Just one problem. Both are still dependent on Google and Android-based. How sustainable is that security model when a company has the say-so over whether you get to flash your custom firmware next year, or the next year, or maybe the year after that?
I’m an /e/os user and all I can say is even though it sucks the least among its competition, it STILL SUCKS! Not to downplay the immense effort put in by the devs and maintainers of course. Providing a privacy-respecting phone OS to ordinary people isn’t just a good deed, it’s necessary for a vibrant and diverse digital society. But still, we can all strive for better.
My banking app works on GrapheneOS. It didn’t even need any of the compatibility settings to be turned. My experience has been smoother than the Android shipped with the device. I barely use Google apps apart from yt and haven’t found any obscure issues yet. Is GrapheneOS just really good compared to others or did I get lucky with my bank and the features I use?
They’re pretty common and the functionality is often not even obscure. Plenty of ROMs out there are unable to make full use of the fancy cameras on some phones without jumping through hoops because of driver issues. That’s not an insignificant thing. I’ve seen NFC and e-sim being unavailable as well, which are also not very obscure features.
By the way, do you know of any other OS except for GrafinoS that does not bundle any MicroG or other tether to Google? I like /e/os, but MicroG bothers me. Can it be uninstalled?
Yep, they put in a lot of effort into the security and open source stuff, but at least on Graphene, the bundled apps are severely outdated aosp apps, they don’t even support material you, meanwhile current aosp apps do support it, as can be seen on Lineage. The calculator app looks straight from Android 5 or probably earlier.
I honestly couldn’t care less about how the calculator app looks, and I’m sure you could find a more “modern” one on fdroid. The real problems are things like google pay not working (not a deal breaker imo, but would be nice to have)
Nah, /e/os and GrapheneOS rule!
Just one problem. Both are still dependent on Google and Android-based. How sustainable is that security model when a company has the say-so over whether you get to flash your custom firmware next year, or the next year, or maybe the year after that?
Right! just look how locked down android has become since the early/mid 2000’s.
You don’t even have full control of your sd card anymore (if you’re lucky enough to actually have a phone with an sd slot.)
I’m an /e/os user and all I can say is even though it sucks the least among its competition, it STILL SUCKS! Not to downplay the immense effort put in by the devs and maintainers of course. Providing a privacy-respecting phone OS to ordinary people isn’t just a good deed, it’s necessary for a vibrant and diverse digital society. But still, we can all strive for better.
Define, “sucks”
The complaints I see about custom OS the most:
My banking app works on GrapheneOS. It didn’t even need any of the compatibility settings to be turned. My experience has been smoother than the Android shipped with the device. I barely use Google apps apart from yt and haven’t found any obscure issues yet. Is GrapheneOS just really good compared to others or did I get lucky with my bank and the features I use?
My bank app doesn’t work with Graphene, which is a pain in the arse, but not the end of the world. I mean, they still have a website I can log into.
i never experienced point 2 or 3 in all my years of using them.
the problem for me is usually integrity api.
They’re pretty common and the functionality is often not even obscure. Plenty of ROMs out there are unable to make full use of the fancy cameras on some phones without jumping through hoops because of driver issues. That’s not an insignificant thing. I’ve seen NFC and e-sim being unavailable as well, which are also not very obscure features.
By the way, do you know of any other OS except for GrafinoS that does not bundle any MicroG or other tether to Google? I like /e/os, but MicroG bothers me. Can it be uninstalled?
I’m not sure but afaik CalyxOS and LMODroid does that.
GrapheneOS has been working flawlessly for me for years. Highly recommend!
Yep, they put in a lot of effort into the security and open source stuff, but at least on Graphene, the bundled apps are severely outdated aosp apps, they don’t even support material you, meanwhile current aosp apps do support it, as can be seen on Lineage. The calculator app looks straight from Android 5 or probably earlier.
I honestly couldn’t care less about how the calculator app looks, and I’m sure you could find a more “modern” one on fdroid. The real problems are things like google pay not working (not a deal breaker imo, but would be nice to have)
Lineage has its own forks of most apps
Most, but there are exceptions, mainly the messages app, calculator, phone app, and keyboard that I know for sure.
Check out crDroid. I do not know how it’s like to daily drive it, but afaik it’s highly customizable.