For those who use GrapheneOS, is it worth it? Do you like it?

My backups are done, all that is left is the final choice to wipe my whole phone.

  • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    5 months ago

    100% love it.

    I was worried that I would try it, not be able to use it for my needs, and be stuck hating what android has turned into, but not yet able to jump ship for linux phones (because moving to apple is as bad as what android is turning into).

    Instead, graphene reminded me of why I loved android in the first place. It genuinely works so much smoother, I don’t have to worry about much of anything at all, but can relatively freely do whatever the fuck I want on my device.

    As usual, you do have to be aware that some apps just will not cooperate with any OS changes that aren’t OEM. And graphene isn’t root friendly. So that’s why the “relatively freely” is present in the previous paragraph. Within those bounds though, holy crap is it a better experience than anything else I’ve ever used since my lgg3 was new. Faster, better battery life, and zero bloat to deal with. That’s compared to pixels I had fucked with that weren’t the same model as the one I was so generously given me by a great friend. Can’t say for sure that if graphene was available on my other devices that it would be better in terms of speed and battery life, since that’s hardware dependent to a great degree.

    But I can say that when I fucked around on pixels newer than the one I have, that they were less responsive and drained battery faster doing similar tasks, despite having newer hardware.

    I’ve said it elsewhere before, but my experience with graphene pissed me off. It makes me so angry that this experience isn’t the default experience for all devices, out of the box. I hate that until the recent announcement, that having this experience meant being limited to the shitty choices Google made for pixels (like no sd card, not the chipset or anything like that). I’m hopeful that the Motorola option is realistic for me once this phone has met its end of life. I’m riding it until the wheels fall off though lol.

    Legit, if you aren’t limited by work requirements regarding apps you have to use, and your bank app isn’t pissy, don’t hesitate. I haven’t been this happy with any device since I put lineage on an old tablet years ago and it fit my needs so perfectly I couldn’t believe it. Even my beloved g3 didn’t work as well with any rom as this pixel does with graphene.

    • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
      1·
      5 months ago

      Graphene isn’t root friendly because root friendly is a security vulnerability.

      You CAN install GOS builds which allow you to have root, but if you care about security (and, that’s why you’re here) then you should not.

  • Lyubo@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    iodeOS/ LineageOS and especially GrapheneOS (if you don’t stick with older hardware) are the best things I’ve found for the mobile. It’s pure freedom without restricting yourself to a dumb phone. It’s even more worth now when Google will start to ask developers for intrusive verification. I don’t have to worry about apps that I’m using doesn’t meet Google’s bullshit approval because developer doesn’t want to give so much personal data to entity like Google. I was thinking of buying Google Streamer but when I found out about this, I’ll wait and see what happens with apps outside Google Play Store. I know that you still can sideload but I don’t think the apps will update automatically.

      • Lyubo@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        4 months ago

        If you have Pixel that is still supported by Google go with GrapheneOS, if not or don’t have/ want Pixel go with iodeOS- for the easy installer and ability to re-lock the bootloader on some devises. e/OS/ is maybe the same but I don’t like the interface and I don’t need the service from the subscription. If non of the above apply LineageOS (for MicroG) but on some devises you need a PC to update to the next major version, some even require factory reset on every major update. Keep in mind that unlocked bootloader can be very insecure when the device is physically taken by the attacker.

        Long-term I used LineageOS (tablet), LineageOS for MicroG and GrapheneOS. When I switch from LineageOS for MicroG to GrapheneOS on my phone noticed that some customisations and quality of life features are missing but the difference isn’t huge- like double press power button for the flashlight, coffee toggle and that I can’t remove the horizontal line at the bottom of the screen. But in my opinion this is noting conpair to the benefits that GrapheneOS offer- superior security, much many user profiles, faster and consistent updates and the official google camera app if your device is still supported by Google. I think MicroG offers better user experience if you are less knowledgeable about this stuff. But sadly CalyxOS have issues at the moment and that’s because I didn’t include them previously.