I like learning about it, but I worry about incompatibility with apps I might need for work and school.
I might switch to it someday, just not today
this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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Doesn’t it have compatibility mode where it sandboxes Google services?
I heard it doesn't work with banking apps tho.
I've got banking apps on mine, no problems at all
Huh I must be misinformed then.
banking apps work but you cant use the google pay wallet, your banking cards dont work with google pay
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It works fine with banking apps, you sometimes have to disable exploit protection for some of them, but not all. Banking apps not working on custom OS"s is more of a side effect of having your bootloader unlocked, or being rooted, not having a custom OS.
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I have been using GrapheneOS since the Pixel 6 came out and I have no complaints. I get regular updates, the OS is super stable and my phone is free of the pre-installed ad- and spyware.
I also remember the ridiculously easy and straight forward install, something that I wasn't expecting since I used to tinker with LineageOS and CyanogenMod way back. It almost feels like a stock rom.
The additional security features are great, though they come with the tiny inconvenience of not having access to system files (which is obviously by design).
Overall I couldn't be happier with it and I'll continue to use it for as long as I can.
I don't understand the decision to only support Pixel phones. I want to degoogle, I'm not going to give Google money for a phone to do it.
Thats a excellent point, which goes back on the android ecosystem not scratching this itch itself outside of google.
in the past they supported a samsung phone, and a hikey device.
https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices
Hardware, firmware and software specific to devices like drivers play a huge role in the overall security of a device.
Non-exhaustive list of requirements for future devices, which are standards met or exceeded by current Pixel devices:
- Support for using alternate operating systems including full hardware security functionality
- Complete monthly Android Security Bulletin patches without any regular delays longer than a week
- At least 4 years of updates from launch (Pixels now have 7)
- Vendor code updated to new monthly, quarterly and yearly releases of AOSP within several months to provide new security improvements (Pixels receive these in the month they're released)
- Linux 5.15 or Linux 6.1 Generic Kernel Image (GKI) support
- Hardware memory tagging (ARM MTE or equivalent)
- BTI/PAC, CET or equivalent
- PXN, SMEP or equivalent
- PAN, SMAP or equivalent
- Isolated radios (cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, etc.), GPU, SSD, media encode / decode, image processor and other components
- Support for A/B updates of both the firmware and OS images with automatic rollback if the initial boot fails one or more times
- Verified boot with rollback protection for firmware
- Verified boot with rollback protection for the OS (Android Verified Boot)
- Verified boot key fingerprint for yellow boot state displayed with a secure hash (non-truncated SHA-256 or better)
- StrongBox keystore provided by secure element
- Hardware key attestation support for the StrongBox keystore
- Attest key support for hardware key attestation to provide pinning support
- Weaver disk encryption key derivation throttling provided by secure element
- Inline disk encryption acceleration with wrapped key support
- 64-bit-only device support code
- Wi-Fi anonymity support including MAC address randomization, probe sequence number randomization and no other leaked identifiers
GOS's mission is Security and User Agency first. Fuck google doesn't even fit into their vision statement, it just so happens user agency and fuck google align most of the time.
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still using my pixel 3a XL, graphene was great until suddenly it wasnt. As soon as google drops support for the device you're on your own. Most of the apps still get updated but the OS no longer gets security updates, which is understandable but unfortunate.
It seems CalyxOS still offers extended support for your phone until August 2024 (see https://calyxos.org/docs/guide/device-support/ )
This is just to give people an opportunity to move off of the device.
Once this happens, and the phone is no longer getting hardware security patches, graphene OS and calyx OS both drop support for the device, with the exception of fair phone.. were they pretend they're getting hardware security patches but they're not. That's a separate discussion
For a device with no hardware security patches, you can run lineage OS, with an unlocked bootloader which isn't great.. or divest OS DOS.. which locks the bootloader, but strips out a lot of the Google services. It might be a more extreme environment than you want, lineage might be the sweet spot of usable but not secure.
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I have a pixel 3A as well, and I went through this exact same thing. My only complaint with graphene OS in this scenario is they should have pop-up notifications when support is being discontinued, so that you know you need to start migrating.
I only really noticed when I thought, hey I haven't installed a operating system update in a long time.... That's not great.
Google Pay incompatibility is certainly a tough pill to swallow. Other than that is Google Maps working fine ? What about Android Auto? I'm definately interested to go this route.
Can't speak about Android Auto, maybe someone else can chip in, but Google Maps works perfectly well.
You're correct. Google maps works. Android Auto does not.
Damn, what is it holding it back ?
Android Auto can't work with sandboxing, it basically needs to run as root and get full access to absolutely everything on the device.
I'd not expect it to work ever, unless someone spends significant time reverse engineering it.
The devs are currently working on Android Auto support! They are testing it and it should be released in a few releases I can't find the right the link. But they also did announce it on twitter: https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1721263825192726737?s=19
I shared the literal quote from the grapheneos devs with a buddy, but didn't save the url: "Android Auto support for sandboxed Google Play has been implemented in a feature branch and is being tested"
You can find multiple Quotes by the devs in their discord / matrix channels, just search for Android auto Last reply was an hour ago saying support is coming "very soon"
Neat! That's a massive undertaking considering how much stuff needs to be shimmed to protect privacy, surprised anyone bothered! But I guess someone on the team must have bought a new car recently and want it working.
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The fact that Android Auto does not work is what prevented me to install Graphene.
I tried it out on my Pixel 8 Pro but I'm back on stock. I'm trying to be more privacy focused, but I use a lot of Google apps still, so I had almost everything enabled from Google anyways, so I might as well stay on stock for now. It was neat, but I didn't notice any battery improvements, which is also what I was looking for
I've been running Graphene on my Pixel 6 pro for about a year now and it's been pretty great. I have had a couple bugs here and there but nothing a quick restart wouldn't fix. I can honestly say I don't really miss any of the google stuff, I've switched to FOSS apps for pretty much everything ,except for what's required for work.
GrapheneOS is amazing. So many privacy and security features. I finally feel in complete control of my phone. It's not only secure and private, it's also smooth and stable too, much more so than the buggy mess that is stock Pixel OS. And did I mention that it updates faster than stock OS!? It's also far more stable than every other alternative OS on every other phone I've had. I loved it so much I sent my first 5$ to a FOSS project ever LOL. This is my endgame OS and I'm never using anything else ever again.
I also like it, but installing apps takes such a long time and auto updates don't always work. When you open aurora store or f-droid you'll get a dialog to allow an app to install. Battery drain was also higher than on stock. Not sure why that is, even without Google apps.
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pixel 7a - GOS - everything just works, just like stock android. No real change in experience, nothing i miss (gpay doesn't work in my country anyway for tap to pay), running the sandboxed google play and you would never know its not stock.
The network permissions are nice, the multiple accounts are nice. Honestly, I don't see any downside.
Two things would make it even better:
- being able to share a vpn with tethered devices (calyxos and lineage can do this) - this is absolutely a killer feature and replaces a travel router
- Work profiles for every account (calyxos has this), so that your second account can also have a work profile, not just the owner account.
I use it on my Pixel 7. Don't miss anything from stock Google. Your usage will vary depending on your needs.
I use it on Pixel 7 and my partner on Pixel 6a. I miss Android auto sometimes, but I would use it maybe twice a year so it isn't a big deal to me. Otherwise it's great, I had no trouble using NFC paiment and apart from android auto, every single app i've tried worked without issue.
Android Auto is in the works and it is one of the teams priority. They know it holds many back from installing.
This was from one of their social posts. Can't recall if it was Bluesky, Mastodon or other.
Yes, I saw it too. I guess they still need time for this feature. It doesn't sound like a very trivial fix, at least not without compromizing on security and privacy.
Pixel 5a, been using it for 3 years. It's great. But don't put anything you need to receive notifications from in a different profile or you'll never see them.
Android auto now available from graphene, tonight or tomorrow from alpha version
excellent news, thanks!
It's an excellent improvement on the stock OS. Fixes all the reasons why I hate smartphones with zero sacrifices on usability.
GrapheneOS on Pixel 6: In addition to my physical Sim card, I downloaded 2 eSims(I know I'm weird).
I like having the option to cut network access to anything and also the option to run Google apps like on stock Google Android.
I don't feel tracked by businesses that I visit anymore.
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