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jordand 2 hours ago [-]
I've been running GrapheneOS for 7 months now and I'm not going back. When I bought my Pixel 10 last year, I wasn't actually planning on trying Graphene for a while....until I noticed Google had force bundled a 'Wicked For Good' movie promo theme with the latest security update.
sivers 2 hours ago [-]
Ha! Me too! Exact same. Bought a Pixel 10. Intended to do the default Android for a while. But it was filled with ads for “Wicked” which had me looking at my phone with a sneer on my face I couldn't erase - as if someone had smeared feces all over it and threw it on my bed.
So I jumped straight to GrapheneOS, which was way easier and less extreme than I had been warned. So beautifully minimal, with no crap. Now my phone feels like a simple Linux (Void/Arch) PC. So wonderful.
jordand 2 hours ago [-]
We took control, we're keeping control
joe_mamba 47 minutes ago [-]
"took control"?
Brother, you didn't take anything here, you still depend on Google good will allowing the pixel devices to be just open enough so that Graphene can be installed on them, but that can always change in the future devices on a whim or even now via e-fuses on the Tensor SoC.
Google is the one in control here giving you the temporary illusion of control. Kinda like the people plugged into the Matrix. But they can afford to play the long game over years or decades till they monopolize the market and kill any small competitors from becoming threats, and then rug-pull you.
For you to be in control you need a (almost)fully FOSS phone, from HW, to modem, to EFI-boot stack, not just the OS and the temporary permission from the manufacturer of a closed source HW stack to replace their OS.
jordand 3 minutes ago [-]
Your point is valid and yeah, it's a never-ending fight just to keep the control we have. Things like the Play Protect API and loads of Android apps being coupled to Play Services is it's own big challenge we're stuck with just to stay within the Android ecosystem
matheusmoreira 7 minutes ago [-]
You're not wrong, but we gotta do what we can and take every advantage we can get.
singpolyma3 38 minutes ago [-]
TBF if Google locked down the devices like that it would be a GPL violation. Not their first or whatever but still, there's a reason for them not to do that beside "being nice"
yjftsjthsd-h 4 minutes ago [-]
Would it? IANAL, but AIUI the only GPL component is Linux on GPLv2 which requires providing code but not giving the ability to install it
StrLght 36 minutes ago [-]
And how many options are there exactly? How many of them are capable of at least making and receiving a phone call without any issues 99% of the time?
While I agree with your general sentiment, I feel necessary to acknowledge that it's just not there (yet?). GrapheneOS is a great option if you want to have a fully working and secure device.
cluckindan 18 minutes ago [-]
There is no FOSS modem. The baseband is a separate computer operating on a lower level than the OS.
Your provider can run arbitrary code there.
genxy 36 minutes ago [-]
Let them eat steak!
genpfault 16 minutes ago [-]
What's the app data backup/restore story on GrapheneOS?
My understanding is that even with pseudo-D2D (device-to-device) transfers Seedvault doesn't backup everything[1].
Are there more-functional, non-root, local (non-cloud) alternatives?
When I got a new phone last year, I purposely got a Pixel (open box 9a) to put GrapheneOS on it immediately. Been happy living the de-Googled Android life since.
I was sad that I had to go through the OOBE setup on the stock image to unlock the bootloader. At least it doesn't force an internet connection and login, unlike Windows.
sowbug 1 hours ago [-]
If it's any consolation, the wipe* requirement before unlocking the bootloader is generally a good thing, even if it's inconvenient. Someone who is targeting your personal data gets access to your encrypted phone, either by stealing it or in an evil maid situation. They unlock the bootloader and install privileged code that helps them recover the symmetric encryption key or intercept your PIN. Then they either have your data or wait for you to enter the PIN. In theory recovery shouldn't be possible (access to the key depends on a secure element that rate limits brute-force attacks), but security bugs do happen. Wiping* your data before removing the bootloader's signing requirement is an extra layer of protection.
*It doesn't actually wipe your data; it just destroys the symmetric key, making the data permanently unreadable.
qurren 1 hours ago [-]
Is it possible to install basic Google apps like Gmail, Calendar, Maps, Drive without googlifying the whole phone?
I'm not looking to fully de-Google but I want Google as apps and not my OS.
drnick1 8 minutes ago [-]
> I'm not looking to fully de-Google but I want Google as apps and not my OS.
This is entirely possible as other posters have explained. But I think it kind of defeats the point of Graphene, at least somewhat. Google is already profiling every aspect of your life by reading your emails, files, calendar, location, etc? In that case, OS access becomes moot.
I think that GrapheneOS makes most sense as part of a broader move towards privacy-respecting alternatives. I see the sandboxed Play Services as something useful perhaps in a secondary user profile, for the odd commercial app required and only available from the Play Store.
hxorr 1 hours ago [-]
I believe one of Graphene OS's main features is that they allow you to run google play services in a sandboxed environment, so you can run your standard google apps but without the standard android deal where google play services has unfetteted access to all your phone's location/data/etc info
hiitsmyaccount 1 hours ago [-]
Yes, you install the Google Play store via the GrapheneOS App Store. The OS comes with like 5 apps out of the box. The rest is up to you.
Biggest caveats that I've encountered: tap to pay via Google Wallet is a no go, Android Auto can be flaky, MDM managed work profiles don't work at the moment, and some apps that use the Google Play integrity API fail to validate and refuse to work (I've only encountered one app that fails, and plenty others that work.)
In general, I'm moving towards a de-Googled life and GrapheneOS is a great entrypoint towards that.
y2244 1 hours ago [-]
Tap to pay is mostly NFC? So is there an alternative app?
jordand 7 minutes ago [-]
Curve Pay has worked well for me. Only good alternative as it doesn't depend on Google Play Services too
wolvoleo 56 minutes ago [-]
Yes you can use Curve pay
vrganj 58 minutes ago [-]
There's Curve Pay in Europe. In the US, I'm not sure.
Yeah, I'm hanging on with GrapheneOS (on a Pixel) until their native-hardware (Motorola) phones come out, which hopefully will solve this. As I understand it, third-party (banks and so forth) app vendors have to accept their security attestation, which they don't right now, but (I hope) will with Motorola behind them.
palata 13 minutes ago [-]
Microsoft Authenticator works on my GrapheneOS (not rooted).
Sarkie 1 hours ago [-]
Google Authenticator works?
gonzalohm 54 minutes ago [-]
I think Google authenticator implements the standard OTP which lots of apps (including keepass) should support.
Microsoft uses their own propietary crap
saintfire 29 minutes ago [-]
I use a basic OTP password instead of Microsoft's ironically less secure (see SMS as 2FA) with my work MS account. Perhaps your org disabled it but it is definitely something a Microsoft account can do.
idiotsecant 1 hours ago [-]
Sounds like your work has been using your personal phone for free
Randomno 24 minutes ago [-]
> Wicked For Good
Is this an antithesis to Don't Be Evil?
phreack 45 minutes ago [-]
That Motorola phone that lets you install Graphene can not come soon enough. Pixel phones are not sold worldwide so it feels like they're gatekeeping security. I know that's not the case really, but there's very few ways to successfully degoogle otherwise.
Still boggles my mind the fact Google doesn't sell their phones worldwide. Obtaining a Pixel has proven to be quite difficult for me.
okanat 43 minutes ago [-]
AFAIK Motorola only lets certain geographical regions to unlock bootloader, not everywhere.
tasty_freeze 2 hours ago [-]
I've been using Graphene on my Pixel 7a for about a year and I'm happy I made the switch. For sure it is a bit rougher than using Google's OS, but not enough to make me regret it.
The main things I miss are (1) when I'm entering text I can't swipe left and right on the space bar to scroll the cursor left and right, and (2) the texting app doesn't just attach reaction emojis to a message -- it quotes the whole message and prefixes it with something like "Marty like blahblahblah". When there is a whole family text chain it isn't uncommon to see the same message 7 times as various people react to the original message.
Anyway, I looked at Google's Android 17 blog and yikes:
"With deep integration between hardware, software and AI, we’re transforming Android from an operating system to an intelligence system. It's about delivering new helpful experiences that anticipate user needs, and it brings more opportunities for engagement with your apps."
> The main things I miss are (1) when I'm entering text I can't swipe left and right on the space bar to scroll the cursor left and right,
GrapheneOS is compatible with the vast, vast majority of Android apps, so you can use GBoard or FUTO keyboard (which I recently switched to from GBoard), to get the ideal experience.
FUTO recently revamped their swipe to type model and it's now more accurate than GBoard in their testing. I am a huge swipe type person, so this is what held me in GBoard's clutches, but now I'm free.
The dataset is open source and anyone can add to it if you're on a mobile device here: https://swipe.futo.org
> the texting app doesn't just attach reaction emojis to a message -- it quotes the whole message and prefixes it with something like "Marty like blahblahblah". When there is a whole family text chain it isn't uncommon to see the same message 7 times as various people react to the original message.
Google messages, the experience you get on PixelOS, is also compatible with GrapheneOS, but you will have to afford network access to sandboxed google play, among other things. I couldn't tell you specifically, but it will work out of the box before you restrict anything. Many people choose to use this setup because it opportunistically adds e2ee for chats between iPhones and other Androids using Google messages.
There's also other SMS apps, but I focused on switching people to Signal so I barely ever use SMS.
Once I replaced the default apps, GrapheneOS became a premium phone experience.
sivers 2 hours ago [-]
Yes! FUTO keyboard, then go into VOICE INPUT → MODELS → Explore Voice Input Models → English-244: “Best for the most accurate results, but more demanding.”
The voice recognition is built on Whisper, and is amazing. You can speak conversationally for a long time and it gets everything right, with smart decisions based on context.
My stupid thumbs text no more.
tasty_freeze 1 hours ago [-]
I just did. I had been using FUTO voice, but I see that FUTO keyboard also supports voice input, so I'm not sure if I should delete FUTO voice as being redundant now.
Groxx 28 minutes ago [-]
I don't believe it's necessary, it's move of an "if you want a dedicated voice keyboard, the UX is a little better" option. I don't have both installed though, as anecdotal evidence.
tasty_freeze 2 hours ago [-]
Thanks for your thoughts. I use FUTO voice usually, but there are situations where typing out a short message is better -- eg, in a restaurant or doctor's office or someplace where voice input might bother other people.
I've found graphene's keyboard far more error-prone than the stock android keyboard, but I also don't care to learn swipe to type.
The feature I'm missing is simply that rubbing my finger left or right on the spacebar in text mode causes the cursor insertion point to move left or right on in the text I'm entering. It makes it sooo much easier to correct typos.
Cider9986 2 hours ago [-]
FUTO and GBoard has the feature you're describing and I use it all the time. Pretty much anything you miss from Pixel UI can be attained by simply installing Google's app from the playstore.
arcanemachiner 2 hours ago [-]
There's also Heliboard, which has a swipe-type option
danielspace23 2 hours ago [-]
Problem (1) is a keyboard problem, not a GrapheneOS problem. Graphene comes with the stock AOSP keyboard which is very basic, but you can absolutely replace it. Personally I'm using the FUTO Keyboard and it does have that feature, as well as swiping, speech to text and much more.
Maybe you can try installing another SMS app for problem (2)? Much like the stock keyboard, the stock Messaging app is just the AOSP app. Honestly it works fine for me so I don't have a recommendation.
Groxx 2 hours ago [-]
Regarding 2: that is literally how SMS reactions work. Apps that recognize it just interpret it as "put that emoji on that message". It is unfortunate that it doesn't do that tho.
RCS is different, which you can sometimes get working by installing Google Messages¹, which is essentially the only app that supports RCS any more. Google runs essentially all the servers too.
---
1: There are no third-party RCS apps² because, unlike SMS which has an API and a shared database on the device, RCS is extremely locked down and it's literally impossible to create one in stock Android. This is also why it's only "sometimes" on GOS, the details are very complicated and rather enraging.
2: Samsung had one, but they're shutting it down in favor of Google Messages. A tiny number of other devices / telecoms have their own too, but they're rapidly shutting down as well. RCS is very nearly fully controlled and implemented by Google now, except for iMessage as a client only, for now, and there's no encryption between iMessage<->Google Messages last I checked (but there apparently is between Google Messages... but no normal person can really verify that because it's Just Google Everywhere).
idle_zealot 2 hours ago [-]
I used to dread the promised deep system integration of AI, but honestly after setting Claude up on a server box and having it do sysadmin stuff for me that I've been putting off for ages I see the vision. I don't really want to mess with the details of working through system orchestration tasks, I want to say "spin up this service" and start using it, "change my config so X happens" and it does, and knows what needs restarting to pick up changes and all the fiddly knobs and configs that need syncing and their bespoke formats. I think Nix tried to unify this for people, but it arrived too close to LLMs so a lot of value (in this dimension) has been delivered by other means.
The point is, I'd like to be able to set up services, configuration, and run tasks on my phone this way too, ideally offline. If this system integration is what gives me programmatic control of my most personal computer and the ability to finally set up decent automated tasks and workflows then so be it.
ptx 2 hours ago [-]
The vendors are never going to give you control over your computer no matter what vision they try to sell you on. The whole point, from their perspective, is to use their control of your computer to gain more control over you, which they hope to then exploit for profit.
Terr_ 2 hours ago [-]
Right: Look at the ways Google has persistently taken away user-control and autonomy on the OS level.
Why would we expect the same company to exhibit a completely opposite philosophy as they add LLM features?
TheRoque 2 hours ago [-]
The thing is they don't setup their "intelligence system" for the type of task you wanna do. They are integrating it for tasks like "buy me a plane ticket for my next holidays", "order diner for me, the usual"...
idiotsecant 56 minutes ago [-]
Yes, Google famously uses their most advanced technology to make your life easier and not to look up your nose with a scanning electron microscope
garciansmith 2 hours ago [-]
Other people have noted that you can switch out the keyboard and SMS app (which I did).
My single (minor) issue with GrapheneOS is the adaptive screen brightness. On the stock Android OS on a Pixel I'd mess around with the sliders for a week or two on a new phone and then it learned what I liked. Now it has a few set values, one of which is always too dim for me in darker conditions so I have to mess with the slider each and every time. I don't believe there's a way of fixing that.
Other than that I'm glad I switched, especially when I read about new "features" they add that I know I'd hate.
hiitsmyaccount 1 hours ago [-]
I use GBoard on GrapheneOS. I just deny it network permission so it can't phone home.
andrepd 2 hours ago [-]
Regarding (1), that's on your keyboard, which you can choose. Maybe you can give Futo a try? https://keyboard.futo.org/
jstanley 2 hours ago [-]
Why does it need its own F-droid repo?
ssddanbrown 2 hours ago [-]
Because the code is not provided under a free/open-source license, and therefore does not meet the requirements for the main F-droid repo.
scns 2 hours ago [-]
Simple Keyboard is on F-Droid too. Supports moving cursor via space bar.
lucb1e 2 hours ago [-]
The post doesn't say - what's new? Anything to look forward to besides the security patches for A17 being available for longer than they will be for A16?
Asking as an A11 user who will probably soon need to switch to a new device. I haven't noticed anything on other people's phones that isn't available on mine, including on my work phone that runs an up-to-date GrapheneOS (but I don't need to do much more than calling and 2FA, so I might just not be seeing it). Anything you guys are excited for, or any protips of things to check out that were released recently?
Cider9986 2 hours ago [-]
Desktop mode is new and exciting.
This should have the full list; it's not a ton of changes, which speaks to how perfected Android has become.
Does GrapheneOS run on tablets? I don't see a whole chat app fitting on my phone screen alongside another thing I'm doing and the screenshot is from a square screen
darkteflon 1 hours ago [-]
~Happy iPhone user for almost 20 (!) years. This has got me seriously thinking about picking up a Pixel.
lifeisgood99 2 hours ago [-]
What are North American people doing for replacing contactless payment? Last time I checked, the solution was to use Curve but it only works for Europe.
mrbluecoat 2 hours ago [-]
I don't. GrapheneOS is worth the effort of pulling a card out of my wallet.
hparadiz 13 minutes ago [-]
It's infuriating that they won't do this for non Google Android. It's in the best interest of both the bank and the card owner. Credential theft risk goes down to basically zero when backed by a fingerprint authenticated virtual card.
Saris 46 minutes ago [-]
Cash for most things, and just use a card like normal otherwise.
I don't really see the appeal of contactless payment, pulling a card out really doesn't take much time.
preisschild 3 minutes ago [-]
Just having to take your phone with you is quite comfortable. Your phone is probably the pocket-sized item you are unlikeliest to lose.
drnick1 1 hours ago [-]
There is no replacement. Strap a credit card to the back of your phone or pay cash.
fc417fc802 10 minutes ago [-]
Use a solvent to dissolve the plastic from the card then epoxy the extracted antenna and chip innards to the back of your phone case. Problem solved. (I'm only 50% joking, you can actually do this but maybe epoxy isn't the best option.)
jcul 2 hours ago [-]
I'm in Europe, but I had accepted that I had to do without. I hadn't heard of curve, going to check that out.
kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 2 hours ago [-]
I have these cards I keep in my (RFID-blocking) wallet, one for each credit account. Then I just pull them out and tap to pay. It's super convenient - no app required!
Cider9986 1 hours ago [-]
What does RFID-blocking wallet do?
ArmadilloGang 17 minutes ago [-]
People cannot steal your card info via proximity to your wallet over NFC if the wallet’s physical barrier blocks the RF signal.
mcsniff 1 hours ago [-]
Seriously. What do you think it does?
You typed out this comment? Instead of thinking about it or typing it in to a search engine?
Cider9986 1 hours ago [-]
The person mentioned it like it's a feature for them, but I haven't heard of it being anything other than a marketing gimmick, so I was curious for their perspective.
okanat 53 minutes ago [-]
It just has a Faraday cage and blocks radio signals. That's it.
carlmr 2 hours ago [-]
Garmin pay if you're ok with Garmin is one possibility.
lucb1e 35 minutes ago [-]
It's even available in my country! Never heard of it, would have assumed it's not being sold here. Let's see what that costs when I click the "shop now" button that's front and center
> Attention required!
> Sorry, you have been blocked
> The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.
Thanks cloudflare *handshake* garmin. I suppose I'll stay with chip and pin for now
wolvoleo 43 minutes ago [-]
They have an app for Android that can do NFC? I thought it was only for their watches. Thanks!
OsrsNeedsf2P 2 hours ago [-]
Putting my credit card in my phone case
Cider9986 1 hours ago [-]
I've been thinking it might be worthwhile to showcase that you can make GrapheneOS look beautiful or the same as stock Pixel UI. When I was considering switching from iPhone I had this misconception that it would look ugly or wouldn't look the same as Pixel UI, which is not the case at all. When I asked about it I wasn't given this clearcut answer that you can make GrapheneOS UI look the same or better than Pixel UI.
ebbi 1 hours ago [-]
How much flexibility is there in changing appearance?
>Those are just the devices we initially tested it on which mainly has to do with which devices were available to the people working on the port.
>To clarify the 2nd paragraph, we've ported GrapheneOS to Android 17 for all of the supported devices. That's a list of the devices we already built and tested it. Our initial public release will be available for all the supported devices and we'll have tested it on each by then.
jp57 1 hours ago [-]
What does it mean for an OS to be ported to another OS? Do they mean "ported to devices that support Android"?
GranPC 55 minutes ago [-]
It means they rebased all their changes on top of the new version. This is usually time-consuming because AOSP is not developed in the open, so you can't do this incrementally as things change -- you just get a massive drop sometime after release.
okanat 55 minutes ago [-]
Android makes yearly releases. It is developed in cathedral-style. Google releases the source as a single big update. GrapheneOS is a fork. They need to port their customizations and extra software on top of the new release.
floxy 55 minutes ago [-]
Think of GrapheneOS as being a set of patches on top of the Android Open Source Project that Google releases:
They've ported the patches to work on top of the latest release.
39 minutes ago [-]
tripdout 57 minutes ago [-]
Well, both, probably. GrapheneOS requires a lot of framework and device side changes.
arikrahman 2 hours ago [-]
Couldn't be happier using this on an old Nord Oneplus N10. Had to look around since it was out of date but thankfully they have archived builds.
Ingon 1 hours ago [-]
I've been running GrapheneOS for over an year now. Bought a Pixel 6a last year as a cheap way to test waters, but pretty soon I upgraded to discounted Pixel 9. It took a while to set the basics (coming from iPhone), and I'm still have a couple of stuff missing, but at this point don't intend to use anything else (for as long as possible).
The biggest hurdles for me were - should I use separate profiles and how to get apps. Initially, I started with a separate profile for google stuff (like play store/services and apps downloaded from there, like Viber), but eventually I moved everything to the owner profile (and took a bit of a privacy and battery hit in the matter of convenience). Still, being able to control many app permissions, gives me a good state of mind that apps are not doing more then I expect.
Just looked at what android 17 brings to the table and I'm mildly excited - especially improving performance and adding more permissions (like ACCESS_LOCAL_NETWORK)
iririririr 2 hours ago [-]
permanent reminder that graphene and all other "alternatives to android" depend on extracted binary blobs. tons of them. which is the reason new (kernel) versions are such a chore/achievement.
codelong888 4 minutes ago [-]
[flagged]
seabombs 56 minutes ago [-]
I had been using LineageOS + microG for many years on my Pixel 3. I upgraded to a Pixel 8 and tried out GrapheneOS and the install experience was good, but I found some odd performance quirks - apps would be slow to install and run, downloads were slow, etc. Has anyone had similar issues?
Many apps that work on microG don't work in GrapheneOS without installing Google services anyway. I'm by no means across the full privacy implications, but my feeling is microG balances privacy and usability better for me.
I've since switched back to LineageOS+microG and am happy with it. Just my experience.
lucb1e 27 minutes ago [-]
A lot of developers are lured into building in a dependency on Google services, so yes you'll need microG or, as GrapheneOS prefers, the original Google code running on your device for those apps to function. Or patch the app, like Langis does for Signal (not strictly necessary but it removes its calling out to Google's apps for those who don't want that). If you're happy with that setup and don't need protect-from-the-government levels of security (street thugs aren't going to ransomware your device by abusing an unlocked bootloader or send exploit chains that work on anything but the hardened allocator), LineageOS is probably the better choice for you. GrapheneOS has some nice things like easily denying the network permission for an app (even if they could theoretically work around it with intents) and having a custom A-GNSS server, but you can do the same on LineageOS by using root and something like AFWall+ for the network and configuring Graphene's A-GNSS (SUPL) proxy in the system settings (don't forget to donate if you use it and are able)
Lucasoato 22 minutes ago [-]
[dead]
qzgrid37 19 minutes ago [-]
[dead]
mvdtnz 2 hours ago [-]
So I still need to buy a Google phone to get it? No thank you.
Cider9986 2 hours ago [-]
To get a sense of the project and its goals I recommend reading this post[1].
Buying a used Pixel is economical, environmental, and likely doesn't support Google. Pixels are the only secure and open android devices that could work for the project and meet the extensive requirements[2]. This is because GrapheneOS takes real steps to protect user privacy and security, not features that degrade security and don't increase privacy. You are going to be doing much more against Google by using GrapheneOS because it comes with 0 google services by default and takes advanced steps to protect you from all apps and services you install.
If you are still not willing or able to purchase a Pixel, GrapheneOS has a partnership with Motorola to help them create compatible devices which will be available soon[3].
It makes sense that an open source project would focus on one series of phones since their time and resources are limited.
That said, Google's hardware is behind their competitors and they've had a lot of problems in the past few years. The Pixel 8 Pro has hardware WiFi problems, the 9 and 10 are both minor updates with prices that are far too high, the 10 is eSIM only, etc.
The Pixel was never sold in my country so it's much more difficult that you think. Even if it was I wouldn't buy it because I don't buy Google products.
> If you are still not willing to purchase a Pixel for whatever reason, GrapheneOS has a partnership with Motorola to help them create compatible devices which will be available soon[2].
Ok? Wake me up when that happens.
kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 2 hours ago [-]
> The Pixel was never sold in my country
Okay, see, that's an important thing to add to your original post. Saves everyone a lot of time.
If they don't sell them in your country, it's not "no thank you" as you said, it's "this doesn't apply to me".
mvdtnz 1 hours ago [-]
I don't see how it's relevant. I couldn't possibly have made it any more clear I would not buy a Google device, new or used, because I don't like Google.
prmoustache 1 hours ago [-]
I am not sure why you even consider an android based OS then.
okanat 45 minutes ago [-]
Because AOSP is open source and can be built without Google Play running at the background unlike the other alternative: giving up privacy to yet another big tech Apple.
Graphene adds many privacy features on top of regular AOSP. But it only works on phones that has good security features that are not woefully outdated or completely closed-off. Google has complete control over Pixel supply chain and they can make their phones with all bells and whistles for their ends and they behave a bit benevolently and expose the interfaces to the user too.
Most Android phones use Qualcomm which doesn't give a flying fuck about giving control or privacy to the users.
jordand 2 hours ago [-]
Only silver lining to this is they run a lot of discounts and promotions on them, and it's possible to buy them at a significant discount. Got my first Pixel 10 on a very cheap contract with trade-in promos on top, and got a second Pixel 10 at a 70% discount from the RRP.
mvdtnz 2 hours ago [-]
It's not possible to buy them at all where I live, even if I wanted to funnel money to Google - which I do not. I have gone to great lengths to de-Google my life.
boldlybold 1 hours ago [-]
Ebay? A friend to ship it? I agree on the de-google part but putting graphene on a used pixel is aligned!
drnick1 1 hours ago [-]
Absolutely, and it is irrational to refuse to buy hardware from Google (which, with Graphene, is under your control) when the alternative is to either run a Google OS on a third party phone (and give up control of the software), or Apple (equally bad), or some impractical and less secure alternative like a Linux phone incompatible with Android apps.
So I jumped straight to GrapheneOS, which was way easier and less extreme than I had been warned. So beautifully minimal, with no crap. Now my phone feels like a simple Linux (Void/Arch) PC. So wonderful.
Brother, you didn't take anything here, you still depend on Google good will allowing the pixel devices to be just open enough so that Graphene can be installed on them, but that can always change in the future devices on a whim or even now via e-fuses on the Tensor SoC.
Google is the one in control here giving you the temporary illusion of control. Kinda like the people plugged into the Matrix. But they can afford to play the long game over years or decades till they monopolize the market and kill any small competitors from becoming threats, and then rug-pull you.
For you to be in control you need a (almost)fully FOSS phone, from HW, to modem, to EFI-boot stack, not just the OS and the temporary permission from the manufacturer of a closed source HW stack to replace their OS.
While I agree with your general sentiment, I feel necessary to acknowledge that it's just not there (yet?). GrapheneOS is a great option if you want to have a fully working and secure device.
Your provider can run arbitrary code there.
My understanding is that even with pseudo-D2D (device-to-device) transfers Seedvault doesn't backup everything[1].
Are there more-functional, non-root, local (non-cloud) alternatives?
[1]: https://github.com/seedvault-app/seedvault/wiki/FAQ#why-do-s...
I was sad that I had to go through the OOBE setup on the stock image to unlock the bootloader. At least it doesn't force an internet connection and login, unlike Windows.
*It doesn't actually wipe your data; it just destroys the symmetric key, making the data permanently unreadable.
I'm not looking to fully de-Google but I want Google as apps and not my OS.
This is entirely possible as other posters have explained. But I think it kind of defeats the point of Graphene, at least somewhat. Google is already profiling every aspect of your life by reading your emails, files, calendar, location, etc? In that case, OS access becomes moot.
I think that GrapheneOS makes most sense as part of a broader move towards privacy-respecting alternatives. I see the sandboxed Play Services as something useful perhaps in a secondary user profile, for the odd commercial app required and only available from the Play Store.
Biggest caveats that I've encountered: tap to pay via Google Wallet is a no go, Android Auto can be flaky, MDM managed work profiles don't work at the moment, and some apps that use the Google Play integrity API fail to validate and refuse to work (I've only encountered one app that fails, and plenty others that work.)
In general, I'm moving towards a de-Googled life and GrapheneOS is a great entrypoint towards that.
However, some apps that I need for work, like Microsoft Authenticator, no longer work under GrapheneOS.
https://www.theregister.com/on-prem/2026/03/10/microsoft-tig...
Is this an antithesis to Don't Be Evil?
https://volla.online/en/operating-systems/volla-os/
Still boggles my mind the fact Google doesn't sell their phones worldwide. Obtaining a Pixel has proven to be quite difficult for me.
The main things I miss are (1) when I'm entering text I can't swipe left and right on the space bar to scroll the cursor left and right, and (2) the texting app doesn't just attach reaction emojis to a message -- it quotes the whole message and prefixes it with something like "Marty like blahblahblah". When there is a whole family text chain it isn't uncommon to see the same message 7 times as various people react to the original message.
Anyway, I looked at Google's Android 17 blog and yikes:
"With deep integration between hardware, software and AI, we’re transforming Android from an operating system to an intelligence system. It's about delivering new helpful experiences that anticipate user needs, and it brings more opportunities for engagement with your apps."
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/06/Android-17...
GrapheneOS is compatible with the vast, vast majority of Android apps, so you can use GBoard or FUTO keyboard (which I recently switched to from GBoard), to get the ideal experience.
FUTO recently revamped their swipe to type model and it's now more accurate than GBoard in their testing. I am a huge swipe type person, so this is what held me in GBoard's clutches, but now I'm free.
The dataset is open source and anyone can add to it if you're on a mobile device here: https://swipe.futo.org
And you can learn about it here: https://swipe.futo.tech
> the texting app doesn't just attach reaction emojis to a message -- it quotes the whole message and prefixes it with something like "Marty like blahblahblah". When there is a whole family text chain it isn't uncommon to see the same message 7 times as various people react to the original message.
Google messages, the experience you get on PixelOS, is also compatible with GrapheneOS, but you will have to afford network access to sandboxed google play, among other things. I couldn't tell you specifically, but it will work out of the box before you restrict anything. Many people choose to use this setup because it opportunistically adds e2ee for chats between iPhones and other Androids using Google messages.
There's also other SMS apps, but I focused on switching people to Signal so I barely ever use SMS.
Once I replaced the default apps, GrapheneOS became a premium phone experience.
The voice recognition is built on Whisper, and is amazing. You can speak conversationally for a long time and it gets everything right, with smart decisions based on context.
My stupid thumbs text no more.
I've found graphene's keyboard far more error-prone than the stock android keyboard, but I also don't care to learn swipe to type.
The feature I'm missing is simply that rubbing my finger left or right on the spacebar in text mode causes the cursor insertion point to move left or right on in the text I'm entering. It makes it sooo much easier to correct typos.
Maybe you can try installing another SMS app for problem (2)? Much like the stock keyboard, the stock Messaging app is just the AOSP app. Honestly it works fine for me so I don't have a recommendation.
RCS is different, which you can sometimes get working by installing Google Messages¹, which is essentially the only app that supports RCS any more. Google runs essentially all the servers too.
---
1: There are no third-party RCS apps² because, unlike SMS which has an API and a shared database on the device, RCS is extremely locked down and it's literally impossible to create one in stock Android. This is also why it's only "sometimes" on GOS, the details are very complicated and rather enraging.
2: Samsung had one, but they're shutting it down in favor of Google Messages. A tiny number of other devices / telecoms have their own too, but they're rapidly shutting down as well. RCS is very nearly fully controlled and implemented by Google now, except for iMessage as a client only, for now, and there's no encryption between iMessage<->Google Messages last I checked (but there apparently is between Google Messages... but no normal person can really verify that because it's Just Google Everywhere).
The point is, I'd like to be able to set up services, configuration, and run tasks on my phone this way too, ideally offline. If this system integration is what gives me programmatic control of my most personal computer and the ability to finally set up decent automated tasks and workflows then so be it.
Why would we expect the same company to exhibit a completely opposite philosophy as they add LLM features?
My single (minor) issue with GrapheneOS is the adaptive screen brightness. On the stock Android OS on a Pixel I'd mess around with the sliders for a week or two on a new phone and then it learned what I liked. Now it has a few set values, one of which is always too dim for me in darker conditions so I have to mess with the slider each and every time. I don't believe there's a way of fixing that.
Other than that I'm glad I switched, especially when I read about new "features" they add that I know I'd hate.
Asking as an A11 user who will probably soon need to switch to a new device. I haven't noticed anything on other people's phones that isn't available on mine, including on my work phone that runs an up-to-date GrapheneOS (but I don't need to do much more than calling and 2FA, so I might just not be seeing it). Anything you guys are excited for, or any protips of things to check out that were released recently?
This should have the full list; it's not a ton of changes, which speaks to how perfected Android has become.
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/06/Android-17...
I don't really see the appeal of contactless payment, pulling a card out really doesn't take much time.
You typed out this comment? Instead of thinking about it or typing it in to a search engine?
> Attention required!
> Sorry, you have been blocked
> The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.
Thanks cloudflare *handshake* garmin. I suppose I'll stay with chip and pin for now
As an iPhone user, I really like what Oppo is doing with their ColorOS: https://www.oppo.com/nz/coloros16/
No love for 9 or 9a? I guess it's still coming eventually.
- A 9a owner running GrapheneOS
>Those are just the devices we initially tested it on which mainly has to do with which devices were available to the people working on the port.
>To clarify the 2nd paragraph, we've ported GrapheneOS to Android 17 for all of the supported devices. That's a list of the devices we already built and tested it. Our initial public release will be available for all the supported devices and we'll have tested it on each by then.
https://source.android.com/
They've ported the patches to work on top of the latest release.
The biggest hurdles for me were - should I use separate profiles and how to get apps. Initially, I started with a separate profile for google stuff (like play store/services and apps downloaded from there, like Viber), but eventually I moved everything to the owner profile (and took a bit of a privacy and battery hit in the matter of convenience). Still, being able to control many app permissions, gives me a good state of mind that apps are not doing more then I expect.
Just looked at what android 17 brings to the table and I'm mildly excited - especially improving performance and adding more permissions (like ACCESS_LOCAL_NETWORK)
Many apps that work on microG don't work in GrapheneOS without installing Google services anyway. I'm by no means across the full privacy implications, but my feeling is microG balances privacy and usability better for me.
I've since switched back to LineageOS+microG and am happy with it. Just my experience.
Buying a used Pixel is economical, environmental, and likely doesn't support Google. Pixels are the only secure and open android devices that could work for the project and meet the extensive requirements[2]. This is because GrapheneOS takes real steps to protect user privacy and security, not features that degrade security and don't increase privacy. You are going to be doing much more against Google by using GrapheneOS because it comes with 0 google services by default and takes advanced steps to protect you from all apps and services you install.
If you are still not willing or able to purchase a Pixel, GrapheneOS has a partnership with Motorola to help them create compatible devices which will be available soon[3].
[1] Privacy and security on computing devices need to become far stronger to protect people from pervasive violations of their rights. https://xcancel.com/GrapheneOS/status/2044440381803069778#m
[2] https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices
[3] https://xcancel.com/GrapheneOS/status/2028448871374803007#m
That said, Google's hardware is behind their competitors and they've had a lot of problems in the past few years. The Pixel 8 Pro has hardware WiFi problems, the 9 and 10 are both minor updates with prices that are far too high, the 10 is eSIM only, etc.
> If you are still not willing to purchase a Pixel for whatever reason, GrapheneOS has a partnership with Motorola to help them create compatible devices which will be available soon[2].
Ok? Wake me up when that happens.
Okay, see, that's an important thing to add to your original post. Saves everyone a lot of time.
If they don't sell them in your country, it's not "no thank you" as you said, it's "this doesn't apply to me".
Graphene adds many privacy features on top of regular AOSP. But it only works on phones that has good security features that are not woefully outdated or completely closed-off. Google has complete control over Pixel supply chain and they can make their phones with all bells and whistles for their ends and they behave a bit benevolently and expose the interfaces to the user too.
Most Android phones use Qualcomm which doesn't give a flying fuck about giving control or privacy to the users.