this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2024
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Privacy

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I am a long term GrapheneOS user and would like to talk about it. r/privacy on the redditland blocks custom OS discussions which I think is very bad for user privacy, and I hope this post will be useful to anyone who are in the hunt for better privacy.

Nowadays smartphones are a much bigger threats to our privacy and Desktop systems, and unfortunately manufacturers has designed them to be locked down devices with no user freedom. You can't just "install Linux" on most smartphones and it is horrible. And most preloaded systems spy on us like crazy. That was why I specifically bought a pixel and loaded GOS onto it.

According to https://grapheneos.org/features , they start from base AOSP's latest version, imptoves upon it's security and significantly hardens it. There's hardened_malloc to.prevent against exploitation, disabling lots of debugging features, disabling USB-c data, hardening the Linux kernel and system apps etc. They even block accessing the hardware identifiers of the phone so that apps cannot detect whqt phone you're using. That means with Tor and zero permissions given, apps are anonymous.

Compatibility with apps are best in Custom ROMs but there are still that can't work, especially if they enforce device integrity. Very few apps usually enforce that tho. Also their community isn't the friendliest but you can get help. Just don't try and engage too much or have too many debates.

Anyone else here use GrapheneOS, or any other privacy ROMs? What is your experience? Do you disagree on any point? Let's have a discussion!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I've been using it on multiple devices for multiple years.

It works for me, and every app in want to use works. I've found that when they don't, it almost always is broken on the stock OS also.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

How do you find it as a daily driver in terms of QoL features such as banking apps and payments etc?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Not a problem. Google Play is still available, with all apps you have today. If you want to run that, then it works allmost like stock but with more control over everything. Only thing missing is Google Pay and I strugle with RCS messages. I never use SMS so I don't care about that one and it could be just me.

Alternatively you can run Google Play Services in a different, sandboxed profile if you're going for privacy.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks, that's useful, I think it's convinced me to finally switch

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

I've been using it for just over 2 years now and am very happy with it. I am curious about CalyxOS though. While I don't think I'd switch I'd be interested in a technical deep dive comparison between the 2.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Pixel 6a with GrapheneOS here. Been using for about a year and a half, and loving it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

I don't like the fingerpront sensor. Other than that it works great for me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Exact same setup here! Almost no problems. Also loving it

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