Same. I started this year with a Pixel Fold. I suggest just getting your Graphene device, and start the move slowly. It's really hard to do it 'overnight'. Take your time with it! Good luck!
Exactly what @Chuck8541 said, take it slow. It can be overwhelming at first, especially coming from the Apple ecosystem. But if you take your time and test the waters, I can promise you it's worth it.
What you're doing, and how you do it, for bringing awareness and confidence to the everyday person who wants to take some control over their privacy and security by using GrapheneOS, is greatly, greatly appreciated! I'd still be running GrapheneOS to this day (flashed it right when you started this channel) but I dropped and broke my Pixel, despite a solid case and a screen protector. So I had to get a different phone since my insurance made it impractical to replace. I may go with a GrapheneOS tablet for mucking about. Thanks!
Thank you very much for the kind words, I really appreciate that. That was always my goal. I want to help give those people who wanted to test it out, but had reservations, the last push they needed. It's amazing how they make these devices with XYZ material, then you put it in a case, but one well-positioned drop trashes it. That tablet is definitely great for just messing around on!
It would be cool if you did a somewhat comprehensive description of different routes/setups one may choose post grapheneos install on a pixel depending on different threat levels.
Have been using GrapheneOS on my 6a for 1.5+ years now, chosen in part because of your videos. Couldn't imagine willingly using another OS for a cellphone anymore, have been spoiled by the control and security offered by GrapheneOS. Thank you for highlighting it, and your pragmatic analysis of security & privacy in tech.
I'm glad to hear I was able to help you make the switch! I feel the same way, I have no desire to switch to something else. Once you “get over” your old device, and realize the benefits you are getting from a privacy/security perspective, nothing else can compare.
Appreciate the update/review. Very interested in you covering the way you’ve set up users and which have play services or how that works across the different users.
@@sideofburritosI'm interested as well. I'll be getting a Pixel soon (likely an 8 Pro) & I've heard different strategies for how to install apps with regards to profiles & faux permissions. Seems like there might be more than one way to do things so I'm interested in your perspective. Thank you. 🙏
Just go it last month as well :) Got the one without the dock and it was super cheap. I added not a screen protector but a paper like screen that gives you the touch and look of paper. Pretty solid since I only use it to read manga (with Mihon) and RU-vid with Revanced. Was going for the Samsung Tab initially for the price since there is one unique model that has lineage OS but it was just 1 guy on XDA doing the work so not that trustworthy imo Thank you for all the Graphene videos, it's been 2 years now and I have no regrets
Nice! Interesting, I never heard of a cover like that. What is the brand you got? Whoops, I completely forgot there was an option without the dock. For some reason, I thought there was only one option. Will definitely check that in the future when making followup videos. GrapheneOS is super solid on it, and when given the choice, I would choose GrapheneOS any day over Lineage from a privacy/security perspective. Glad things have been going well for you, 2 years in!
times have changed. To run a custom ROM on your device and Linux on your computer does not require special tech savvy abilities anymore; bypassing data harvesters does.
It's definitely much easier to install a custom OS like GrapheneOS on your phone now vs. flashing something like CyanogenMod back in the day. Sadly, it's much more difficult to protect your data in everyday life now.
thanks for the video! you are my guide into GrapheneOS world! please, make a video about your profiles configuration as soon as possible, I believe it would be very useful!
I wish there was a GrapheneOS-friendly option of the Kindle Scribe and similiar tablets on the market. Most people don't realize that those devices are comp!etely not private.Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
I have a Kobo I really like. There's a quick change you can make, and you can use it without an online account. I listed the steps on my site and made a video about it a while ago (I don't remember exactly what I covered in it) - sideofburritos.com/blog/best-ereader-privacy/. Then I just leave it in airplane mode unless I need to update it.
Thank you! It didn't work out, after some use, I wasn't a fan of the build quality of that specific laptop. I actually hid the videos from my channel over a year ago.
Nice, I've also switched to Ntfy for all notification-related needs (who has time to setup SMTP/email when webhooks are so much better?) Warning re: Tuta email - they don't have a mass export feature. So your data is locked in (unless you're willing to manually multi-select a few dozen emails at a time and export them that way, which iirc is supported).
It's been great for notifications. I don't need more email spam, so it's much nicer to keep them separate. Good to know about Tuta, thanks for sharing!
I can't wait to try the desktop mode of the Pixel 9 Pro running GOS. Would be great if that became somewhat usable. BTW, have you tried the app "SyncThing" yet?
It's nice that Google is finally bringing desktop mode back, I'm curious to see how good it is. I have, I use it on my phone to sync photos/videos to my laptop. It works really well.
@@sideofburritosI am concerned about the stranglehold they have on the 9 series. Do you say that Pixel 9 series will be minus all the AI stuff G puts on there. I do use the Gemini Advanced as a customer. I do find it very interesting. It does make research much much easier. I do not even think the majority of Gs customers care.
I was wondering why you chose mulvad over proton for your VPN but you answered that question already! I frequently travel between the states and south east Asia and I'm looking at the paid proton offering that includes all of their products. Do you think it's a good deal? I'm not a power user or techy by any stretch of the imagination, I just want to be safe online around potential sketchy ISPs, etc.
Ahh, actually, that would be a different answer. I've been using Mullvad for over a decade and I really like them as a company. I also like that they have cash and crypto as a payment method. The main reason though is they're the only one I know of that just has a random number generated for access, which means they require 0 information from you to use. I think ProtonVPN is a solid option, especially if you're on their paid plan. It's a great option for the user cases you mentioned. I would like to just use ProtonVPN since I'm already paying for it, but after a decade of Mullvad, I don't see any reason to switch at this point.
6:20 if you use their paid service, you could also use their calendar app and perhaps password manager, though I could understand sticking to Bitwarden.
I tried their password service, but it was getting a little too much "all my eggs in one basket". I would have used their calendar initially, but they didn't have an Android app when I started using etesync. There's also something nice about self-hosting your password vault, although the risk is pretty high if you don't have regular backups.
@@sideofburritos They have an android app for calendar now. Been using it every so often (I don't need an awful lot of planning, mainly use it for birthdays). I cannot use it in Thunderbird - at least haven't found how -, but in the web client you can plan in appointments fairly easily, when they send you a calendar prompt. I can understand the one-basket thing. Hope they will implement separate logins.
I'll have to check it out. I tested it a while ago, but haven't done much with it. It would be nice to have my calendar and email all in one spot. I think the main thing that also makes it tough is contacts. If they added a phone app for that, I may consider switching over (except for the password manager). Otherwise, I still need to use something else for contacts & tasks.
Great video! Thanks for sharing. While we wait for the profile management video , do you have any links or resources that talk about that (i.e. GPS on owner, apps on user)? Or would you mind summarizing some of the advantages? I've been reading quite some about it, but with GOS' sandboxed apps, and contact storage scopes features, I'm finding it difficult to identify any arguments that justify this profile approach as opposed to just have everything in owner. Thanks again!
Currently editing the video now. But I like having it in owner where I have Orbot running. So all traffic goes over TOR, and I sign in with my anonymous Google account there. I can then "push" the apps to another user profile where I don't have GPS installed. I get the benefit of installing apps from the Play Store, but not having to have it installed on my daily profile where I don't need it. And for apps that require it, I have a separate user profile there I have Play services installed, but I'm not signed in. You can then always "End Session" on the user profile where you have GPS installed and go back to your one without it. If you do everything from owner, you can't "End Session" on owner. I think for a little extra friction, you get a huge benefit in compartmentalizing things.
Thanks for sharing the info! Could you explain a little more what the desktop features, using mouse and keyboard, what was lacking on the tablet? Was it more graphene itself or the UI? Cant rmember which you said
It was the UI, the tablet doesn't have a “desktop mode”. So between the UI and the apps available (no full IDE or easy way to build images), development was a no-go.
Side of Buritos can you do an updated video on which app store to use. I have new pipe but the older version and barely works. would like to keep it updated. Thanks
I will! In the meantime, checkout this video on Obtainium (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JiN37bn0OE8.html). It's what I use to keep apps that publish .apks up to date.
If you are not using an appstore like the playstore to get these apps then how did you download these apps ? Did you use obtainium to get these apps ? And what kind of appstore do you use on your phone ?
At 3:08 I mentioned I have two user profiles. The main (owner) is where I have Google Play and Obtanium installed. Then, from that user profile, I use the "install avaialble apps" feature in GrapheneOS to "push" the apps to my secondary (Josh) user profile. I don't show the main owner user profile in the video, so you never see Google Play or Obtanium.
Self-hosted app? Can you elaborate on that? Does this mean you have a specific server running on your own network & those apps point to their respective servers?
I did try, but I needed a full IDE and nothing exists on the tablet that could come close to a desktop experience. I also needed to build images for deployments once I was ready.
I have been using GrapheneOS on several phones for several years now and never had problems -- a few days ago I bought a Pixel Tablet and now I have weird certificate problems with several apps (Navionics Boating and a few others that won't start) and I can't figure out what is happening. I suspect problems with the Play Protect certification. Has something like this happened to you as well?
Hm, I've never had an issue like that. Are you on your home Wi-Fi? The only time I've ever seen a certificate warning is when I'm on public Wi-Fi and I haven't signed in yet. They MITM the traffic until you're authenticated, therefore showing a warning. You can try enabling exploit compatibility mode for the apps not working in the app settings.
Putting privacy aside, or maybe just not emphasizing as much, what's your opinion on using GrapheneOS more for a kid's tablet that I could have more control over apps, etc?
I don't think there's enough control/restrictions that can be put in place on GrapheneOS that would make it viable for a kid's tablet. I've never looked into the topic specifically, but just what I know from using it regularly.
@@sideofburritos thanks. I figured there's probably not much of anything in the way of proper "parental controls.". I thought maybe I could set it up similar to your Owner and You profiles, where I'd control Owner to keep a tight restriction on exactly what apps are available to the child on the everyday You profile. Also, thank you for the whole series of Graphene videos. They're a great help to see this OS in action.
@@sideofburritos I only Am due to the 7 years of updates and Google has a track record of pushing back so I am not waiting for them to do their own chip with tsmc
It's going to be interesting to see where the laptop market goes. I feel like competing on raw processing power is gone at this point. Yes, it still matters, but even a mid-tier laptop is still plenty powerful for most people. I'm curious to see what they'll do next to “set themselves apart”. A solid all in one device would be great.
I should have looked up prices again before making the video. I forgot the tablet was pretty pricey, especially with the dock option and cover. It's been a year and I forgot exactly what I paid for it.
@@sideofburritos Me neither, but I find it quite useful to access files from my mobile devices.. (scan documents, sync photos, share files with others, access folders on my NAS, etc.).
I disagree, it's been a rock solid OS on my phone for the past two years. With Sandboxed Google Play installed, you can install and use apps like a stock pixel device.
I've never used Google Pay before. There are quite a few posts on the GrapheneOS forums about it with people sharing their experiences - discuss.grapheneos.org/?q=nfc%20payments
I use macOS as my daily, but if you're looking for privacy, I would start with Ubuntu. I think it's a solid distribution to start with, and if you don't like it, you can try other's from there.
Yeah bro, the Sandbox thing still confuses me. I just got the Pixel 9 Pro & want to start downloading apps but still can't decide what's more beneficial for privacy while also getting notifications. Updates I can deal with if I have to manually in Aurora store. I've had Graphene)S on other pixel phones for the last couple years so I'm kinda familiar with Aurora store and what's going on there, but still confused about sandbox. Some other guy on a different youtube channel goes though the downloading and sandboxing and says you can use Google play store without signing in but doesn't show how to do it.:( So it's a confusing video. He talks about Aurora store option as well, but makes it sound like you don't have to use Aurora store while using sandbox Google play store and not have to sign in? On another note, something you mentioned in this video, somehow transferring apps over to different profile? That would be good to get a walk through on. 1. Can we use the Google play store without signing in on it's own in sandbox or do we have to use Aurora store? Is it the combination of using Aurora store with Google play services in sandbox that some are talking about? 2. If I choose to sandbox on a private non-main profile, can I still receive phone calls when I'm in that non-main profile? 3. I tried to use Ebay app once downloaded from Aurora Store and couldn't login in with invalid request error. Is it possible through Aurora store and I simply missed to enable some permission of some sort, or do I have to use google play services and google play store sandbox to use places like Ebay and bank apps? Amazon, coin gecko, brave browser apps works fine for me btw. These are just issues I'm having that you might want to address in your next video for all the newbies out there now hearing about Graphene and how to use it properly because if I'm still confused a little and I've been using for a coupe years now, then newcomers might be confused as well. Not that you caused it. You're videos have been pretty helpful. Just needs a little clarification for my recent TBI concussion. lol Be blessed bro and keep fighting the good fight for liberty!
1. Can we use the Google play store without signing in on it's own in sandbox or do we have to use Aurora store? Is it the combination of using Aurora store with Google play services in sandbox that some are talking about? - I'm not aware of any way to use Google Play Store without signing in, which is likely why that person just happened to "skip" over it. I use it with a dedicated account I created just for that purpose. 2. If I choose to sandbox on a private non-main profile, can I still receive phone calls when I'm in that non-main profile? -All apps are sandboxed by default, it's not something you enable/disable. The thing you have control over is using different user profiles. If you use multiple use profiles, yes, secondary user profiles can send/receive calls. 3. I tried to use Ebay app once downloaded from Aurora Store and couldn't login in with invalid request error. Is it possible through Aurora store and I simply missed to enable some permission of some sort, or do I have to use google play services and google play store sandbox to use places like Ebay and bank apps? Amazon, coin gecko, brave browser apps works fine for me btw. - It's possible the eBay app requires Google Play Services to run, if that's the case you would need to have Google Play installed. I've never tested the eBay app. Looks like this thread talks about the exact erorr you mentioned - discuss.grapheneos.org/d/8561-ebay-app-log-in-not-working-invalid-request/8 I use a combination of Google Play Store and Obtainium - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JiN37bn0OE8.html
