this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023

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DeGoogle Yourself

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My internal fight over what device to buy (lemmy.kde.social)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello there! This is my problem: I'm going to buy a new smartphone, and I'd really like to degoogle myself as much as possible. The idea would be to buy a device compatible with LineageOS, but... Supported devices are usually older models, and often there are newer devices with better specs for the same price, that does not support lineageOS. Is seems a shame to buy a device with lower specs than another one just because of software compatibility. So the alternative would be to buy an unsupported device, unlock the bootloader and debloat it as much as possible, flash privileged fdroid and aurora store on it, install microg, etc... What do you suggest me to do? Is the second alternative a viable option? What other steps should I do if I decide to go that way?

Thanks in advance folks!

Edit:
Thanks to anyone for the great answers! I finally decided to buy a pixel 6 (or 6 pro if I find a good deal) and install a custom ROM on it! GrapheneOS will support it for "only" 3 more years, while other roms like lineageos or divestos will have longer support. What do you suggest? Graphene OS and when support ends switch to another one? O directly use the other one?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I'm in pretty much the same boat as OP.

I'm seeing that buying a Pixel and then degoogle-ing it with Graphene OS is the way to go. Before I pull the trigger on that, can anyone point me to a good guide on how and when to load Graphene OS? Do I load it after activation with a carrier? Ok to do this before carrier activation?

And what functionality do I have with Graphene OS? Only Fdroid as a store? Can I sideload apps?

I'd really like to hear from some people that have actually done this about what to do and what their experience is with grapheneos. I'm leery of spending hundreds of dollars on a phone that may or may not work as I want.

I am seriously considering doing this but I'll buy an iphone if I can't really understand the pixel/graphene path well enough before dropping the $$.

Any YT vids about someone doing this?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

https://grapheneos.org has a lot of info. Make sure to buy a phone with an unlocked bootloader. All carriers lock it so buy it used and make sure that its unlocked or buy it directly from Google. You can install all google apps through Aurora store, a Play Store fronrend. You can also install sandboxed Google Play services so your Play Store apps can run and have functionning notifications, as they usualy rely on Play services. Yes you can sideload apps like normal android. Its AOSP without the google stuff. Some videos/channels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh5xjsE4mU4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igSUmfKTXqU https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrG6IID2FX7-GxyKtavRhEA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1KZWjZVnAw

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

The stores I have on my GrapheneOS pixel 7a: F-Droid + droidify, Aurora store, and the Google Play store as well for some official apps I cannot do without. Between these, there isn't an app that I couldn't find or install.

I bought my pixel second hand, to not put more money in Google's pocket, and to avoid any carrier locking. Not sure how that will impact the installation, but it might. Best to investigate that matter.

I have to mention: I still cannot believe how easy that installation was. I rooted my previous phone and put lineageOS on it, which was such a tedious procedure back in the day, I really dreaded installing GrapheneOS. But that web interface, detecting everything and guiding me along was pure heaven. I hope that'll become the default for any custom installs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Interesting. Thanks for this info.

Google Play? So you degoogled and regoogled?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

At least it's sandboxed now ;)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I too, degoogled and then regoogled.

The Google Play framework service is very sandboxed on GrapheneOS. Most stuff just works, and - as long as all went to plan, which it seems to - the invasive stuff fails silently or with a harmless error message.

It's been a better experience than I expected!

For the most part, Google has no idea what apps I'm even installing, beacuse I get free apps without login through Aurora.

For the apps that are important enough to me to purchase through Google Play, Google knows I bought and installed them. But even those are talking to GrapheneOS' sandboxes Google Services Framework. For the most part, nothing changes in how I use those apps, beacuse the sandboxes framework drops and reports 'success' on unsupported framework calls, and the vast majority of apps I have used just move on.

The exception has been anything that only supports Google's auth layer. I like Google's auth layer, but I don't use it anymore. So those apps I can't use at all. I don't expect it to work well on GrapheneOS, but I haven't honestly tried.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd really like to hear from some people that have actually done this about what to do and what their experience is with grapheneos. I'm leery of spending hundreds of dollars on a phone that may or may not work as I want.

I've done this, here's my takeaways:

On the install:

The install guide is long and detailed, and it felt important to take my time and do every step exactly as it says.
In spite of the length of the guide, I was done with my install in about 45 minutes. I spent about 30 of those minutes sipping coffee and reading on my Kindle while my phone applied updates automatically. -By the time the install finished, my feeling was "that was it? I feel like I clicked like 4 links and it did everything."

On owning it:

My $300 GrapheneOS Pixel 6 is substantially more responsive than my previous $1000 phone. I migrated to a 3 year old phone and if feels like a big upgrade.
My camera opens quickly, snaps pictures quickly, and is ready to snap another picture, quickly. This shouldn't be a big deal, but some of your with $1000 Android phones know what I'm talking about. I'll die on the "this should never have been hard in the first place" hill. But in the meantime, the responsive camera is the most important quality of life upgrade I got from GrapheneOS.
Installing apps from Aurora, with it's privacy insights, was very eye-opening for me. I mention this mainly for context on my next point.
App compatibility has not been an issue for me; but I quit using certain really invasive apps when I saw their tracking details in Aurora store. (Cough - Paramount Plus - cough)
I've heard bank apps can be a challenge, but mine works perfectly. I now love GrapheneOS enough that I am realizing I will move my money if that changes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I did a bit of searching, maybe used the wrong terms, but is there a list somewhere with Banking Apps compatible with Graphine or Lineage that you know of? It's literally the only thing holding me back...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I, too, have searched for such a list and not found it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm a GrapheneOS user. You can use whichever store you like. Sideloading works too if you want to get stuff directly from GitHub, for example.

If you use esim, probably better to activate before flashing GrapheneOS. Otherwise, doesn't matter imo.

I'd suggest you take a look at the discussion forum. You can ask questions there or just browse and you can probably learn a lot about GrapheneOS there. Also the homepage has tons of info, of course.