So, I switched to Google Pixel now. And there were 2 main reasons for that:
For those who don't know what GrapheneOS is - it's basically a hardened Android. Without annoying Google services, very minimalistic, and having some security features that stock Android is missing. More about it later.
But why even bother about such stuff? Well, I've been working as a software dev for a while, and I've seen some shit. Nobody cares about your personal data at best, but usually, it is just collected in enormous amounts and gets sold.
I fundamentally disagree with this approach. The technical ignorance of an ordinary user does not give the right to abuse them. When a person has paid for a thing, they must own it and have control over it. Business does everything to remove this control, in order to save money. Understandable, but unethical. Luckily, there is a big community that respects privacy and provides a lot of alternatives
Nice, small phone, quite unusual in size, quite slippery so a rubber case is a must. Camera is ok. Discharges faster than I expected, but need to test this for a longer period of time. 120Hz screen is awesome, but make sure to set colors to "Natural" in screen settings, otherwise they are way too saturated. Glass takes fingerprints easily, but you most likely will buy a protection cover anyway. Fingerprint scanner under the display is buggy, I would still prefer it being built into the power button - worked very well in my old Oppo.
Overall score: 4/5.
The process was surprisingly easy and quite fast. GrapheneOS has a web-based interactive guide that leads you through all the process.
Basically, the steps were:
Ah, yeah. You can always revert all changes and move on with a stock firmware. Trying something that respects you as a user has never been that easy.
First impression: very minimal, no bloatware. Nice. What I actually liked the most is the possibility to completely turn off access to your camera and microphone for any app installed. No spying))
As we are trying to improve our privacy here, it would be kind of dumb to install Google services we just got rid of without trying alternatives)
So, here is my basic list of apps that I am personally 100% satisfied with (not covering the pre-installed).
For other privacy-respecting alternatives, you can check
I also switched to
for even better ads and tracking blocking, and it is awesome.
Privacy/Security and convenience are always a trade-off, and in our case, we would also have to sacrifice some things. While GrapheneOS does a lot to keep the firmware as "stock" Android-compatible as possible and usually, you can make stuff work, some features won't work. In any case, I highly recommend you check
before doing anything with your phone.
TLDR: Google Pay does not work. Some apps (mostly, banking) might also have issues. Here is
for you ^)
Also, only Pixel phones are officially supported. You can try
as another alternative though.
Gaining privacy is a process, like sports training. Nothing comes immediately. But every action is important. Start slowly.
If any of the mentioned above software was useful to you, I highly encourage you to make a small donation to the developers. They are building amazing stuff for free, and giving back is always appreciated.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This text is distributed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.