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What's the best strategy for changing to GrapheneOS? (lm.paradisus.day)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I have a google pixel, and I know I could install grapheneOS on it. But I'm very, very hesitant, since I depend so much on my phone.

This isn't like distro hopping, where I feel more comfortable hot swapping ssds, or making partitions, or using my desktop while I tinker with my laptop. My phone has a SIM and the service I depend on can't be emulated off this phone.

So what do you recommend I do? Should I move my SIM (my phone service, really) to a new phone while I tinker with this one? Can I just blow up the current OS and wing it? Or maybe theres another option that would allow me to bail back to stock android in case something goes wrong. What do you think?

EDIT: how I use my phone: about everything I use is from fdroid, with the occassional app from aurora. I do use my banking app to cash checks, but I don't use whatsapp, google pay, which I know arent compatible. So as far as app compatibility I dont think it'll be a problem, Im mostly worried about my phone number not working. I dont know how SIMs work like I should, I just know Ive had the strangest issues in the past with it, so Im hesitant. Thanks for the replies so far.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I made the switch when I got a new phone. So I kept both the old phone with android and the new phone with GrapheneOS. There was a transition period when I would bring both phones with me, just in case. Now my old phone is my "whatsapp" phone which I keep at home and turn on rarely. During the transition period I used my old phone number whenever I needed to provide my phone to use a service, but eventually I transitioned that to a VoIP. But, even then, many services will reject VoIP phone numbers, so I still make use of the old one.

I had to request a special scanner from my bank because the banking apps do not work with GrapheneOS. And I had to make sure that nothing important goes into my gmail anymore because google would request that I used my old phone 2FA in the most inconvenient moments, and also I don't want to access google from my GrapheneOS phone.

I think that there are many annoyances that can and probably will happen if you try to jump right into GrapheneOS after having previously relied in the google/meta ecosystem. If you attempt to switch too quickly you might inadvertently lose access to your bank, and you might become suddenly unable to communicate with family and friends. My government's online identification system requires that I use their app, which runs on google services, so I still have to use my old phone for that. And I have encountered situations in which the only reasonably convenient way to proceed is to download an app. For example, recently I registered for a gym that would then require me to use their google-store app so that I could identify myself when purchasing a physical card.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Does WhatsApp not work at all on Graphene OS or do you just need to enable Google Play services for it to work? (I do understand why you personally may not want to enable the Play services, but I'm just curious about the potential capabilities).

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

@Antiochus @Sal Graphene or any clean Custom-ROM is a waste of time if you intend to use Whatsapp or any of META, TikTok and the like. https://medium.com/@TalBeerySec/hi-meta-whatsapp-with-privacy-6d646c5aa3bc

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The official GrapheneOS Twitter account states the complete opposite on several occasions:

https://nitter.net/GrapheneOS/status/1692002070650335259#m

Many people have the misconception that they're defeating the purpose of GrapheneOS by using privacy invasive apps but in fact the opposite is true. If you want to use those apps, then using GrapheneOS allows you to protect your privacy from them far better than another OS.

https://nitter.net/GrapheneOS/status/1728630943886270827#m

GrapheneOS arguably makes the biggest difference for someone who is going to be using a bunch of mainstream apps including very privacy invasive ones. They need features like Storage Scopes and Contact Scopes more.

https://nitter.net/GrapheneOS/status/1745532453215781151#m

You'll substantially benefit from our privacy and security features without making significant changes to your apps. In fact, you'll benefit more from features like Storage Scopes, Contact Scopes, Sensors toggle, etc. if you use a bunch of very privacy invasive apps.