gOS threat model is “everything everywhere all at once” - nation state actors et al - and from that standpoint, yeah, eOS and lOS and whoever else is lacking.
but the vast majority of users have a threat model that can be boiled down to two things:
a lost/stolen device doesn’t compromise me - the fucker can’t get at my stuff and/or impersonate me, and
free from apple’s/google’s reign - I control what stuff runs on my phone
both easily accomplished with lineageOS and derivatives running on a $50 phone. if you truly want to spend four digits annually on Newest & Best, you do you, I’m good.
Most Android phones from brands smaller than Samsung and Google fail the first requirement. Most Android phones are years behind the most basic iPhone in terms of security, mostly because of manufacturers cheaping out and a race to the bottom even in phones more expensive than a second hand car.
Graphene’s thread model is “a (corrupt) cop can’t see my location history and every account I’ve ever logged into by plugging my phone into a USB device” and most brands fail horribly at it. Only Pixels with GrapheneOS are safe as of the latest article about it, with iPhones and Pixels coming in second.
LineageOS is even worse, unless you manage to lock the bootloader without bricking your phone post install. Any time you lose sight of your phone for any moment (i.e. at an airport) you should reflash your entire OS if you care about basic privacy. I don’t know why relocking the bootloader seems to be such a challenge for device manufacturers, but it’s proving to be a rather niche requirement despite being the most basic security feature you could implement.
Most people don’t really care about security and offline privacy of their devices, that’s why most people don’t need GrapheneOS. However, that doesn’t mean that GrapheneOS is wrong to point out the shitty status quo of Android phones. The sad state of affairs right now is that if you care about offline privacy, you need to fiddle with a Pixel to install GrapheneOS or buy an iPhone and put it into lockdown mode (which Android still lacks).
e/OS is just particularly egregious. This isn’t about GrapheneOS being paranoid, it’s Murena not delivering the most basic level of security patches, then hiding it.
I’ve got the top end latest Pixel model and it did not cost me 4 digits. Bought one used, so Google never got my money. Immediately put grapheneOS on it, this phone in its pre-gOS spyware form never had access to my actual data in the first place. Or even a real network.
gOS threat model is “everything everywhere all at once” - nation state actors et al - and from that standpoint, yeah, eOS and lOS and whoever else is lacking.
but the vast majority of users have a threat model that can be boiled down to two things:
both easily accomplished with lineageOS and derivatives running on a $50 phone. if you truly want to spend four digits annually on Newest & Best, you do you, I’m good.
Most Android phones from brands smaller than Samsung and Google fail the first requirement. Most Android phones are years behind the most basic iPhone in terms of security, mostly because of manufacturers cheaping out and a race to the bottom even in phones more expensive than a second hand car.
Graphene’s thread model is “a (corrupt) cop can’t see my location history and every account I’ve ever logged into by plugging my phone into a USB device” and most brands fail horribly at it. Only Pixels with GrapheneOS are safe as of the latest article about it, with iPhones and Pixels coming in second.
LineageOS is even worse, unless you manage to lock the bootloader without bricking your phone post install. Any time you lose sight of your phone for any moment (i.e. at an airport) you should reflash your entire OS if you care about basic privacy. I don’t know why relocking the bootloader seems to be such a challenge for device manufacturers, but it’s proving to be a rather niche requirement despite being the most basic security feature you could implement.
Most people don’t really care about security and offline privacy of their devices, that’s why most people don’t need GrapheneOS. However, that doesn’t mean that GrapheneOS is wrong to point out the shitty status quo of Android phones. The sad state of affairs right now is that if you care about offline privacy, you need to fiddle with a Pixel to install GrapheneOS or buy an iPhone and put it into lockdown mode (which Android still lacks).
I bought a refurb Pixel 7 on eBay for like ~$150 and put Graphene on it. It’s not like you have to spend four digits unless you want to.
That’s a crazy good deal
e/OS is just particularly egregious. This isn’t about GrapheneOS being paranoid, it’s Murena not delivering the most basic level of security patches, then hiding it.
I’ve got the top end latest Pixel model and it did not cost me 4 digits. Bought one used, so Google never got my money. Immediately put grapheneOS on it, this phone in its pre-gOS spyware form never had access to my actual data in the first place. Or even a real network.