Technology

I love Fairphones, but GrapheneOS developers are very clear on why they son't support phones other than Pixels. If other phones complied with those requirements, they would support them. I really hoped the OEM they're working with to support from another brand would be Fairphone, but the most educated guess I've seen is Motorola

Yes but also no, the fairphone doesn't meet the extensive list of requirements required to maintain the goal of GrapheneOS - List of requirements for devices

GrapheneOS developers are quite dickish about what they are willing to implement and how they treat their users. They work under the assumption that GrapheneOS is for people afraid of being hacked (like actively targeted by state level actors) and refuse to add anything that in their view compromises security. So for example they refuse to add pattern unlock because they think it's less secure than PIN which is silly because I can just use '0000' PIN which is as insecure as any pattern. It's the same with supporting other phones. Personally I'm not worried about police trying to hack my phone, I just want deGoogled system with tracker protection. GrapheneOS devs don't care. It's all or nothing with them. I would recommend iode over Graphene to anyone not as paranoid as the devs.

This is a big issue that the fairphone doesn't have its dtb open yet. It's not easy to build ROM for it. Despite their core claim of sustainability, without addressing the blobs, it remains just a tad more convenient for green minded people. We need a full Fairphone.

/e/OS is not bad as an alternative. The system wide ad and tracker blocking is nice.

I switched to e/os on a couple of motorolas that supported it and it's great so far.

The comparisons to GrapheneOS are fair to some degree, but also not. Graphene is meant to be privacy and security hardened, whereas e/OS, while it is more secure than regular android, is more concerned with privacy hardening. The biggest misconception people have seems to be thinking that privacy and security are the same thing; and while that is true on the surface level, security (a la GrapheneOS) goes much deeper.

So while my phone may not be as "hack resistant" as a GrapheneOS, it's degoogled and very protective of tracking, which is what I'm primarily concerned with. So I'm happy.

I just wish I could afford a fairphone in Canada.

I just bought a refurbished (as new) Pixel 9 to use Grapheneos.

Saved ~50% and didn't pay Google.

Search Telstra 3G shutdown. They were the first to block all in 2024 (and can confirm still blocked) Optus is now blocking on the 10th March. There's one telco left in AU. Everyone else sells one of these three.

Much discussion in this FP5 thread. https://forum.fairphone.com/t/3g-network-closure-australia

Despite what people say the phone works and has all requirements for the network, VoLTE calling and emergency calling. The telcos tho don't want to take a risk with "unknown" modems. So they disable network.

I don't have MicroG I'm just using the stock ROM with Play Services. I too replaced most the default apps with foss options with Fossify being a big chunk of them. It's not the apps that are the issue, it's the Fairphone software.

Since my original comment I've already bought a second hand Galaxy S25 Edge as I haven't tried Samsung since the Galaxy S3. Not exactly the privacy focused experience I'd ideally like but the Fairphone is becoming unusable after only 3 months. There's no way I'd be using it in 7 years.