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GrapheneOS on a Pixel is probably the most polished and secure experience. I have installed it (and enabled sandboxed Google services) on my mom's phone (she's

by fisian 2y ago

GrapheneOS on a Pixel is probably the most polished and secure experience. I have installed it (and enabled sandboxed Google services) on my mom's phone (she's pretty non-technical) and she had no bigger problems in the last years.

fmajid 2y ago
Probably the most secure mobile OS available to the public right now.
dsr_ 2y ago
+1 for Graphene -- installation is easy, documentation is not bad, and it's really easy on the battery.
yonatan8070 2y ago
I got a Pixel 8 to run GrapheneOS just last week, I installed it right after I got the phone after all the recommendations I read online. Before that I was using crDroid on a Poco F3 (I switched because the camera was quite awful and the battery got drained rather fast), and I was expecting some of crDroid's features that were just missing. A shortcut to the flashlight via power button long press, battery charge limit/smart charging, bandwidth display on the status bar, the option to add more columns to the quick settings, just to name a few. I ended up running crDroid on the Pixel as well, overall it's a decent experience, but not nearly as polished, it turns out I had to manually grant Google Play Services the location permission via ADB so apps would know where I am (missed a train to that one). I'd love it if there was some ROM that combined the security and sandboxing from GrapheneOS with all the neat little features in crDroid... or an actually good Linux phone.
- jpk 2y ago
  Would you mind talking a little bit about the threat model that would lead you to using Graphine on a new device? IIUC, you have to unlock the bootloader to use a custom ROM, which makes the device vulnerable to physical access in cases like theft, confiscation, etc. So you have to trade that for whatever the custom ROM gives you?
  - yonatan8070 2y ago
    I don't think I have some crazy threat model, I just highly dislike giving Google more access to my own phone than I have. Although at the end I gave up on that due to the lack of features in GrapheneOS, and went back to crDroid with regular Google services installed as system apps.
  - slashtab 2y ago
    To add to other replies GrapheneOS also provides USB-C exploit protection at hardware level.
  - prmoustache 2y ago
    The bootloader is only unlocked for the first install, then locked again.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
    Graphene only supports the pixel line, and part of the reason is because that's one of the very few (if not the only?) phones that let you relock the bootloader after installing a replacement ROM
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- aftbit 2y ago
  Graphene's team takes a fairly hostile view towards feature creep, possibly for very good reasons. They basically only add features that improve security & privacy. Everything else is stock AOSP. My personal hill to die on is that the launcher uses lil tiny icons and text, which I find hard to read, and alternative launchers are a bit of a privacy and security disaster. They refuse to add anything to the built in launcher to adjust this, and suggest either raising all of the sizes (with accessibility, which affects all apps) or use an alternative launcher. Alas it is still a very nice operating system.
  - NotPractical 2y ago
    Is there still the issue of third party Android launchers being treated as second-class, not allowed access to features like gesture navigation? I haven't used one in a while.
    - morserer 2y ago
      Nope! Third party launchers work just fine in GOS and other custom roms, with gesture navigation as well. The tough thing is that animations don't work well, at least in my experience. Most of the very slick "return to home" animations break on non-stock launchers, and it introduces stuttering on returning to home unless you're using 3-button navigation.
      - NotPractical 2y ago
        I probably wouldn't use an alternative launcher with those caveats attached. It seems the awkward animation thing may be a consequence of an Android security feature: > Why is the recent screen buggy? > Unfortunately, it is because the system launcher handles the Recents screen. Therefore, if you change the default launcher, weird things can happen [...] The only way to fix this is by having a Magisk module called QuickSwitch. https://lawnchair.app/faq/#why-is-the-recent-screen-buggy https://lawnchair.app/faq/#why-is-the-recent-screen-buggy (Can't vouch for the accuracy of this information as of $CURRENT_ANDROID_VERSION.)
  - ParetoOptimal 2y ago
evolving-silica 2y ago
I wouldn't say most polished. Out of the box LineageOS comes with better stock apps like gallery, dialler or SMS app. Some shown here: https://lineageos.org/Changelog-28/ https://lineageos.org/Changelog-28/
aussieguy1234 2y ago
I've been using it for the past year and it works well. With one exception. The couple of times I've called emergency services, they were not able to detect my location since GrapheneOS does not support the protocol for this. So, I had to waste time giving directions. It's a tradeoff for privacy vs safety. It might be something to think about before, say, putting this on someone's phone who has a medical condition or is elderly. https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/1174 https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/1174

by fisian 2y ago

fmajid 2y ago

Probably the most secure mobile OS available to the public right now.

dsr_ 2y ago

+1 for Graphene -- installation is easy, documentation is not bad, and it's really easy on the battery.

yonatan8070 2y ago

I got a Pixel 8 to run GrapheneOS just last week, I installed it right after I got the phone after all the recommendations I read online. Before that I was using crDroid on a Poco F3 (I switched because the camera was quite awful and the battery got drained rather fast), and I was expecting some of crDroid's features that were just missing. A shortcut to the flashlight via power button long press, battery charge limit/smart charging, bandwidth display on the status bar, the option to add more columns to the quick settings, just to name a few. I ended up running crDroid on the Pixel as well, overall it's a decent experience, but not nearly as polished, it turns out I had to manually grant Google Play Services the location permission via ADB so apps would know where I am (missed a train to that one). I'd love it if there was some ROM that combined the security and sandboxing from GrapheneOS with all the neat little features in crDroid... or an actually good Linux phone.

jpk 2y ago
Would you mind talking a little bit about the threat model that would lead you to using Graphine on a new device? IIUC, you have to unlock the bootloader to use a custom ROM, which makes the device vulnerable to physical access in cases like theft, confiscation, etc. So you have to trade that for whatever the custom ROM gives you?
- yonatan8070 2y ago
  I don't think I have some crazy threat model, I just highly dislike giving Google more access to my own phone than I have. Although at the end I gave up on that due to the lack of features in GrapheneOS, and went back to crDroid with regular Google services installed as system apps.
- slashtab 2y ago
  To add to other replies GrapheneOS also provides USB-C exploit protection at hardware level.
- prmoustache 2y ago
  The bootloader is only unlocked for the first install, then locked again.
- yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
  Graphene only supports the pixel line, and part of the reason is because that's one of the very few (if not the only?) phones that let you relock the bootloader after installing a replacement ROM
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
aftbit 2y ago
Graphene's team takes a fairly hostile view towards feature creep, possibly for very good reasons. They basically only add features that improve security & privacy. Everything else is stock AOSP. My personal hill to die on is that the launcher uses lil tiny icons and text, which I find hard to read, and alternative launchers are a bit of a privacy and security disaster. They refuse to add anything to the built in launcher to adjust this, and suggest either raising all of the sizes (with accessibility, which affects all apps) or use an alternative launcher. Alas it is still a very nice operating system.
- NotPractical 2y ago
  Is there still the issue of third party Android launchers being treated as second-class, not allowed access to features like gesture navigation? I haven't used one in a while.
  - morserer 2y ago
    Nope! Third party launchers work just fine in GOS and other custom roms, with gesture navigation as well. The tough thing is that animations don't work well, at least in my experience. Most of the very slick "return to home" animations break on non-stock launchers, and it introduces stuttering on returning to home unless you're using 3-button navigation.
    - NotPractical 2y ago
      I probably wouldn't use an alternative launcher with those caveats attached. It seems the awkward animation thing may be a consequence of an Android security feature: > Why is the recent screen buggy? > Unfortunately, it is because the system launcher handles the Recents screen. Therefore, if you change the default launcher, weird things can happen [...] The only way to fix this is by having a Magisk module called QuickSwitch. https://lawnchair.app/faq/#why-is-the-recent-screen-buggy https://lawnchair.app/faq/#why-is-the-recent-screen-buggy (Can't vouch for the accuracy of this information as of $CURRENT_ANDROID_VERSION.)
- ParetoOptimal 2y ago

evolving-silica 2y ago

I wouldn't say most polished. Out of the box LineageOS comes with better stock apps like gallery, dialler or SMS app. Some shown here: https://lineageos.org/Changelog-28/ https://lineageos.org/Changelog-28/

aussieguy1234 2y ago

I've been using it for the past year and it works well. With one exception. The couple of times I've called emergency services, they were not able to detect my location since GrapheneOS does not support the protocol for this. So, I had to waste time giving directions. It's a tradeoff for privacy vs safety. It might be something to think about before, say, putting this on someone's phone who has a medical condition or is elderly. https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/1174 https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/1174