GrapheneOS now officially supports Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL | GrapheneOS is a private, secure mobile operating system with Android app compatibility, developed as a non-profit open source project
GrapheneOS now officially supports Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL | GrapheneOS is a private, secure mobile operating system with Android app compatibility, developed as a non-profit open source project
The super privacy-focused third-party ROM, GrapheneOS now officially supports the Google Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL.
GrapheOS now officially supports....
[please... something other than Pixel....]
Pixel 9
The problem is that (as far as i know) only pixels fulfill their security requirements, for example that the bootloader is not only unlockable but also lockable. But I also would like to have more devices supporting it
They will only support Pixels for the foreseeable future, as these are the only devices that meet their hardware security requirements https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices
I am currently in the market for a new mobile phone. The current's one battery is basically dead and because of security patches now being about 2 years old I have to replace it whole instead of just getting the battery replaced again.
Pixel with GrapheneOS has been my number one choice for some time but...
- there is no (privacy friendly & legal) replacement for Google Play Protect. My banking app won't work without it as well as one other app I kind of need too.
- I am also just too used to having a phone in the 250-300 EUR range in the sense that I don't have to care about it that much.
It's a "consumable" product for me. Loosing/drowning it is not a big deal, where drowning 800 euros is just hard to justify no matter how much money I make.
I will probably just get the OnePlus Nord 4 instead because of their pledge to do 6 years of updates.
I'm not sure about over in Europe but around here the trick to an affordable Pixel is to just buy last years model since you can usually find them lightly used or even new in the $300 - $400 range and updates are only incremental anyway and since they get 7 years of updates now it should be good for quite a while.
For google play protect yeah thats a bummer, I just use my banks website but I don't know if European banks allow that.
Personally though I love Graphene OS it turned my phone from a device I hated due to anxitey I feel around corporate surveillance into a device I genuinely like again.
i can especially relate to the last part, it's so freeing to feel in control of my phone!
I'm very close to pulling the trigger on Graphene. One question though - usually when I try open source / secure alternatives to some popular software the UI is janky and super old looking.
Is Graphene like this with their custom apps / UI stuff? Will I notice? Or is it identical to the stock OS UI design?
- All of my banking apps work, I have 6 of them.
- You can buy an older Pixel, 5 or 6. They're still great.
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Buy used, and/or buy an "a" model.
GrapheneOS is clearly the ideal ROM/OS, but alternatively there is another privacy and security centric ROM that supports a lot more devices, with the trade-off being it's not GrapheneOS.
Check out DivestOS and it's supported device list to see if that's a better fit for you. It's from the same developer as the Mulch and Mull browser forks.
As far SafetyNet/Play Project and other anticonsumer "security attestation" features, some bank apps will work fine, what others won't.
Does their website provide PWA support?
Just buy an older supported device if grapheneos is important to you. Something like a 6 pro would be fine.
To anyone reading this a 6 is a great pick but its worth knowing that the 7 year update promise only began with the pixel 8 so if you buy a 6 in 2024 it probably only has about 2 years of updates left. However they are only like $150 used I think so the value is probably there even if you only get 2 years of use out of it.
7a was the sweet spot for me, even if $300 is frankly a lot by my measure. But I think it was a worthy investment for me.
Would definitely not get a pro since the 7a is already on the edge of what I can use with one hand. Same for 7 but downplayed, I didn't opt for this one because it has a glass back.
300€ is not disposable for me... People are used to buy phones over 800€ but 300€ is already quite a price
Your bank specifically requires Play Protect? That's odd, I've never heard of something like that before. I'd still check this list to see if it might be compatible with GrapheneOS: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/
You can get a Pixel 7a for under 300 EUR, and it is supported until 2028, so you don't lose out on updates.
Battery life was a dealbreaker for me
You can replace the battery easily and there are roms like calyx and divestos, which support bl relocking. Although divestos doesn't look very stable, but I haven't tried it.
Lead dev of grapheneos is extremely toxic in communication. I don't trust someone like that developing the software running on a phone.
EDIT: This comment seems to be particularly controversial, with many people praising GrapheneOS as a project, while ignoring the developers views and actions. Although my opinion of the main developer is negative, the project itself and its goals are great. To clear up some confusion, I want to add to my previous statement:
At first, this seems like the standard "separating art from the artist", however, GrapheneOS is a ton of code, not just art. When it comes to other forms of art, like literature or paintings, an artist maliciously hiding their personal beliefs in their otherwise "unbiased" work might degrade the quality of the final result, but does not have much significant impact outside of that. When it comes to code, programs, OSes, this changes. The artist (programmer) changing their art (code) based on their personal beliefs is not just a degradation in quality, but a security risk for anyone running the code and trusting the developer. Having seen the way the GOS dev speaks about its community and even people in support of him (see Louis Rossman's video), it becomes clear that the mentioned "risk" of malware is very much present. Like many others, I don't have the time to verify the source code of an entire Android rom myself, which means I would have to trust the GOS dev to not insert anything malicious, after the statements he's made. I'd have to trust him after he's grouped a majority of his community into "people who are after him and are swatting him". It's a very real possibility that someone with beliefs like that would add malicious code to his project, and I'm personally not willing to run that risk.
Please note that I am not encouraging people to "go harass the dev", that is an immoral action nobody should be doing. I am trying to inform people of the developers behavior online, past and current, so they can make a decision for themselves whether to run his software on their personal devices.
Honestly, a lot of lead devs in fantastic FOSS software have pretty limited patience. I've read plenty of that guy's discourse, and while I think he could be more diplomatic, I don't see any reason to suspect he's doing anything malicious with the project.
I'm personally totally fine using GrapheneOS. If you aren't, there are plenty of alternatives.
He isn't on the project since last year.androguru Edit: Sorry, meant "he isn't the project lead since last year". He is still part of the GitHub team and actively developing.I know Daniel somewhat from some years back, and calling him extremely toxic is just wrong. He is and has always been rather bad at communication under stress and is clearly on the spectrum in some way. Technically a genius person, but perhaps doesn't have the right set of qualities to lead things, except from a strictly technical pov.
Very good decision from him to withdraw from social media. I hope he manages to contribute in the future.
is clearly on the spectrum in some way
This is not an excuse to behave the way he does.
Very good decision from him to withdraw from social media
He hasn't, still on github, still on HN.
as long as they do good work i don't give a shit what they think
So? Bad people can make good things. We should all stop using Linux because Torvalds is a dick?
might be toxic, but the os is brilliant
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Louis Rossman's video describes his behavior in public spaces accurately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4To-F6W1NT0
What are some good alternatives to GOS? I want something that can run on most androids that deGoogles while providing general privacy and security. I know nothing will be as good. Bur what is the next best thing?
DivestOS is pretty good. I'd stay away from /e/OS, CalyxOS and LineageOS though, as they have some pretty serious security problems.