You should consider buying a flip phone and only put in SIM card when you need it, assuming you can acquire SIM card without your name on it where you live

I am considering iPhone as well, since it has “reputation” of being secure.

Which doesn't mean private.

Pixel+Graphene is a common suggestion.

For real privacy you can't beat these.

I've been rocking a Pixel 8 pro with Graphene OS for a year and change and it was a great experience after being an iPhone user for 8 years aproximately.

The install process is great, automatic and foolproof, you just need the phone, usb cable (probably came with your phone) and a computer with a Chromium-based browser.

App support hasn't been a problem for me, you can reach for Aurora Store (anonymous Play Store client) if you really need something from there. Otherwise you have F-droid and the usual suspects and also Accrescent, which Graphene offers through its own app store, but barely has anything as of today.

I setup Shelter to have some apps more isolated and being able to just not see them if I want, namely some Microsoft apps I need for work and some that depend o Google's services. Shelter is recommended by privacyguides.org, so you should be fine using it.

I think Pixel/Graphene is probably your best option for security if you need it. Privacy I guess you can achieve many other ways.

Using a Pixel 6 with Graphene here with google services in their sandbox. It's pretty neat, especially with apps like Firefox+uBlock and GrayJay, which let me also block 99% of ads, which was very important to me. I have not had trouble with any banking apps either.

best choice for privacy [...] “reputation” of being secure

Disentangling privacy and security, and potentially other priorities, e.g. secrecy, anonymity, etc might be important before making suggestion.

Another way to help deciding what is the best choice for you, not necessarily anybody else, is what is your threat model?

An analogy I thought recently is "Are you putting a very tough lock on your door but leaving the windows opened?" or "Are you locking your car but walking outside naked?". The point here is not to imply that people do obvious mistakes but rather that, truly there are people who go to parades naked AND lock their cars. The concerns can be orthogonal and thus must be considered individually. For that I believe thinking about "who the enemy is" as a way to discover your threat model is interesting, namely :

Are you worried by :

• government getting your private data without your consent?
• government doing so automatically and cheaply through intermediaries e.g. platforms?
• government doing so via extremely costly individual security attacks e.g. 0-days, with a "legit" hacker manually doing it?
• small private companies?
• platforms?
• your actual neighbor?

The answer to those questions will then provide you a more limited set of options. Basically I would argue only the 3rd option ties tightly with security but that's up to a certain extent and companies like Pegasus shows that it can also be done at scale, for profit. Still, AFAICT it wasn't done for a random person BUT that was few years ago.

Anyway one you go through options, e.g. iPhone vs Android vs deGoogled Android vs Linux phone vs dumb phone you will see your usage itself will have to change. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it is not something most people will think about initially.

I suggest then to... try. I know it's not the answer you want but what you are asking for, I believe, is genuine change. It is about the technology, yes, but it also is about your habits. Consequently it is a process with some success, failures, cascading changes and thus IMHO must be iterated on.

It is worth it though.

I bought a Fairphone 3 and put LineageOS on it a few years back and can recommend it. LineageOS is less secure than GrapheneOS as far as I can tell but the privacy aspect is there, as you have a completely degoogled phone. I have some friends that have the same setup on the newer Fairphones and they are also very happy and have a smoother experience than me, because it is a newer phone.

Fairphone is an European country that has a move to open source (https://www.fairphone.com/en/open-source/).

To the compatibility and functionality:

• SMS and Calling is no problem, VoLTE works and as SMS app I recommend QUICK.
• AppStore I recommend F-Droid and Aurora Store. With Aurora Store you can download and install all apps that are on the Google Store. Just check, that your Banking Apps and so on support non-Google-Android OSs as some people I know had to switch back because some banks and services only work with Google Services (and that is a shame in my opinion, a Bank should NEVER be dependent on other companies for transactions and authentication. I for my part switched bank because of such a thing.)
• microG can be used to use apps that need Google services, I do not use it but friends use it and are happy

In general you will find an replacement for every app you now use that is from a big company. Open Source came a long way and most alternatives are even better in my opinion.

Privacy finished with the first Smartphone

I'm currently testing lineageos on a oneplus 6t since it is dirt cheap (from 50€$) ob ebay.

So far my track record has been:

• Around 6 months of daily use
• wifi, bluetooth, lte, gsm all work without issues
• calls work 99% (same as iphone)
• headset needs usbc bc no headphone jack. Works with adapter but so far only for music
• camera works, qr codes work
• nfc works but without google services, ive found no oayment provider thay supports it
• around 16 hrs of battery life under normal use
• no ads in os (or browser, thanks to ublock)

As with all custom roms, you need to unlock the bootloader and if you dont encrypt, you should not do anything on the phone that cant ever be found by a third party, say law enforcement. I would argue that the majority of phones with a locked bootloader arent any better but apparently, if you want that extra security, graphene on a pixel seems to be much more fitting. I have heard of issues with reliability so I'll stick with lineage.

I do develop for and did try postmarketos (actual linux) and I love it. But its absolutely not end user ready from last time i used it. If you tinker and want to help, postmarketos deserves your help but please dont use it as a daily and expect more than 80% reliability. Its for people who love linux and want it to become the real deal and who can manage their frustrations.

I think you're mixing privacy with security, iPhone is secure but it's not private, it's slighty more private than Google Android but not what would you call private.

Samsung can soft brick your phone so basically backdoor.

Google Pixel with custom ROM like GrapheneOS or CalyxOS is considered to be best in terms of privacy.

Another cheaper alternative if you don't want to give money to Google or spend too much is Motorola G32, G42, G52 with CalyxOS but to unlock bootloader you have to make account on their website.

In EU, I would recommend a xiaomi. Cheap, bootloader unlockable (which breaks security a little since you cant relock), but they are a gamble in terms of reliability.

What apps do you need? Do you know that app support is lacking on GOS or just think it? I would go with Pixel8a and GOS.

pigeon with paper that lights itself on fire when human skin touches it

GrapheneOS tested and I ended up going back to Apple.

It’s good in concept but in reality you’re just forced to used play services because most apps require it, but you lose mobile payment and access to some apps because you’re not running a whitelisted OS. App makers don’t give a fuck because custom ROM users are fewer than Linux users, and we all know most software and games don’t give a fuck about Linux users.

Stock GrapheneOS also feels like a jump in the past in terms of UI and accessibility. I felt like I was always going out of my way to make it somewhat usable.

The Pixel also has a battery that doesn’t last long and poor charge retention on idle (Android phones do be like that though). I found out that many tasks cause it to heat a lot. Something like updating an app takes ages and shows visual bugs, like no progress indicator.

I hate Apple but at least I trust that they don’t sell my data to everyone, and they have a good UI.

If the end it’s about how much you’re willing to trade your convenience for privacy. I realized I wasn’t ready.

Not advice, just an anecdote I switched to grapheme (pixel 8a) not long ago and its really great I haven't even been tempted to go back. I think its a great choice

Pixel unlocked and install grapheneOS or lineageOS

Sunbeam f1

Just to let you know, GrapheneOS uses AOSP (the base Android system) and sandboxed Google Play Services, making it compatible with 90% of all Android applications. From what I've heard (don't take my word for it), the apps that have the least compatibility / more breakage are banking ones.

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Please note: You must buy the "Unlocked - Works with any carrier" version of the Pixel via Googles website (or from a reputable source that ensures it is/was not carrier locked). Anything else will have a permanently locked boot loader and no way to install Graphene.

1. Pixel, and immediately install GrapheneOS.
2. A Linux based phone, like the PinePhone or Purism 5, and run your Android apps (if desired) inside Waydroid.

In my opinion, the Google Pixel with GrapheneOS is considered the gold standard in terms of security and privacy. While I am not fully knowledgeable about its capabilities, it offers a comprehensive suite of security features.

The iPhone is also a viable option. You can easily swap between iCloud to a more secure encrypted provider for both cloud storage and photo backups. Additionally, any notes application can be replaced with a more secure alternative.

Samsung phones can support a range of operating system images that can be flashed, including LineageOS. However, I am not fully aware of all the available options.