think? Idk. Literally just got this SailfishOS phone from Jolla Devices yesterday.
seems like I wouldn’t be able to install Facebook I think
Bonus.
It's definitely possible. It's possible with a custom Android ROM.
There are are also a few phones in existence now that do basically what you request: https://www.thelightphone.com/lightiii
The fact that you don't want an easy way to install apps outside of the initial deployment but (presumably) want an easy way to update your pre-existing apps would probably give you some trouble because they usually come from the same source. There are ways to blocklist or whitelist packages on some package managers but the specific details depends on the package manager.
Remove the store app and replace it with a daemon which does the updates in background.
If it's a pure Linux phone then apps would be installed through the command line and could be easily auto updated via a script.
So if you don't install a terminal emulator on the phone itself and only access the command line through something like SSH. You wouldn't have to worry about an app store at all ideally?
PostmarketOS with some customizations? I think that should be possible.
Yes, it's possible. Some things might be challenging, like keeping the system up to date without the user having access to an app repository, but it's possible e.g. by running a script as a cron job.
Whether it's a good idea is harder to say. Linux distributions for phones are not especially mature and polished compared to desktop Linux. You might get better advice if you explain why you want to do this and who the intended user is.
It will be hard to find a Linux phone that does those things well as a daily driver.
Does it require a lot of work, like making a specific distro for it?
With phones you are basically making specific distributions for each device anyway.
of course
Yup, easy, mayhap not, but worthwhile things often aren't.