I am a long term GrapheneOS user and would like to talk about it. r/privacy on the redditland blocks custom OS discussions which I think is very bad for user privacy, and I hope this post will be useful to anyone who are in the hunt for better privacy.

Nowadays smartphones are a much bigger threats to our privacy and Desktop systems, and unfortunately manufacturers has designed them to be locked down devices with no user freedom. You can’t just “install Linux” on most smartphones and it is horrible. And most preloaded systems spy on us like crazy. That was why I specifically bought a pixel and loaded GOS onto it.

According to https://grapheneos.org/features , they start from base AOSP’s latest version, imptoves upon it’s security and significantly hardens it. There’s hardened_malloc to.prevent against exploitation, disabling lots of debugging features, disabling USB-c data, hardening the Linux kernel and system apps etc. They even block accessing the hardware identifiers of the phone so that apps cannot detect whqt phone you’re using. That means with Tor and zero permissions given, apps are anonymous.

Compatibility with apps are best in Custom ROMs but there are still that can’t work, especially if they enforce device integrity. Very few apps usually enforce that tho. Also their community isn’t the friendliest but you can get help. Just don’t try and engage too much or have too many debates.

Anyone else here use GrapheneOS, or any other privacy ROMs? What is your experience? Do you disagree on any point? Let’s have a discussion!

    • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
      2·
      29 days ago

      That’s a dealbreaker for me. I do use my phone as a phone rather frequently. What’s the deal? Is VoLTE not supported by default on GOS? Is ou it a specific device incompatibility?

      • Metz@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        29 days ago

        Is VoLTE not supported by default on GOS?

        Yes and no. e.g. see https://grapheneos.org/usage#carrier-functionality

        Wi-Fi Calling, VoLTE, Visual Voicemail, MMS, SMS, Calling and 5G (SA and NSA) all are supported, however some functionality may not be usable due to Google not supporting carriers on the stock OS officially or due to GrapheneOS not shipping proprietary apps required in order for this functionality to work on some carriers.

        Generally 5G, SMS, MMS, Calls and VoLTE will work fine on GrapheneOS with officially supported carriers by Google.

        Some carriers may restrict functionality, such as VoLTE, on imported Pixel devices as they only whitelist the IMEI ranges of Pixel device SKUs which were sold locally.

        And https://grapheneos.org/usage#lte-only-mode

        VoLTE / VoWi-Fi works on GrapheneOS for most carriers unless they restrict it to carrier phones.

        So… it depends

        If your carrier is official supported by google, your carrier itself supports it and your device is not imported, it is likely to work.

      • Object@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        29 days ago

        Honestly, not quite sure why it happens, but I know it’s something to do with using it in Korea, where Pixel phones are not natively supported. In other words, it happens with Pixel phones, regardless of the OS.

        As to how I knew it would work with the fix, it was a gamble. I rooted my phone and enabled VoLTE prior to that app.

      • Object@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        29 days ago

        Unless the phone is rooted, I don’t think so; I need to enable wireless debugging first, then run Shizuku, then enable a bunch of options in the Pixel IME app. But then again, this can be done permanently with root.