If you're looking to switch to a private/secure mobile device, I just put together a “getting started” guide on my website that should help you find relevant videos and information - sideofburritos.com/docs/setup-guides/mobile-privacy/
Thanks for the solid review, I'm in the same long term-iOS-but-departing-big-tech-properties situation. I've been hesitant not so much over features but stability. GrapheneOS intrigues me but like another commenter I don't like planned obsolescence. It seems like the right path is Graphene (while it lasts) and then move to Lineage as a longer term solution. Gcam-Services-Provider also looks interesting for Google Camera use in this kind of environment
Gcam-Services-Provider has been great, I've been using it for a few months and have no complaints. Can you give some more details on what you mean about the planned obsolescence? I do agree that long term stability with open source projects can be tough, all it takes is for the lead developer to decide to walk away and a project dies. On the other hand, it was never a concern if iOS would be around in 3 years.
Nice review. Like you, I like the security, but there are Android glitches on a Google Pixel 3a xl 1. No button, only gestures -- which don't work consistently. 2. There's no indicator to touch when in a call to return to the call screen. This is painful when multi-tasking. 3. Call dialer is clunky. Background colors don't work. Mute and "Sound" are solid white. Sound connection (bluetooth, speaker, phone) is visually unknown. 4. No voice to text dictation 5. No text to speech 6. No swipe keyboard. Keyboards are slow.
1. No button, only gestures -- which don't work consistently. I have the 5A and it seems to work smoothly with gestures. From what I understand, the no button is related to Android 12 2. There's no indicator to touch when in a call to return to the call screen. This is painful when multi-tasking. Your phone doesn't show the notification in the notification menu? 3. Call dialer is clunky. Background colors don't work. Mute and "Sound" are solid white. Sound connection (bluetooth, speaker, phone) is visually unknown. 100% agree about that. If it's selected, solid white, seems like it could definitely use some updating. 4. No voice to text dictation 5. No text to speech There are some 3rd party ones I've seen, but they're very clunky. 6. No swipe keyboard. Keyboards are slow. My previous phone was an old iPhone, so even the grapheneOS keyboard seem fast to me :D but I have noticed the default Stock OS can feel "snappier" at times
Nice call, you're correct - support.apple.com/guide/security/wi-fi-privacy-secb9cb3140c/web The one difference I can see from reading it over is that they support randomization for scanning, but upon connection (if the user decides to connect) it uses the WiFi interface MAC address.
@@jampskan Signal takes over your SMS app. So when you send or receive an SMS, Signal handles it. Unless you want your SMS and your Signal messages to be separated. But when Signal sends or receives an SMS it's not encrypted. And it gets better. If I am in your contacts and we both have Signal, if you call me, Signal will automatically switch to encrypted VOIP. So your calls are secure and encrypted over Signal.
Nice video, there are almost no videos reviewing graphene os, so it’s hard to get an opinion on it. Hope you will do a second video with Android 12 soon
Thanks! I plan to do some more on GrapheneOS and other ROM's in the future. Funny you mention Android 12, just finished editing a video on that and it'll be out Monday :D
Eventually got my GP5, installed latest GrapheneOS and I love it. I've been on iPhone ever since the beginning of iPhone. First, I spend less on my phone, amazing achievement. The focus on security and privacy is beyond expectations, and I can't wait how GrapheneOS will evolve in time. (Hopefully they will build their own phones). Speaking of which, I noticed that GP6 and GP6 Pro are using a custom chipset developed by Google. Doesn't that defi the whole open-source hardware idea? Thoughts?
The "spending less time on my phone" is such a great benefit of switching, one that most people don't talk about. Glad you're enjoying GrapheneOS and congrats on the switch! It's not easy to make the leap, especially after using an iPhone for so long. Funny coincidence, I have a video coming out today on the GP6 and my thoughts. TLDR: Before the GP6 they were using 3rd party chips, so I think this is a good shift. Is it ideal, no. But out of what's currently available, I think it's the best option.
@Mark DeBeste The Bells and whistles of Goolag i never really liked. It was just nothing really out there besides the Big Ape and Goolag... The democrats (real) need to stand together against this censoring monopolies. like Goolag, Reddit (really from hell) etc. Have a good evening Graham!
I tried a bunch of different map apps, most were horrible. I ended up finding Magic Earth and it's worked great for navigation. It doesn't work great for finding addresses, so I usually copy and paste those from duckduckgo.com and I'm good to go.
Watching this from an iPhone 8+, not wanting to do the usual thing (not to mention the suicide nets at Foxconn), videos like this help fence sitters like myself.
There's nothing wrong with that, I've watched a bunch of videos in the default browser (Vanadium). There's some other apps like NewPipe that let you "subscribe" to YoutTube channels without having to sign in. It works well.
I'm not sure about Android 10, but Lineage OS 18.1 (based on Android 11) does support MAC randomization. Here's the problem, however: I use MAC filtering on my home WiFi, so I have to turn off one of these things. Can't have both on. I choose MAC filtering + WiFi Automatic on the phone to switch WiFi off a couple of minutes after it looses connection to the WiFi network.
Ahh yes, that is one downside to it. Personally I don't like MAC address filtering. You can sniff for beacon packets, get a MAC address, spoof it, and then you can connect bypassing it. I personally don't think MAC address filtering is worth the effort to implement and maintain. Having a strong WPA2 password should be more than enough
ditch the mac filtering, set a better password or rather a passphrase - not only is it more secure but when you add a new device theres no need to reconfigure your wifi
Hello! I got a huawei p40 lite which doesn't have any google play services. Everything went alright until lately, when I cannot get to open the revolut app for example. It detects google play services and doesn't like it. I went through your video and as I liked what graphene OS has to offer, you did not say anything about the mobile banking apps. Can you use them on graphene OS, also how was your experience with them so far? Can't wait to hear your opinion as it might be the game changer for me.
Hi there! Hmm, I actually don't use any banking apps on my phone. I try to keep all banking and finance related activities to my personal computer. In order to get them to work, you might need to install microG so the apps will be able to launch (microg.org). I haven't used it before, but I plan to do some videos in the future on the topic.
You are way too close to the mic. Back up about a fist length at least. We do not need the proximity effect as if you are whispering in our ears. This is a normal talking video, and we can't even see your mouth. I know it's nice to have a nice mic, but learn to use it properly. They're not magic.
No, I don't. The only thing Google related I use on my phone is Google Camera, and the method I use to install it doesn't require any Google services to be installed - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Pi8RwvnJiRw.html
Thanks for the tip How do you know if pixel have the OEM option on the phone do you recommend buying at Spectrum At a store? If AT&T is carrier unlock it restricts the access to the auction
I have been imprisoned to ios since 2014 after years of Nokia. The current phone I have is iPhone 8 Plus. I am considering bailing out for a while and this os is one of few options I’m looking into. Are there any other alternatives to look into?
Congrats on looking into some alternates after all that time! I haven't looked into a ton of options regarding OS's, but I'm currently using CalyxOS for an upcoming review video. Another popular one is LineageOS.
@@sideofburritos I’m looking forward that video. My current applications to see if grapheneos + pixel is sufficient for me: Texting long articles- been so since my Nokia e71. Bowsering image boards and forums. Whatsapp - planning on getting rid off soon, luckily I never made a Facebook account. Playing Pokémon go and Ingress bizarrely enough. Saving photos & using the camera
@@DarkJ1425 Just off of what you said, I think you'll be good to go with all of that. There might be a little bit of an adjustment, but I think you'll be good to go. Good luck on the switch and at least you don't need to worry about deleting your Facebook :D
@@MegaDizz23 Not possible on Samsung tablets and phones, at least I did not see an option for skippinig it during setup, and before that, like 5 years ago, I could continue without a Google account but then I had to create one to access the Play Store.
Thanks for the suggestion, I originally ended setting that up, but then I remembered you could email phone numbers with most carriers, and it gets converted into a txt message. I added that in UptimeRobot for notifications, and now I get a text message whenever there's an alert. This article lists out the "emails" for different carriers if anyone reading this is interested - www.makeuseof.com/tag/email-to-sms/ ex. 1234567@txt.add.net
I've been trying to find a Google Pixel 4 or 5 which is not only carrier unlocked but OEM unlockable as well. It's like hunting Unicorns. Also, super annoying that most of the sellers have no idea what I'm asking about. Any good ebay or amazon sources where I could find a 5 or 5a both carrier and oem unlocked? Thanks
Hey! It is not an easy task, I purchased two phones incorrectly that were both OEM locked. I ended up buying on on swappa.com (seller actually had a photo of this option enabled). I also have a friend who got one of gazelle.com. Your other option is directly from Google and you can select to have it unlocked. Happy hunting!
Thanks! I'm going to start doing some videos on CalyxOS in a week or two, I never heard of /e/OS but I'll look into that one as well. Thanks for the input!
I know that is important our privacy, but our face is already everywhere: government ID, Facebook... yours is also on RU-vid so Google has your face. But I think is important to not give "them" more private details. How can we stop sharing everything? People, me too, are not aware about all the things that we are sharing. Do you know efundation? What do youo think about /e/OS?
In my case, and I suspect others as well, it's not so much about hiding from everything. It's about allowing companies/organizations to have my information when I choose. The dragnet data collection strategies used by a lot of companies is what I'm 100% opposed to. I chose to show my face on RU-vid, and I choose not to show it on Facebook. When companies get your information regardless, that's not OK to me, and that's what my goal is to avoid. Google has private information about me because that's the nature of having a YT channel, but it was a choice I made to provide it to them. I don't know much about /e/OS. I've really liked everything I've learned about GrapheneOS and the security/privacy improvements they made, so I haven't tested anything else lately.
Thanks for the review. I'm in the same boat as you and want to ditch the iPhone and go to something more secure, but I lacking clarity on what I'm willing to give up. Are you still daily driving graphene OS? Do you bring two phones with you for backup, say for making applications? Still getting by without carplay? These are the things I think would be the most challenging for me
That was the big struggle at first, figuring out that part. At this point I'm 100% grapheneOS, I sold my iPhone last week. My biggest concern was replacing Maps (I live in a city) but Magic Earth (for maps) has gotten me everywhere and the application is pretty nice. I still miss carplay, but Bluetooth has worked well enough for any audio and phone calls in my car. Most apps work well on the phone, so once I found a Maps app that worked well that wasn't Google Maps, I had no reason not to make the switch.
You can! Aurora Store allows you to download any Google Play apps, most I've tried have worked to far. For RU-vid, there's an alternate on F-Droid called NewPipe.
Even though i like the idea, i think is great just for studing purpose. What is the point of buying a Google Pixel if all you wanna do is to make phone calls. Just buy a dumb phone and you're set to go without any shinanigans.
Dumb phones lack any sort of security and secure communication methods. It also supports any apps you may want to use + a functional web browser is always helpful.
I saw a good quote that I think answers this well: "The burden of proof. You can't disprove a negative. So unless you have evidence for backdoor, we can't be conspiratorial about backdoor in every piece of hardware."
Does screen casting work? Getting rid of my Motorola because it only supports chrome and was also considering something using graphene is for security but would still like to screen cast.
Around 5 months with graphene os and my network is pathetically hacked and my phone screen is spied on graphene OS even when I am completely deegoogle my phone
The best way is to stop using tech at all. How do you really trust the team that built Graphene OS? Even if it is peer reviewed! Did you seriously go and check how they did that? For real if you don't trust google and you trust a group of open-source people which has no restriction and won't even give a dime of your security well well think again. P.S I also don't like those big firm and looking for alternatives... But let's be realistic you use a pixel phone built by google without the google service running of it, you invest in a car with android auto and now you will give this up. You don't like them that much but dude your uploading this on RU-vid and making money off google 😂
Hi there, I don't disagree at all with that point. Unfortunately, not using tech isn't an option for me and others. When it comes to OSS I do also agree that a lot of people (including myself) do blindly trust it and don't audit it. It's similar to all the ToS we all accept without reading. For me, the Pixel with an alternate OS has been the best option I've found (for me) at this time. If you have any other suggestions, I'd be more than happy to look into them, thanks!
From the limited time I've spent looking into it, I've read some posts online about "kind of" getting it to work, but it's pretty hacky. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as side loading the app, it requires a lot of low level Google services that are stripped from most third party OS's.
My main question after watching this video is, why is there not a wider range of Open Source OS platforms? It now feels really weird that there is Apple and Google and that's it. Two multinationals cornering the mobile device market?
There are some smaller companies trying to do it, but designing and manufacturing hardware isn't cheap. I think that since the barrier to entry is so high, you're left with a few big companies building devices. The main reason the alternate OS's support the bigger name brand devices is that each device requires certain customization and code. Since OSS projects are usually limited with resources and it's people volunteering their time, they stick to the biggest platforms (Google Pixel) so a large number of individuals can use the OS on a widely available device. Google also does a great job when it comes to hardware security.
Have you made use of any Google Maps type services with GrapheneOS? That's the only thing I could think of that would be a mild hindrance as I travel fairly often, and the ease of use provided by Google Maps is something I enjoy.
I use Magic Earth, and it's worked great when I needed it. I used it on a road trip, and it worked great. That's been the best alternate I was able to find, hope it helps!
With Google now using its own tensor chip as opposed to third party, what's the chance there is some sort of google signature being sent out there anyway? I wouldn't be as tech savvy as some of you out there👍
As far as some sort of signal, I'm planning to do a video in the future reviewing all traffic sent out from the device to see exactly what communication is going out on a network level. Here's a response I copied from another comment on what I usually write when it comes to using Google hardware: --- As far as the hardware goes, Google makes good hardware. Designing chips is not cheap or easy. Replacing the stock Google OS essentially removes Google from the device. Yes, it's still Google hardware, but there are no other great alternatives out there (currently). Software is where 99% of your privacy is violated. There's always the chance of hardware backdoors, but that's outside my threat model and most if not all people watching my videos. Google's reputation can't afford to have something like a hardware backdoor surface in their product, they have a lot of corporate customers that would question using them at that point. Compared to a smaller company that could come in, cash out, and sell out. Of course anything is possible, but that's how I see the situation currently. --- Hope that helps!
GPS still functions, there's alternate options to Google Maps such as Magic Earth. Or you can install Google Services and use Google Maps - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SZ0PKtiXTSs.html
It should work with any carrier, I personally know people using it with Verizon and T-Mobile. Once you plug in your SIM card you'll be good to go. No dual boot that I'm aware of, and if you want to reinstall the stock OS you can use flash.android.com. I also made a video demonstrating installing the stock OS - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TIHG1j0yylc.html
I might be biased, but yes, I think so. twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1490518600339308544 - GrapheneOS is working on their own hardware, I think something that people could purchase without any effort on their part could help reach a whole other audience.
Hello. I use grapheneOS and when I installed signal and tried to register, it didn't work. It said '' missing google play services'' something like that. So how does signal work for you on grapheneOS?
Exactly. If you want to make sure it's OEM unlocked, you can purchase it directly from Google. If it happens to be a Verizon Pixel, you won't be able to enable OEM unlocking.
Great exposé. Could you do a more specific vidcast on Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency world and metaverse exchanges as they relate to use in the GrapheneOS world?
I just got a Pixel 5A too and I was sticking to it, but I upgraded it to Android 12 and realized that they made the Top Quick Settings bulky (only showing 4 things at a time and taking up the whole screen) so now I'm thinking of switching over to GrapheneOS. How has the transition been so far?
I've been using Google Camera, I made a video recently on installing it and it's been working great - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Pi8RwvnJiRw.html. You also don't need MicroG to use it. Ideally, I would prefer to have nothing Google Related on my phone, but to me having GCAM isn't a big deal. The GrapheneOS team is working on an updated camera app that's currently in beta. Once that's out, I'm hoping to remove Google Camera and use that strictly.
@@Cenot4ph You're current, it's not unique to this OS. I believe this feature was released in Android 10, so I don't think it's accurate to say all android phones have that feature. It looks like Apple added it in iOS 14, so anything older won't support it.
I made this video a month or so back, this might be a good place to start with where to move your contacts - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NJzA9yRGgeM.html
You don't mention mulitple profiles, where you can install on one profile google play store for your main profile and then run aurora marketplace on the second profile and your signal/VPN there... I haven't seen any of your other videos. I'd like you to message me if you're interested in discussing more and sharing thoughts. My business centres around digital security.
I didn't, the main reasons are 1. I wasn't too familiar with them at the time 2. After I did learn about them, they're an AOSP feature (I believe grapheneOS does have some modifications though, although I don't know for sure) I have made these videos covering them a bit more if you're interested: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-20C0FD7mGDY.html - Work Profile vs. User Profile ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SZ0PKtiXTSs.html - Installing sandboxed play services where I demo it in a separate User Profile Feel free to reach out (email is in my video descriptions) if you'd like to discuss further
@@cutflow2 It does! It's on by default. If you want to see the setting, go to "settings" -> "network & internet" -> select "Wi-Fi" at the top - > select the wifi network you're connected to -> advanced -> Privacy and you'll see the settings
@@sideofburritos I have been running arch for two years I have dabbled with post market 0S and mobian etc I love it. The pro edition is finally out for purchase for us normal people. I bought it 10 minutes before my life. And yeah it’s a bit slow and you have to get used to not having general access to most of your proprietary set up in terms of applications or whatever. But I came to it relatively simple and I originally came from an iPhone 5 so the speed is on par. And the pro in terms of speed And processing power is like that of a snapdragon 860. The keyboard attachment has a large battery so that is amazing. As well as a physical keyboard which is also amazing I run SXMO/Sway now as I don’t line phosh or plasma mobile.
@@micaiahflores1592 Thanks for the detailed writeup! I'm going to have to look into the pine phone. I remember seeing it a long time ago and always being curious about it. I'm all for having a simple phone setup, so I'm really curious to test it out and see how it is. Sounds like it has a lot of flexibility vs a typical phone especially having a physical keyboard along with it. The keyboard design looks super cool, easy to travel with as well.
This is true, with the SIM/cell service they could triangulate your position. For me the goal isn't to avoid that, it's to remove the constant tracking and pinging back to google. An alternate OS helps reduce that considerable.
Grapheneos is ment to used in your second phone. Which you don't use at home. Because they can always identify you if you carry your phone with you all the time. Also don't take it with you together with your primary phone. Just use it for private chats.
Depending on your threat model, a second device at home only using an ethernet connection couple be applicable. But that's not the main purpose its intended for.
Wouldn't Signal or any of the Google Play apps you downloaded through the Aurora store still give your info to Google? How does that work? And do you void warranty on the phone if you do this to your phone?
It depends. So signal uses local notifications when Google services are installed, so Google won't see anything. For other apps downloaded from the aurora store, there is some information that Google receives when you download the apps (such as a list of apps you have installed, that's how it knows to check for updates). A lot of the other information sent is spoofed or falsified. When you log in to Aurora, you're able to use one of their "Anonymous" accounts, instead of your personal Google account. Depending on what your threat model is, you could also download the APK from some websites online and install that without using Aurora. As far as the warranty goes, you'd have to verify with your provider to be certain. But as far as I know, it doesn't. You can easily install stock android back on the device if you needed to.
