GrapheneOS has been around for a while, and it's a pretty neat piece of software.
You must log in or register to comment.
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don’t promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
Chat rooms
-
[Matrix/Element]Dead
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
- 0 users online
- 57 users / day
- 383 users / week
- 1.5K users / month
- 5.7K users / 6 months
- 1 subscriber
- 2.82K Posts
- 70.8K Comments
- Modlog
WTF is it supposed to mean?
Tried to switch to graphene for a bit. Way too many apps don’t work in it.
Maybe that can help you
Oh. I tried a bit before giving up. But lack of compatibility plus the insanely unreliable pixel battery just made me switch back to iPhone.
Thank you for the link though.
Could you elaborate? I’ve switched just to check it out and never moved back.
I love graphene as much as the next guy, but this article is pretty terrible. Badly researched, just spitting out talking points that are either flat out wrong, not the point of graphene or just scratching the surface. Look up the graphene homepage, if you actually want useful info.
I would love to make the switch, but I am certain that absolutely zero of my government mandated apps will run on this thing.
My government ID app works fine. Maybe try it first?
WTF do you mean “gvt mandated apps” !?!
Mandated is the wrong word. “Required for absolutely everything” is more precise. In Denmark you need an app called “MitID” to do any kind of digital verification. You can’t do online purchases, banking or digital bureaucracy without it.
How do people who don’t have smartphones do it? Is there some harder roundabout way?
You can use a keychain OTP generator (in Norway). I have no clue how it generates verifiable codes. The phone app is more convenient, and to the point at hand, actually connected to the internet/NFC. In any case it’s factor 1 in a 2FA (And then some), so the same way any 2FA would work.
Well sorry to hear that, it sounds like a special kind of hell.
It’s not really. Much better then US’ lack of any one consistent system (or even lack of electronic option) and random OTP generators. But makes switching phone OS feel like a pretty big risk.
As a GrapheneOS user, I approve this message.
Most important thing for some people: the battery of the pixel sucks balls
Do you mean that it’s worse on GrapheneOS in comparison to stock?
I’ve almost never had an issue. Like ever, unless I forget to set my phone on a charger when I went to bed. And even then, it would just be in the single digits by the end of the second night.
I think I’ve had my phone die on me twice since I’ve had it (Pixel 6 Pro).
I have an Oukitel and it uses 10% per day with medium usage. GPS and some video calling uses 20% on a day. Before that I used another Oukitel that only had a 720p screen. I could go for 20+ days on a single charge with not much usage.
These 1 charge per day devices are horrendous.
It’s ok if you don’t travel a lot, or always go home. But I tend to travel and be gone for the weekends.
Great. I don’t need that. That’s not even close to a selling point.
I guess if I needed to hike without a power source for a week, it would be.
So what is it?
I think what they attribute to that “android feel”, is google spying on them at every turn.
Unfortunately, Tinder doesn’t work and that is helpful to get in touch with the ladies. That app is too hell bent on location data which GOS handles more privately.
NFC should work, it is just scheduled to be deactivated after 3 months if not used for security reasons.
I think GOS is very user friendly and has many positive privacy and security enhancements. I would like to see if they can surpass sandboxed Google Play and officially support other repositories and updaters like Accrescent. Also, a standard way of securing traffic beyond encrypted DNS would be good such as a tor client like Orbot.
Looking into the Veilid ecosystem might also be a source for further development ideas.
you can setup seperate peofiles and jeep your GOS apps seperate from your open source app profile. that’s what I do.
Also accresent is already a part if the GrapheneOS appstore.
just use grindr instead like I do
One group of people who ain’t suffering from being lonely in today’s America
GrapheneOS also made me give up my heterosexuality /j
I am sure you are trying to be funny, but I am serious. They won’t let me reproduce in the US.
I am not gay or bi. I don’t like men. When priests molest little boys (or the FD and PD for that matter; I have verified the convictions) or men get anally raped in prisons (or by the Chicago PD or IDF: also fact) are you still pro-gay?
Fascists use gay to be homophobic against straights. There are violent and abusive gay men. This clown f-ed little boys and young men —> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy
If you want to know if an app works, you can start here: https://plexus.techlore.tech/ Still a young project so contributions are welcomed!
If you don’t have a Pixel like me, you can check out: https://e.foundation/ Runs since 3 years on my Fairphone 3 and gets better with every update
I’m not sure how to read the Plexus entries, and they don’t seem to be clickable. Would you mind explaining how to use the site in a meaningful way?
Ironically, Plexus currently crashes and won’t open on GrapheneOS. Both 2.0.3 on F-Droid and 2.0.6 on IzzyOnDroid.
Android Auto is borked and most camera features
Android auto also works fine for me. I haven’t used an android phone in years so I can only compair it to apple car play. There are extra configuration steps to make it work but its not hard (just have to read some messages and go through some menus)
Apple car play “just works”.
👍
Android Auto works fine for me and google camera also works fine.
The camera works but I was talking about it but the Google image processing features.
You can install the Google Camera app and get those.
Can someone give an example of an app that doesn’t work? I always hear about apps that do work, but is it mostly banking or some other category that doesn’t work typically?
Like you said, banking apps. The logic behind that is they use google to security check their apps. A random non-bank example would be the slick deals app. Without play services it would just open then crash.
Many apps use play services for their notification system. So for instance, proton mail works fine but notifications do not.
NFC is not supported, so anything that uses that won’t work.
Not an app, but I was surprised that widgets don’t work unless you’re in the primary profile. Technically they work on any profile, but they randomly get deleted, and frequently. It’s a known bug that probably will never get fixed because the source of it comes from stock android.
I will mention that you can have a profile running play services, which gives you access to many apps that wouldnt normally work. And it’s sandboxed so it has less impact on your information (I don’t know all the specifics but it does limit in some way how much it can snoop into the rest of the OS). Then you can also set up granular controls on your apps to limit them from snooping.
Thanks! I don’t think this will work for me. Where I live, most of the payments are made directly through banking apps by scanning a qr-code.
Yeah, that’s why I mentioned having a secondary profile. Some stuff like bank apps you just can’t get away from so a profile with play services running is a workable solution. If you have a pixel phone already, you can give it a shot. One very nice feature of GOS is that it’s super easy to install - and uninstall if it’s not for you.
Anything that uses NFC payments.
<end of list>
Some banking apps allegedly don’t work but i have never encountered one. If your bank has a mobile accessible website, it’s basically a non-issue.
More specifically, Play Integrity API will fail on the Play Service integrity check. If I recall correctly, this is why Google Pay won’t work on GrapheneOS.
Some banks require the app to be used as second factor to log into their website.
Can you work around it with magisk like rooted stock android? I bought my pixel specifically for graphene but google pay is the main thing preventing me from switching
google wallet is not required to be tied to any bank accounts, and US does not even support NFC within banking apps.
Both true statements. The banking apps that don’t work aren’t because google wallet doesn’t work, but because they use the same trust policies that Wallet requires in order to run (which GrapheneOS cannot meet because its not a “trusted” OS, per Google)
Random applications that use the play integrity API won’t work on any third party OSes or ROMs. For example I tried to install some Intuit app on my GOS Pixel a while back (credit karma I think?) and it didn’t work at all
Here’s a summary of the article and the seven key points mentioned about switching to GrapheneOS:
Summary: The article discusses GrapheneOS, a secure, privacy-focused mobile operating system based on Android. It highlights the benefits of switching to GrapheneOS, its features, compatibility, and user experience. The article also addresses potential concerns and provides information on reverting to standard Android if desired.
The seven things you should know before switching to GrapheneOS:
Compatibility: Currently only supported on Google Pixel devices (Pixel 3 or newer) due to their strong hardware-based security features.
App compatibility: Most apps are compatible, but some may require alternatives. A sandboxed version of Google Play can be installed for popular apps.
User interface: Similar to standard Android, but with enhanced privacy controls and a decluttered, ad-free experience.
Regular updates: Frequent security updates are provided to protect against the latest threats.
Community support: A dedicated community of users and developers is available to offer help and tips.
Reversibility: It’s possible to switch back to standard Android if you don’t like GrapheneOS.
Privacy and security features: Includes end-to-end encryption, revocable permissions, randomized MAC addresses, and strict app data access controls.
good human
Ty for the summary ChatGPT
Haha no worries 😅 I always appriciate summarys myself so I thought I would pay it forward
It’s a bad joke ✌️
That’s actually pretty rude to call someone a bot.
Ok bot
Fuck you too
Thank you for this.
No problems 😄
you/they mean the OEM operating system right?
Yes. You can go back to stock.
My point is that “stock” is not a “standard”. If anything GrapheneOS is more standard.
True. It’s close to AOSP. Don’t understand the downvotes.
Its pedantic and distracts from the real conversation happening. I’ve always considered “stock” to mean how the device ships from the factory (that’s how the term is used in the automobile world), whereas I would think it fair to consider AOSP a standard, it’s something you can compare other ROMs against.
Regardless of mine or anyone else’s opinion, we’re just ultimately wanting to talk about how GrapheneOS is much closer to the clean and uncluttered experience AOSP offers
Fair
Or any other rom, really. Stock, which is the Google version of Android, but the pixel line is well supported by lineage and other variants.
The summary kind of makes it sound like there’s a switch in settings and poof! you’re back at stock android. But I imagine you need to flash the new ROM and start from scratch.
Right. It’s different in that it lacks Google Framework Service, and adds a bunch of privacy controls, like additional quick toggles to control the cameras, and microphone, the way other Android can quick toggle the flashlight and location servcies and bluetooth.
The biggest thing is substantially more granular per app permissions, controlled from a calentral interface in settings.
No mention of the mental instability of the founder and the toxicity of the Dev team?
this could be said about many popular open source projects
…like Lemmy.
and its one of the “things you should know”
Pointing the blame away is not the right answer. Also it does not happen in Lineage OS, Calyx OS and many other similar projects.
I wasn’t trying to do that, just making a general statement
Generally irrelevant is kind of our point.
Does android auto work? Last I herd it did not…
It does
Neat.
Well, now I know what my next phone is. Does it work on the latest Pixel or does it have to be a previous version?
It works on the latest pixels
https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices
Thanks!
It does work on the Pixel 9 Generation and even on the Pixel Fold 9 and Pixel Tab.
Thanks!
I have the 8 Pro, and my wife has the 7 Pro, so I can confirm it works on those. No idea on the latest generation, but it’s likely that it works too.
For how long will the older pixel phones be supported? Is it worth it to buy a cheaper older model like pixel 6 and have graphene in it?
Cause I’m not giving more than 200-300 for a phone. I’ll stick to cheap android phones that lack nothing compared to expensive phones for my needs.
My 7a cost $300 this summer. Very expensive for me but I don’t regret. 8 is around $400 in that store now that 9 is out, maybe it would drop in price with time (or as 9a comes out?).
They have a list of dates on their FAQ for different devices. It sounds like you may get a few more years beyond when Google cuts off official support. https://grapheneos.org/faq#device-lifetime
You can just run Lineage OS with MicroG or Calyx OS. If you have all Foss apps you probably don’t even need MicroG
https://endoflife.date/pixel This is for googles support. GOS may support a specific device a little longer than google but does not promise to and recomends getting a newer device.
Pixel 8a looks real good right now.
Wait what do the android updates have to do with Graphene? Does the phone need to still be supported by Google and android for Graphene to be secure and work?
Graphene stops shipping any updates after the Google deadline
Yes. Many security updates come from upstream AOSP and then are put into GOS.
So when a device has stopped getting AOSP updates, it is unreasonable for GOS to continue support it. They can and I believe they have applied more critical security patches to just barely EOL devices, but this isn’t promised or expected.
They could just apply the patches they do have like the main android ones. I think that is BS personally
https://grapheneos.org/faq#legacy-devices
5a is EoL so no headphone jack for you. This is a nonstarter for portable devices to me.
USB C to AUX adapters work for me.
Having a secure and up to date device should likely be more important
It is great that works for you. However, you are not everyone
Flimsy awkward adapters + having to choose between charging or audio? But they had matching earbuds with irreplaceable batteries to sell…
Ugreen sells a dual adapter. I’m sure other make one too. Don’t choose, just have both.
https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Magnetic-Adapter-Charger-Charging/dp/B0CJXWJ596/
As for flimsy, unless you get apple’s piece of crap, they are resonably durable. Headphone cables were never know for duarbilty either.
Lastly, just leave the adapter plugged into your headphones or aux cable.
I’ll agree, they are awkward and I do miss my headphone port, but the
solutionwork around is not that deep.While the greater knowledge tells us the jack integration costs the manufacturer less than a greenback, the narrator buys @ 20× the price a dangling dongle whose DAC quality is an unknown. Strolling with cellular apparatus in hand, the narrator’s new phone tails are inserted—one side waving in the wind & the other causing a weird, uncomfortable cinch in the junction with 3.5mm jack. Additional stress is forced upon the singlar USB-C port. Who will last longer on this phone, port, battery, screen? “This is fine” he tells himself lifting the screen searching “best Bluetooth headphone 2024” just to see what’s out there—even tho his headphones have no performance issues & a replaceable, detachable cable already built to last.
NFC payments also don’t work. Non-starter for me
Is it because of your particular bank or is that a general problem?
google wallet in general will not work.
also bank apps utilizing NFC is not a thing in the US
Ah yes, a feature that I’d never be able to live without /s
The university that I’m at is trying to get new students to use a digital student id that uses google wallet for scanning I think. They aren’t giving any new students physical student id’s unless they need it for something that doesn’t work with the digital ones.
So yeah some people do need google wallet.
Cal state northridge?
Google Wallet works though. It’s just NFC and credit card payments that don’t. If you can add tickets and passes with barcodes, student ID will work.
The student id’s use nfc here. Nothing to scan.
Why not? You van set up a separate profile and install gplay services so pretty much anything would work under these conditions I assume
“I assume” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
as someone who runs GrapheneOS and looked into the possibility of doing contactless payments: no. it simply does not work. all the contactless payment apps can somehow detect you’re not running the stock OS for the phone and choose to lock themselves down.
cashapp and venmo will also freeze your accounts almost immediately upon installation and login and, in my case with cashapp, insinuate you may be reported to law enforcement for fraud when you appeal with info about your phone lmao
Didnkot expect that, thanks for the details.