Anyone tried GrapheneOS on your phone?

I've been considering the privacy/security focused phone OS, GrapheneOS for a little while now. I have a Google Pixel 9 Pro as my daily driver, so I know I'll have one of the most compatible devices to use with it.

Before I make the switch I thought I'd ask if anyone here has done it, and what your experience was like.

 

I didn't, but my son did it to his pixel. It definitely changes the game as far as privacy, and he was a fan. He eventually had to switch back to the normal OS due to his job. I keep tinkering with the idea myself.

Did you happen to look into the unplugged phone?

 

I'm running it as I type this out, have been for a couple months. At first a couple things were annoying and took some figuring out, but now I'm used to it and it feels normal, more like getting all the settings dialed in so it behaves how I want. I readded a lot of Google stuff like the Play Store and Google Photos, but those are extremely locked down and can only operate if you give them explicit access which I like. The phone and apps are never trying to talk to anything unless you give them permission for how often (if at all) they're allowed to ping home, which was the main reason I got Graphene. It doesn't feel like the phone is always listening and then trying to generate ads.

Im neutral on recommending it, from a privacy and security standpoint it SEEMS second to none. Day to day use no complaints or issues and feels the same as android more or less. That also makes it less noticeable that anything is different and worth doing ironically.

 

I haven't looked at them much, but did see a comparison video months ago where it seemed less ready for everyday use compared Graphene. Of course in tech, months ago is half an eternity so that could all be different now...but I'm also not looking to change hardware. One of the main advantages for me with GrapheneOS is that it's basically developed specifically for the phone I already have.

 

Depending on why you need graphene, maybe look at some other OS’s like lineage or calyxos.

The idea is to remove all google options.you can easily run F-droid to get a lot of apps and microG to fill in the remainder.

Hardest thing when changing to any OS are finding apps that do what you need or are accustomed to. YouTube becomes new pipe, Reddit becomes repage or something similar, navigation if you use it gets tricky but I’m reading a lot about Waze and how to isolate it via sandbox.

From my time with lineage I found it best to have my old phone as a daily while I tried to manage the same task on the new device. Uber and my banking apps could be used via a browser and that didn’t bother me.

Best bet is to find what OS meets your needs then what apps you need to daily.

Good luck on the hunt, it’s a fun ride