Meshtastic. There is actually a meshtastic Lemmy community. It can do texts.

Mureno will provide service for FairPhone 6. It has microphone and video kill switch, fakes geolocation, spoofs IP, uses app trackers detection, and doesn't really have bloatware. The ecosystem is carefully curated and managed. I like it better than Fossify but still diversify a few things just because.

I use NextDNS and tight domain filters. Got rid of MicroG. Love it.

I think you can only simplify things so much without making the entire thing pointless. As others have already said, install GrapheneOS yourself — it's almost as easy as making an online purchase. And remember the phone is inherently a tracking device no matter what — especially if the cellular/radio stack is active.

I don't think there's any more shortcuts that can be taken if security and protection from surveillance are actually important.

GrapheneOS is good and surprisingly simple to install.

Just buy a Pixel 9a for him and install GrapheneOS on it.

You mentioned Graphene in the subject and then didn't mention it again. Why not Graphene?

What this person is describing is a recent ios device with lockdown on, biometrics off, adp on and an understanding that no us carrier can offer cell service with security or privacy from the us government because of the lawful intercept backdoor.

They need to change their behavior to include turning their phone off frequently and incorporate practice using their phones duress inputs. They need to recognize that the phone is always a tracking device and cannot function in the way they want without being a tracking device. Because of that last part, and because the metadata delivered to phones is now used to direct police action, they need to understand that phones can’t come with them to organizing or protest and they can’t communicate about those things using the phone no matter what app or encryption is employed.

It’s also important to recognize that if the people they’re around don’t take these same precautions then it may be best to simply stop associating with those people in that way. Some friends are a lot of fun at parties but can’t be trusted.

Once all that is handled then a nice cherry on top is mullvad. Easy to understand and handle for even the most tech averse.

People will say that they don’t trust iphones because they’re not open source, but every leak from cop and intelligence tech companies like celebrite indicates that they are incapable of compromising an up to date ios device especially in bfu (not unlocked after being powered on) state. These leaks could be dismissed as limited hang outs, but the fact that we also see action based on metadata from the lawful intercept backdoor instead of direct compromise of devices seems to corroborate it.

Tldr: switch to apple and go prodromal

E: another benefit I forgot to mention is looking normal. The context of the request is one where the users fellow citizens may be snitching on them to law enforcement. Being able to blend in is absolutely worthwhile because every nosy neighbor or coworker is gonna be looking for signs of a user being a weirdo. Having a “hardened” ios phone and changing your behavior lets you blend right in.

Thanks for the feedback. For clarity, Cape is offering a GrapheneOS installed out of box to the user for a surcharge. This is what connected the title: https://www.cape.co/blog/cape-supports-grapheneos