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Google Pixel 9a review: All the phone you need (arstechnica.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Honestly I use a more generic setup with privacy apps services such as shelter and netguard plus Android has a lot of built in privacy and security features. All my apps are foss except for a few work apps that I have in a work profile.

Rant incoming

I don't want to be reliant on the Graphene OS devs especially since they are jerks. They harass or shutdown anyone who has any form for criticism and they insist that they are the absolute best. I'm simply not ok with devs who are more concerned with there public image than actually making something accessible and private. I've also noticed that they seem to frequently mix up the difference between privacy and security. You can have strong security but no privacy and vis versa. Security in privacy really only comes into play when people are trying to exploit something to compromise privacy. I think Graphene OS focuses way to much on the theoretical when they could be spending time elsewhere. The devs have harassed the MicroG team while they continue to claim that there Google services sandbox is somehow private. It is in fact not perfectly private as it needs data to function as that's how it was designed by Google. What's worse is that Graphene OS seems to encourage people to continue to use proprietary apps that are bad for privacy because of BS security claims. They seem to think security is more important than getting people to use foss apps that are private by design. If you only use Foss apps you don't really need fancy privacy tools since the apps are designed to be trusted to a reasonable extent.

TL;DR: The Graphene devs want everyone to see them as the source of truth. They have harassed others devs and they don't want anyone to say anything negative about Graphene OS. Graphene OS seems more like a status thing to me personally. It comes with lots of extravagant claims but no really results that I can see.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Yeah I've done some digging after your comment and also found the Louis rossman video.

They are indeed quite aggressive. What would you suggest as a good alternative? Lineage?

I try to use only foss apps as well (mostly F Droid).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

What would you suggest as a good alternative? Lineage?

Nothing is really a direct alternative to GrapheneOS overall, it leans into security a lot more than other privacy ROMS. However, if you just want to deGoogle your Pixel and improve its privacy, another option is iodéOS which is a fork of LineageOS with some further privacy enhancements and an inbuilt tracker blocker. Updates are a couple of weeks slower than GrapheneOS, but you can lock the bootloader following installation. You can check if the Pixel you want is supported here. There are also community builds for some of the unsupported Pixels. The 9 series hasn't been added yet beyond a community build, although I'm sure it is coming soon.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I would really love if Lineage OS would start signing builds and disabling debugging so that it could be used with a relocked bootloader.

For now you have 3 options. Either:

Run Lineage OS and be aware of the risks (evil maid)
Use third party tools to make a custom build of Lineage OS with a locked bootloader. You will be in charge of your own keys and you will need a powerful machine.
Use Calyx OS and accept the fact that it isn't as polished as Lineage OS

I would really like it if Lineage OS supported bootloader relocking on supported devices but I don't see that happening. Also they are kind of in need of a restructure as the only people really working on it is the same set people that have always have. They are still pretty hostile to new contributors but at least they are trying to do better. I think the community around Lineage OS is better than Graphene but it isn't perfect.