Cheaper options than Graphene? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) by Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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Update: I wanna thank everyone for the advice, I'm shipping the bunk phone back for refund today and ive got my eye on a few from swappa and back market for when I get the money to buy.

I'll probably try out graphene but after looking into crdroid I'm pretty stoked about it having all the customization I've been wanting for ages. Which ever feels cleaner to manage and easier for the family to pick up will probably be the go to.

So I fell for the classic blunder and ended up with a pixel that's not OEM unlocked despite being advertised as such. After a few hours of searching it looks like the only way I'm getting an OEM unlocked pixel is full price from Google itself. I don't have $400 for a new phone, I bought the one I have for $150 in 2019.

Are there any cheaper ways to get control of my phone?

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[-] Ignoranceisnotabliss@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Buy some old chinashit and flash lineage/cr droid, they actually give you more control than graphene

[-] LytiaNP@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago

What about Lineage gives you more control than GOS? I personally have never tried LineageOS since I have a pixel, but curious what it's like over there.

[-] dx1@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago

Graphene is designed to restrict a lot of choices (and root access) to be secure by default, Lineage is designed to give you root control over everything. Very different approaches.

[-] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

This is actually the best option I've gotten so far, crdroid looks good. Is there anywhere I can find a video that explains the daily use side of it?

[-] BigBolillo@mgtowlemmy.org 1 points 1 day ago

Why not e/os GSI?

[-] exu@feditown.com 1 points 21 hours ago

That's basically LineageOS with some pre-configuration for microg

[-] BigBolillo@mgtowlemmy.org 1 points 20 hours ago

Not exactly it has some interesting customizations like tracker blocking, geo mock and tor included by default. Is a privacy oriented ROM. Not as private as graphene but I believe it's a good alternative for non-pixel, another one is iodeOS.

this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026

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