I am a long term GrapheneOS user and would like to talk about it. r/privacy on the redditland blocks custom OS discussions which I think is very bad for user privacy, and I hope this post will be useful to anyone who are in the hunt for better privacy.

Nowadays smartphones are a much bigger threats to our privacy and Desktop systems, and unfortunately manufacturers has designed them to be locked down devices with no user freedom. You can’t just “install Linux” on most smartphones and it is horrible. And most preloaded systems spy on us like crazy. That was why I specifically bought a pixel and loaded GOS onto it.

According to https://grapheneos.org/features , they start from base AOSP’s latest version, imptoves upon it’s security and significantly hardens it. There’s hardened_malloc to.prevent against exploitation, disabling lots of debugging features, disabling USB-c data, hardening the Linux kernel and system apps etc. They even block accessing the hardware identifiers of the phone so that apps cannot detect whqt phone you’re using. That means with Tor and zero permissions given, apps are anonymous.

Compatibility with apps are best in Custom ROMs but there are still that can’t work, especially if they enforce device integrity. Very few apps usually enforce that tho. Also their community isn’t the friendliest but you can get help. Just don’t try and engage too much or have too many debates.

Anyone else here use GrapheneOS, or any other privacy ROMs? What is your experience? Do you disagree on any point? Let’s have a discussion!

  • Fluid@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    2 hours ago

    How do you find it as a daily driver in terms of QoL features such as banking apps and payments etc?

  • agile_squirrel@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 hours ago

    I’ve been using it for just over 2 years now and am very happy with it. I am curious about CalyxOS though. While I don’t think I’d switch I’d be interested in a technical deep dive comparison between the 2.

  • SpiceDealer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    5 hours ago

    I’m pretty sure that every Android Lemmy user has a Custom ROM installed on their device. Currently daily driving GrapheneOS on my Pixel 7 Pro.

  • bl4kers@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    6 hours ago

    A simple search will tell you a ton of people here use GrapheneOS and other custom ROMs. Are you karma farming?

  • DollarColonial@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 hours ago

    I have 1 Pixel 7a running Graphene, 2 Pixel 6a running Graph, 1 Pixel Tablet too, and Pixel 4a using DivestOS.

    Top tier.

  • root@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    9 hours ago

    I had daily drove it for years, but recently started testing the water with iOS. Still have GOS on my secondary devices though.

  • [R3D4CT3D]@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    10 hours ago

    i really want to make the switch but need to figure out how to steal a pixel phone bc i sure as hell ain’t paying for one

  • theroff@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    11 hours ago

    I use GrapheneOS but I don’t like how Google Play-centric it is. It is geared towards people installing their “normal” apps with the GrapheneOS special sauce sandboxing. No F-Droid by default where all of the FOSS apps are.

    • jet@hackertalks.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      5 hours ago

      By default there is nothing, it’s a blank slate. It’s up to you to decide what apps to use.

      • theroff@aussie.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        4 hours ago

        Screenshot for you. Google is explicitly linked to for easy setup. F-Droid is not. “There is nothing” is simply disingenuous.

          • theroff@aussie.zone
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            2 hours ago

            But it is Google Play-centric. There is an option to install Google Play. There is not an option to install other app stores like F-Droid, unlike some of the other AOSP clones.

  • kyub@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    11 hours ago

    Using it since many years on many Pixels and loving it.

    Main pros: zero bloat, efficient, highly secure and highly private (about as private and secure as it can get on any smartphone), and it’s an Android without any of Android’s typical weaknesses (privacy issues, bloat, etc.). You get to utilize the advantages of Google (its security) and completely avoid the disadvantages (its many privacy issues). You get to use all the advantages of an Android mobile OS while completely avoiding all of its disadvantages. It’s like getting your cake and eating it too. You’re much better off in terms of security and privacy than almost(?) all other smartphone users. According to leaked documents, Cellebrite for example can’t crack GrapheneOS on Pixels at all. They can crack almost any other smartphone if they have physical access to it. Most smartphones are really easy for them to crack. iPhones may pose some trouble depending on model/OS. And Graphene on Pixel is the literal brick wall. And even on top of that it has tons of great security features, like auto-reboot after X hours of inactivity, charge-only-mode for USB-C when locked, distress/duress PIN entry to immediately wipe the phone, many things like that. On the privacy side it’s looking great as well: Some folks have analyzed Graphene’s network traffic and there’s zero privacy issues from the OS or its built-in apps. And the few connections it does make (for updates and so on) are all documented and work exactly like they documented them, and they only transmit the exact least amount of necessary data without anything beyond that (guess what - that’s super rare). And on top of that there’s even more great privacy features, some of which are invisible but well thought-out, for example any SUPL request goes through a Graphene proxy server first (configurable) which strips all personally-identifiable data from the request and then redirects it to your provider’s SUPL server (which is most likely Google’s SUPL server in the end). I’m seriously impressed by the quality of the GrapheneOS project. Maybe you don’t realize how good and rare such things are nowadays. Also the documentation is very good and actually answers most of your questions and doesn’t contain any marketing blurb. The social media feeds and forums are a great source of info as well. On top of all that it’s even easy to install GrapheneOS.

    Main cons: it’s only available on Google Pixel phones, so if you truly despise Google and don’t want to buy or use anything from them, it’s not the right device/OS for you (or maybe buy it used?). However, the reason GrapheneOS is on Pixel is purely a technical one: Pixels do offer very high hardware based security already (probably the most, although iPhones have good hardware-based security as well. As is known, Apple tends to be produce good quality hardware, not quite so good software) as well as a very high degree of “platform neutrality”, i.e. it’s supported by Google to flash a different OS on it or use more advanced tools like adb without any sort of tinkering or unnecessary danger involved. Also you don’t have to register to unlock your phone or anything, you only need to be online once to enable the OEM unlocking feature (I think this is because Google needs your IMEI to check whether the phone is carrier-locked (cannot ever be OEM unlocked) or can be unlocked, and they will immediately receive some device data including the IMEI as soon as you go online with the preinstalled Android OS once [of course they will receive some more device data than just the IMEI]), so it’s best to not insert your SIM yet (and not do anything with the preinstalled OS) before you’ve installed GrapheneOS on your new Pixel. Do the OEM unlocking step on WiFi only, best on a public WiFi so Google has much less of a chance to identify you based on your IP or related data. Then install Graphene, then insert your SIM and start using your new phone. Other cons exist but they’re rare or pretty much irrelevant in daily use. If you have to hear them, read an older post by me about some potential downsides: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/19867254/12069767

  • The 8232 Project@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    12 hours ago

    I have the pleasure of using GrapheneOS. I can’t imagine using anything else. It was also the first (widely used) custom Android distribution to adopt Android 15. As far as I can tell, almost no others support Android 15 yet.

  • Azzu@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    12 hours ago

    I’ve been using a Fairphone with /e/os. No Google at all. Rooted with Magisk. MicroG to run apps that need Google services. Everything I need works.

    • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      12 hours ago

      Did it come installed or did you need to complete a 27-step process involving cables and obscure commands and fiddly key combinations and the risk of bricking the thing?

      • Azzu@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        9 hours ago

        Do Google Pixel phones come installed with GrapheneOS? We’re talking about custom setups with more privacy here.

        I did have to follow the installation instructions, which included unlocking my bootloader, installing adb on my PC, and entering a few command lines.

        There is the possibility to buy it preinstalled though, but from a third-party company.

        • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          9 hours ago

          So the answer to the 27-step question is Yes. Alas. Still nowhere near as easy as installing Linux on an Intel laptop. Which of course is already way too hard for most folks.

          Still, well done for doing it.