Hey there! i currently have a Samsung Galaxy A55 and i want to try one of the privacy focused phones. But idk which is the best i could try.
My findings:
- Fairphone with /e/OS, but ive heard /e/OS is apparantly not that secure.
- Google Pixel with GrapheneOS, but with this one I still need to buy from Google.
- Linux phones, but I’m concerend they dont support all the apps i want to use.
that being said, can you use MicroG instead of Google Services for ALL apps? or does it only work for things like Revanced?
edit:
i also use a Samsung smartwatch with Google Wallet so would this still be possible with an alternate OS?
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ShiftPhones, FairPhones, Volla (german, dutch, finnish) with LineageOS or PostMarketOS rather than e/os (bad fork of LineageOS, SUCKED to export my data once the os lagged so badly. rejects connections and makes my life unecessesarily difficult.)
or just y"know pick up a samsung S4. watch the teardown videos by i forget who. physically remove WiFi Bluetooth receiver, GSM radio receiver, front back cam, the three microphones on it, the gyroscope, i forget what else. then connect it to internet using the linux app gnirehtet and a cable.
I wish there was a Pixel with an SD card slot. That is the main reason I’m still, grudgingly, on Samsung.
For linux phones can’t you use waydroid which gets you support for all android apps? Pls don’t quote me on this though.
I guess apps that require Google play services won’t work.
If you have $150 to spare (depending on country), a secondhand Pixel 7a is a great starting point to try out GrapheneOS without directly contributing to Google. Just make sure it’s carrier unlocked so it allows bootloader unlocking. For $100 more, a Pixel 8a will get you several more years of software support. Practically everything just works with GrapheneOS.
Fairphone with /e/OS is leagues better than Googled Android, but little to no additional security hardening has been done over plain AOSP (which itself is quite secure against non-state-sponsored attacks to be fair). Also, some pings to Google have yet to be patched out, see https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm
Linux phones are much better than they were a few years ago, but unless your workflow tolerates the occasional disruption due to a bug or missing feature, they aren’t exactly production-ready for most users. But a good sneak peek into the future of privacy phones given the way Android is headed now.
MicroG works for many things, but not everything. Google’s own apps don’t play well and some of my work apps don’t send notifications when using MicroG. But GrapheneOS supports a sandboxed, proper instance of Google Play Services should you need it.
Google Wallet and anything requiring the Play Integrity API will not work with third-party OSes, not even GrapheneOS (perhaps until they release their own phone).
Non smart phones
I got a used Pixel 8 Pro at the beginning of the summer and have been running Graphene OS ever since. Graphene OS is by far the most secure and private OS available. Saved my stupid ass from a data harvesting malware.
I’m a big fan of /e/OS, use it daily and love it. As I understand it, it is as secure as Google Android, just tons more private. So security wise it seems fine to me, my risk profile is just regular mainstream
The Fairphone 6 is also great!
Honestly, with Fdroid and many other open source projects at risk after Google’s last madness, I wouldn’t take anything Android anymore (nor Apple of course).
My next phone will either be a dumbphone or a Linux phone.
This is maybe a dumbass idea but god I wish a blackberry was still possible in the USA
Waiting for sailfish OS ports to get VOLTE working, I’d love to use a oneplus 6t with sailfish in the US
As of things stand right now, android is realistically still the only game in town.
If you get an android with a custom ROM you will still be able to install apps, even if f-droid decides that it isn’t worth maintaining the project for a much smaller userbase, someone will fork f-droid or you can still use Obtanium to obtain apps.
Whatever it is, it has to be able to connect to 4g networks.
I plan to use a Pixel 9 with Graphene, but plan to buy one used from a private party. You’re still inadvertently supporting Google but at least less directly. I’d never buy something new from them.
One that isn’t controlled to bleat out Netanyahu’s diatribe.
imo tbh anything with lineageos is good enough. no gapps, microg if needed, and afwall/adaway(if that’s impossible, rethinkdns).
You don’t need to buy from Google if you buy your pixel used.
ebay screwed me over when i tried to get my last fairphone and it’s obvious why we should stay away from amazon.
where else can I buy?
tradera
Do you have olx in your country?
i’m in the united states and surprised to learn that we don’t have everything here. lol
Please don’t invade us, i’m sure we can make a deal lol
be sure hide your oil. lol
Your local craigslist equivalent, face2face
Is there a website for this? Google doesn’t show anything related to buying phones
Swappa
It’s weird that I can’t find cmf or nothing phones that are unlocked
That’s what I did 😁
this is the way
Jolla Phone and Sony Xperia with Sailfish OS Pixel with GrapheneOS Fairphone with (multiple options) PinePhone (not recommended, old tech)
this Jolla phone seems pretty cool. do u think it would support a samsung smart watch?
Don’t know sorry. I think someone wrote an app for the old pebble time watch back then (2019). Just look in the SailfishOS app stores if there is an app for your watch. You can access them via web browser https://openrepos.net/
The newest info I found was from march but back then the answer was no.
https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/bluetooth-connection-to-smart-watch/22668/2
According to the Supported Devices list Sony Xperia 10 IV doesn’t have AppSupport (running Android apps) yet but when it arrives I’m curious to try it.
The Jolla Phone C2 is way too large for my taste (I consider the 10 IV to be slightly too large tbh) and I can find no info on the max screen brightness and I don’t want to end up with another device I can’t use properly when the sun shines (FairPhone 4 is barely usable outside in the sun).
Have you tried Sailfish OS yourself and if so what’s your thoughts?
I have used sailfishOS back in 2019 on my XA2. I used it without license (demo basically) without knowing it. Was familiar enough with Linux to update and manage apps by myself. But all in all. It was a nice year with that phone. Many problems are fixed by now. I wanted to use it with a pebble back then but I could not get one at that time. I switched later to GrapheneOS and bought a Pixel 3. Why? More Privacy/Security Features. But I miss my handy Linux terminal…. Also leaned a little Qt to Programm or fix simple apps on Sailfish. My XA2 got now a license for SailfishOS and lies in my drawer since I sometimes want to test apps
regarding your edit:
From what I know neither grapheneos or e/os support google wallet.
edit: https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/issues/2455
Confirming that Graphene does not have NFC, and as such cannot support any payment system.
Edit: I stand corrected. GOS does have NFC but it’s the payment system hat needs to be compatible (and Google wallet is not)
This is incorrect. GrapheneOS supports NFC, and works just fine with NFC-based payment systems. Google Pay is an exception, because Google specifically chose to disable it on any device that isn’t whitelisted by them. Other apps, such as Curve Pay, PayPal or banking apps with a built-in NFC payment feature work without issues.
Good call. I didn’t know that any banking apps were working with it at all, so good to know there are some. I also don’t know why I said that it didn’t support NFC as I did know it has it, but somehow in my mind payment platforms became the use case, and therefore not supported.
You can use the
contactless payments supportedtag when searching the GrapheneOS banking app compatibility list on GitHub. https://github.com/PrivSec-dev/banking-apps-compat-report/issues?q=is%3Aissue+label%3A"contactless+payments+supported"Running /e and Google wallet does not work
That’s what they said.
They said “from what I know” which implies uncertainty, while the response made clear, no it doesn’t work.
e/OS is privacy focused, not security focused
A simple solution here to avoid feeding the monster would be to buy a Pixel second hand
I think you’re right to be concerned, I wouldn’t recommend using a Linux phone as a primary device just yet. By all means try it out on a secondary phone though!
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If Google manages to win their recent developer registration, forking AOSP and making lineage and graphene, operating systems in their own right, or using Linux mobile, may be about the only options, either that or go back to desktop and declare mobile as a failure.
Yeah, PostmarketOS still has some broken features when looking at FairPhone4 and SailfishOS doesn’t fully support Sony Xperia 10 IV yet (both phones I own) but when either get’s a bit better supported I will try them out.
Banking apps in Sweden and more specifically the Mobile “BankID” are big fans of Google Play Integrity services though and the BankID is used to identify yourself at a huge amount of services making it hard to live without so I’ve pretty much accepted I will have to use two phones in the future - one for Work+Banking and one for the rest.
Not sure what you’re quoting but in Sweden the Mobile BankID is used as a digital ID on company sites and apps too, so even with a physical bank security device that gives you access to your bank website you’re still locked out of a lot of services in Sweden.
yes without BankID alot of services are unaccessible. atleast internet purchases are possible with a physical device the swedish banks hand out. used to be cardreaders, now just a device scanning a QR code then prompts a personal code and returns a code.
idk why it turnt into a quote, sorry. am having some lag and formating issues with the blorb client to piefed.
I bank on Monero