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this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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Best advertisement I've heard for an iPhone ever. Now that Android moving to the same walled garden business model...
GrapheneOS is ~10x more private and secure than iOS.
I want a phone, not a hobby.
Well well well, look who likes using banking apps and tap-to-pay.
I have GrapheneOS and use banking apps and tap-to-pay on a daily basis.
I am not in the US, though.
All of my banking apps work in Graphene, but yes, some banks apps don't work, which is why there's published lists so you can check before flashing.
Discounting some minor comparability issues, the process just requires a computer, an internet connection, a cable, and the ability to read through a couple paragraphs of instruction.
I'm talking about daily use. I have a good friend, we've both been computer nerds since The Apple II era, we both used to put custom roms on our android phones, we're avid self hosters, etc... He recently switched to Graphene and wants to switch back to something that's less of a pain. His complaints are pretty much the same as reasons I haven't switched. I warned him it would be an adjustment.
As someone who uses GrapheneOS with sandboxed GooglePlay on his only smartphone (with daily usage for years at this point): I don't know what kind of adjustment you are referring to. I never had to adjust to anything, because I never encountered anything that GrapheneOS couldn't do that stock Android could. Follow the installation process and after that the phone behaves like a regular phone, except you have way more options regarding security and privacy.
Is your friend trying to use GrapheneOS without any Google services maybe?
I had to fiddle with some stuff to get the Google location history and Android Auto working. But if you're using it for privacy-from-Google purposes you probably don't care about those.
Edit: also RCS and tap to pay with credit/debit card. Those require your carrier and Google to allow them, respectively.
Correct, I am not using GrapheneOS to then give my data to Google willingly. Kinda defeats the purpose I would say. I think it is the right thing that this is blocked by default and you have to actively turn it on. (Edit: I am assuming that you are talking about the fact that location data gets redirected to GrapheneOS by default, which can be changed in settings)
Is this a country-specific topic? I don't know anybody who still uses SMS/MMS to communicate. Everybody uses WhatsApp or Signal where I am.
No one enables it to "give Google data", they use it to get apps to work that use it as a dependency.
RCS is neither.
Well yes of course, but you are still giving away your data, regardless of intention. And a privacy feature of GrapheneOS is that it redirects location data requests to the OS by default. Thats why you have to disable it in the settings if you want Google to have this data.
AFAIK it is specifically meant as a replacement for SMS and is used with regular pre-installed SMS Apps.
Nope
Only works with 3 proprietary apps, that I'm aware of. Google and Samsung Messages and iMessage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services
I have no deeper knowledge of this topic, but to me it seems like Wikipedia is disagreeing.
I mean only insofar as every other chat protocol "replaces" SMS. It only works if the other party is also using it. SMS and MMS will continue to be used with a completely different transmission mechanism.
Ah, ok I understand.
My own personal experience over the past year with it has... Largely not lined up with that? The install process was easy, I do have gplay enabled but rarely use it, favoring fdroid, and it's... Been fine? It's felt mostly like stock android tbh
I've been thinking about it for a long time. Does the installation wipe everything stored on the phone? I don't mind installing apps individually, just wondering about files and photos. Also can I run Action Launcher on Graphene?
Set up Immich and move all your photos and videos to it.
You can also run syncthing on your android phone just fine, allowing you to simply mirror everything on it to any file server of your choice.
I don't know about the launcher, but I do know the that all storage is wiped in the process of switching over.
It's not a hobby.
Don't confuse Graphene with a tinker box, or some ROM you once rooted.
It's a professionally polished and very secure fork of Android.
There are some minor limitations with a handful apps that can't pass their Google specific internal security checks, but there's lists of them that you can check to see if any are a deal breaker for you.
Up voting because you made be lol, not because I agree with you. Been on GOS for over a year, it's not that bad. A few apps don't work, it's only slightly inconvenient.
I've used GOS daily for years. Your characterization of the OS as a "hobby" could not be further from the truth. After some basic initial configuration, it simply works like any other phone. My bank app works. Every app they told me would not work, works fine. Honestly, I'm beginning to wonder if all this FUD is a result of personal lack of willingness to do the research or something more nefarious like intentional misinformation.
Safely using an insecure device swiftly becomes a hobby, unless you give in to the default experience.
I installed GrapheneOS, installed my apps, and I'm done. If I want to deny telemetry or to set up something like the duress password, it's one to two taps.
iPhone users, man... stop drinking the fucking punch.
Nowaday is not just iPhone users. Every major company fucks the consumers over and people defend them like it's their own company. I don't get it.
Sigh, how, just how do you quantify that?
Graphene OS