- cross-posted to:
- privacy@programming.dev
- cross-posted to:
- privacy@programming.dev
first of all, posting this here is kinda pointless, ain’t a soul here that doesn’t know about this thing. second, no ill feelings about madame V., the world is better with her work in it, but this ain’t the audience for it as her work is kinda superficial and, again, directed at a different audience.
third and final, fuck grapheneos. fuck the pixel. and fuck google. and fuck the premise that the only way you can escape their clutches is buying new shit.
if you think this thing is a good idea, that’d be as if linux can run only on a couple of the most recent thinkpads and nothing else. would you still be into it? I know I wouldn’t be.
gOS is the easiest to get onto hardware and that’s why this thing dominates the youtube slop sphere. you try to make flashing lineageOS into a coherent video, you’d lose all of your audience, presto.
for the 99,9% of us that ain’t a buncha jason bournes on the run from 5eyes and friends, lineageOS is plenty fine and secure as is.
Need some help ?
pixels are unobtanium where i live. i wish there could be graphene on more phones.
They are in talks with a major android manufacturer to build graphene phone.
deleted by creator
Ok, a few things :
- I dislike her pronunciation of GrapheneOS really emphasizing the “ene” part
- For anyone not wanting to be stuck buying a Pixel, new or used (still kind of pricey), look into LineageOS /e/, or CalyxOS (though CalyxOS is paused for an interal audit or something)
- What about other data being sent over your carrier network outside of just Google? You’re better off buying a plan for a mobile hotspot so it limits data that IDs you with your IMSI and IMEI info. Carriers otherwise still monetize your data, even though Google isn’t getting it.
My next phone will be whatever I want that’ll run LineageOS (sure, no “Titan chip”) but will run F-Droid store, and only run on a hotspot I’ll have with me (for work, goes in my work bag), anywhere else can sit in my car or pocket, etc. It’ll help as I use private/FOSS apps, randomized MAC for WiFi, VPN services, etc. Hushed or done 2nd phone nine for WiFi calling, etc
I also have been social media free for over a decade now. No Amazon, no streaming services, and self-host anything I can
(though CalyxOS is paused for an interal audit or something)
More like “Nick Merrill (the guy who fought NSL letters in court and started the project) and the lead developer departed without a single word and took the project’s signing keys with them”. You draw your own conclusions, but for me (a long-time CalyxOS user) those were huge red flags and caused me to settle on iodéOS for my new home.
Technically you’re posting to social media right here, but I think we all got what you meant.
Bring on support for more devices, and I’ll likely switch with my next phone.
Its not up to grapheneos devs which devices support bootloader relocking with different keys, literally only pixels allow this and without it you cant properly secure the phone.
…without it you cant properly secure the phone.
My understanding is that a locked bootloader helps protect against evil maid attacks and bootloader-level malware persistence. I find this a security risk that I would absolutely take for Google independence. “Properly secure” is subjective.
GrapheneOS do decide what phones they support. It is exactly their choice to support only Google Pixels, rather than taking a security hit for hardware independence (whether you agree with the decision or not).
Exactly, seems like this should be up to the consumer. The devs can say: pixels have best security, here’s a 2nd and 3rd option, here’s their pros and cons.
Because as much as I approve of privacy measures and security, my phone doesn’t have any lock screen. No pin, no biometrics, nothing.
I work from home, I don’t really travel, I have 4 children. Physical security is annoying. I want grapheneos for data security. I don’t have people trying to steal my phone, I do have people constantly stealing my data.
And without a non-pixel option (fuck google), I’m likely to go for to a competitor because, while their data security might not be as good as graphene, it is better than what I currently have.
No OP, but…
Well, unfortunately, we’re at an impasse, then. :(
They’re working on an alternative device with a large OEM they’ve not disclosed yet. They’re aiming at releasing it in 2027.
The smart money is they’re going to go with Motorola, honestly idc who they go with it’ll likely be my next phone
Same here, i can’t wait to ditch my old xiaomi 10 full of bloatwares and ads
I’ve got the pixel 8 with graphene on it, it’s very nice but I also have a soft spot for emulation and the Tensor devices are trash for anything higher than GameCube tbh
If you don’t wanna use a pixel, just build it. It’s open source ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Hey! Avoid Google by buying a phone from… GOOGLE!
Seriously. I wish the devs would work on bringing the OS to Samsung phones instead. They’re just as popular, if not more than Google Pixel phones.
Part of the issue is that the latest version of Samsung’s OneUI completely removes the option to unlock the bootloader. More technical info on the (xda forum).
Aw crap. OK then.
I didn’t know that.
I keep bitching about my Galaxy Tab A9+ and I will till the day I die. I fucking hate that thing for not having any Custom ROMs, and I despise the fact that it doesn’t allow OEM unlocking (afaik). I mean, it was a gift, so I still appreciate it, but MAN will I never buy Samsung with my own money ever.
Anyway I wish people would stop crying for Samsung Graphene while knowing full well that Samsung is essentially the Apple of the Android world; Locked down to all hell.
It’d be nice to not have to buy Google anything, but i want security, to be able to use most pf my apps, and I don wanna buy a Chinese phone, so here we are.
I’m not due to replace my Samsung Xcover with a headphone jack and removable battery for a while yet, I got it in March 2024…
But when I do in a few years, I’d like the Jolla phone as its app support probably has matured at that point.
Pixels have better security features than Samsung and doesn’t prevent you from using third party OSes.
More details here: https://grapheneos.org/faq#recommended-devices
What I don’t get is that is
Buy the phone used?
Also Samsung hasn’t allowed unlocked bootloader’s in a fucking minute nor do they publish their device trees
You can find pixels on swappa and not give Google your money.
I’m looking for a Pixel 9 Pro as an upgrade for my existing 7 Pro and it’s cheaper used (obviously).
Just buy refurbished. Better for the environment too.
What do you compromise these days going to something like graphene versus a stock pixel? I know the advantages obviously, just wanting clarity on trade offs. Features that become unusable, vulnerabilities, etc.
The loss of most banking apps and Google Wallet (tap and pay). For me, those are the killer features you lose. And the reason I gave up on custom ROM’s on a FairPhone 3+ after many years.
I think “most banking apps” depends on your location. I never had any problems with them.
Yeah Google Wallet not working is annoying, but for me it’s a good tradeoff.
It’s not a location thing . . it’s a per-banking app thing. And specifically it’s a “does your banking app use Google Play integrity API” thing. On LineageOS running on my FairPhone 3 . . my banking apps all worked . . . until the day they didn’t. Here is a table reporting the current state of banking app comparability around the world . . but the next update from any specific bank could (and in my case did) break it -
PS. In the UK I did actually find an alternative to Google Wallet. . . Curve Pay. Not open source, but not dependent on Play Services. And enabled tap and pay on LineageOS.













