100
Graphene OS Situation (sh.itjust.works)

I know the generall guidance for private phones was Pixel with graphene OS. I was financially planing on buying a 10th gen pixel when they come out later this year to only put gos on it. However with the recent news, I am wondering if this is still the recommended best practice from this community.

I am worried that if the gos team needs to spend tonnes of ressources on maintaining basic drivers and stuff then they won't have any time to work on the privacy and security features they are best known for.

What is your oppinion?

Also does anyone have a way to dpam feedback to google? I couldn't finf a generall feedback form, but if they know that people aren't buying their hardware because of this decision, they might back down. (I really fell in love with gos researching it lately so I would hate to have to switch to something like /e/ os or calyx or something)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] utopiah@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

Ah, glad you asked because this is precisely what I highlighted to a friend yesterday : it works, even that!

I make online purchases, like train tickets here in Belgium on the go, with the phone, via the website of SNCB (the national railroad) or any most other commercial website basically. So yes at least some banking apps do work, as I can't obviously confirm for ALL of them.

In practice you get App Lounge in anonymous mode, letting you download and install apps from the (proxied AFAICT) Play Store. So you do not need to login to any store yet can install apps beyond solely F-Droid. That being said the vast majority of Apps I use come from F-Droid or directly install the .apk via adb.

[-] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago

Aha! Thank you :) My next phone will definitely be /e/os then. I can't really justify buying a new phone now when my old phone works, but maybe a refurbished one wouldn't add to e-waste I guess.

[-] utopiah@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

Please don't hesitate to ask questions as they come. I'm not /e/OS expert but this was the last piece in my transition from proprietary tech and walled gardens, so I admit very glad I tried and happy with the result!

PS: maybe /eOS work with a phone you or a friend has, see https://doc.e.foundation/devices

[-] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 day ago

Thank you, it is for me too. I've been running linux and bsd for 15 years, and now I've realized that my phone and the services I use have been a blind spot. I have two phones that are supported to install but only through adb. What does os version S,T,U mean in the list?

[-] utopiah@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

been running linux and bsd for 15 years, and now I’ve realized that my phone and the services I use have been a blind spot.

Exactly! Few months ago a friend was home and I was proudly showcasing my HomeAssistant on RPi, all ZigBee, no non-standards IoT, no vendor lock-in, SteamDeck to play on Linux, streaming videos with VLC on my video projector via miniDLNA, etc. He was impressed... then asked "Right, and what's your phone?" to which I, quite ashamed, had to confess I was relying on an iPhone. It was secure, no Android, etc. On that day I thought "Ok... ok I got PinePhones, I got other gadgets but somehow this specific part of my digital life is wrong!" and thought I should try, even if it wouldn't work, something else. I also wanted, due to geopolitics (sadly), a non American solution so checked https://volla.online/ which looked wonderful but too expensive for a test. Noticed Murena, French based, refurbished or even new phones but much lower price but still paying for service and I hope for /e/OS maintenance and voila, found a compromise that works for me for now!

S,T,U are build versions, where S and T are official and U is community. You can see a discussion on https://community.e.foundation/t/difference-between-e-os-builds/60585/7

this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2025
100 points (96.3% liked)

Privacy

38936 readers
637 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS