this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2025
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Already using GrapheneOs on my phone, so fuck Google.
Wait until Google locks the bootloader.
I know that the GrapheneOS team have mumbled about the possibility of working on their own device. Although, this would probably be a long way off if it ever did come to fruition.
Maybe shit like this will push them down that road faster. We need options for sure.
Donate to the project. Graphene is run by a very small group of people who are very good at automation.
I don't think they could effectively produce a whole new platform unless they had a lot more help.
If you value privacy, gonna have to crack open the wallet or volunteer to help.
If we just hope someone will save us, we are going to be very disappointed.
But, what happens when Google decides to no longer the option to unlock the bootloader for future phones? It's the future that is the concern when it comes to the degoogle options available.
Then the community shifts to a different model, or puts more resources behind mobile Linux projects, and all that would need to happen is something like what Valve did for Linux for the Steam Deck.
I'm ready to switch to a Linux phone as soon as I can find one where the basic phone features work properly (MMS, wake from sleep, camera, etc). The more people like me can switch, the closer we'll be to mainstream adoption. That's the same process as Linux has been going through: I switched before Steam on Linux was a thing, then Steam came and more switched, then Proton made windows games work and more switched, etc, and now we're seeing the start of "normal" people switching.
I hope that happens before my Pixel 8 goes out of support or breaks.
https://furilabs.com/shop/flx1/
I'm already seriously considering giving this a go as my next phone soon. My current phone is desperately in need of replacement.
If it goes well I will be vocal about it.
Yeah, it looks cool, but I'm not really in a position to be a guinea pig. If they were around 2 years ago, I probably would've given it a shot.
I am looking for another phone at some point in the next year (kids getting about that age), so if I hear good things, I might just pull the trigger. It is a bit chonkier than my current phone, which isn't great (30mm longer, 10mm wider, and 110g heavier), but according to reviews, it seems to fix all the issues I have w/ the PinePhone.
Who knows, maybe your review will push me over the edge in deciding to get it.
If I were to switch to a Linux phone I'd want it to be made for an open and trusted OS, not the (unknown to me at least) manufacturers own.
Eh, you'd want something like this to run something custom, because there's going to be a lot of iteration and it'll be harder to push things through a distribution they don't control.
It seems to be Debian based and has some customizations to make work w/ Android apps nicer (Halium support).
I would personally prefer PostmarketOS, but I'd be fine w/ that being a community effort as long as Furilabs doesn't block installing alternatives.
Sucks that it only works on devices made by Google though..
What kind of phone?
I want to know, too. I got a Samsung s23 when my last phone suddenly died and I only then realized thar it wasn't compatible.
The joke is that GrapheneOS only works on Google Pixel phones.
Fuck Google!
Gives Google $900
Eh, I got a used Pixel 8 for $350 or so, and it works great with GrapheneOS.
My gold standard is a proper Linux phone, but those aren't reliable enough yet, so using Google's phone is the next best option.
I spent a mere $500 for my Pixel 9a. Most expensive phone I've ever owned. But at least I can send a text message from inside my house and make phones from out in my yard now.
You can get a cheap refurb Pixel. The returns are very diminishing these days on new models anyway.
I noticed that, and they are expensive.
Bought a Pixel 7a new below 350 EUR last december. Buying used is also an option.
That is reasonably priced. I have another year on my current phone before it is paid off. I armored it up like there is no tomorrow so it should last without a breakage.
I had a problem for years of buying cases and tempered glass for my phone since I had a phone break BECAUSE of those things.
Is it good?
I went from 15 years of iPhones directly to Graphene, without really messing with Android in between, so my experience has been a STEEP learning curve, followed by a fairly hum-drum experience. But honestly, that's fine. I want my phone to take more of a back seat and not be something I keep needing to worry about.
My banking app doesn't work in Graphene, but the website does, so I don't really mind.
It could that there's a whole bunch of shit I'm missing, but mostly it's... fine.
It's very "meh..." with the added benefit of several (non-google) apps not working (/s). I choose to live with this inconvenience, but it still bothers me that my smartphone is significantly less useful in my daily life.
Honestly, smart phones being less useful in daily life is probably a good thing.
You always have a choice. You can ditch your morals entirely, give up, be subservient to the capitalists and give your identity over fully to the system like the good little consumer slave you are and enjoy your normie life looking at your normie phone and toss us all out as tinfoil-hatted weirdos who almost convinced you to make your life worse for the sake of self-sufficiency, independence and privacy.
No one in the real world will ever know, care, or judge you. Only you will know that you gave up, that every location you exist in is known about by someone behind a monitor being overseen by fascists. Every day! You can live with that, right? That's a small thing to give up in the grand scheme of things, isn't it? At least Youtube loaded today, right? It's all worth it, lol.
Just remember to type "thanks" in google keyboard whenever you want them to know you appreciate them. They log it.
Oh yes I forgot that pointing out the flaws in privacy-related things, so people who are interested in switching know what they're potentially getting in to, is a big NoNo here...all hail the perfect FOSS which can do no wrong.
The purity tests are so exhausting
Yup, privacy (and many other things) should be done to ones ability and not to ability of others.
They’re the ones foisting their requirements on others. Somebody shares what they do, and the purists come storming in with their righteous condescension. Nobody asked for that negativity.
In this case, your assessment is fair - user is harsh, name-calls, and does talk down to the person they were responding to/the reader. I got lost in the chain.
Regardless, accusations of purity testing come up more than enough online for my liking and it isn't always in response to righteous condescension, as you aptly described the user's behavior in this example.
Don't feel pressured by me. If you feel pressured yourself, it may be a form of projected guilt.
If you don't find privacy and security important enough to give up your connectivity or usability, that's perfectly fine. I don't have to live with it.
Dead Kennedys were prophetic when they named one of their albums "Give me convenience or give me death".
Having not used default Android for many years now, what makes GrapheneOS worse (aside from a few apps not working - which isn't an issue I've had, fortunately)?
GrapheneOS is not worse than other custom ROMs, never said it was. it's a mediocre experience best described with a "meh..." and a shrug.
Sorry, I was asking about GrapheneOS vs stock Android. I assumed that your comments on it were in comparison to stock Android since that's what the previous user most likely was asking for.
The answer is the same, very average.
Yes, ive had zero issues with it 👍
You have to pay google to use it (only works on pixel phones afaik).
There's a thriving used market with significant discounts if you're willing to go 1-2 models back from the latest ones.
The issue isn't that. It's that devs may juat abandon projects if they're too naughty for Google cos the custom ROM crowd is so tiny.
Right so think torrent clients, idk, Pornhub app, that sort of thing. Yeah, it doesn't affect your phone. But it absolutely will affect what software is available at all should Google clamp down on this.