About a week ago, I finally made the decision to flash GrapheneOS on my Pixel 6. I’ve been thinking about moving to GrapheneOS for months but was afraid to do so because of missing functionalities or app incompatibility that would result in my Pixel 6 becoming unusable. Even though I could just re-flash stock Android should I encounter those issues, I didn’t want to bother.

However, last week, I decided to set aside my fears and made the move to GrapheneOS. Whatever fears or concerns I had about missing functionalities or app incompatibilities were completely unfounded. Flashing of GrapheneOS was really easy, thanks to the instructions they provided on their website. The sandboxed Google Play environment still allowed me to download the key apps I needed, whether it be the mobile game that I’m currently playing or a smart home app (e.g. Ring) or a banking app (e.g. Chase). They all worked as expected, though my banking apps required me to turn on Exploit Protection Compatibility Mode, something that was explained to me in one of the Graphene Discussion Boards. Android Auto was another app that I needed for driving, and thanks to the latest update that was made by the GrapheneOS makers, I had no issues in setting up Android Auto to work with my car. That was a huge relief for me!

That being said, there is one thing that is not working, but it’s not that important of a feature for me, and that is NFC. Prior to making the move, I did not use NFC that much for payments, although my car app did have a Remote Key function that relied on NFC. As far as I can tell, it looks like NFC is not usable in GrapheneOS. There’s probably a good security and/or privacy reason for this, but I do wish something could be implemented for it, as it can be quite convenient. Again, it’s not that important of a feature for me to have right now…more of a “nice to have” feature…but I wonder if the GrapheneOS developers are looking into this.

Anyways, it’s only been a week since I made the move. I’m sure more use cases will come up the more I use GrapheneOS, and instead of fear, I find myself excited at testing out more apps and functionalities on the OS. Traveling is one scenario I have not yet tried, but that’s because I’m not leaving town to go anywhere. That’s one set of scenarios that I look forward to trying out.

If anyone has any other advices or information they have about their experience with GrapheneOS, I would welcome it. And for those who are still undecided about moving to GrapheneOS, I hope this post relieves some of your anxieties or worries about making the transition.

  • almizilero@lemmy.world
    3·
    9 months ago

    Graphene is amazing! Switched from Calyx last week and couldn’t be happier. Scopes are the best thing ever. App “needs” to read contacts? Yeah, you can read the one fake contact that the scope allows you to.

    • Steve@lemmy.todayOPEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      Yeah, the Scopes feature is really nice! I often wonder why some apps require reading every single contact or need access to every folder/directory in your phone. In my use case, there are a few apps that require access to storage or contacts, but thanks to Scopes, I can limit it to just a specific folder or a small group of contacts. Everything else is off limits, and I like that.

  • ninjan@lemmy.mildgrim.comEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    NFC for security related things relies on certificates that belong to Google. GrapheneOS / LineageOS etc could make their own and put forward to the banks/credit card companies/car companies etc but the likelihood that they’d get them signed and approved is basically nil.

    Pretty much the same core issue that means you can’t run streaming services at 4K outside mainstream devices like Chromecast or Nvidia Shield etc. You can’t make it work on a HTPC or a cheap Android TV stick from AliExpress, because it lacks the certificates to authenticate to Netflix etc. As well as HDCP and other DRM which is needed.

  • TheaoneAndOnly27@kbin.social
    1·
    9 months ago

    I’ve been really considering switching to grapheneOs, But I’m a therapist and we have to use Google voice for our office numbers. Does Google voice still ring through if it’s in a sandboxed environment?

    • guyrocket@kbin.social
      0·
      9 months ago

      Brand new the 6a is just over $400. That seems pretty reasonable to me for a modern smartphone.

      You could probably get a used one for less.

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
      01·
      9 months ago

      I’ve never spent less for what I’ve gotten than with pixels. Paid $350 for a pixel 4a that lasted me 3.5 years and I paid less than 400 for a 7a. Just get last year’s model. To be clear the hardware still worked after 3.5 years but I decided to not continue after the security updates stopped

  • guyrocket@kbin.social
    0·
    9 months ago

    I’m in a similar place as the OP.

    One question I have is about Vanadium. This is chrome based, right? Is it really the best/most secure browser? Aren’t the better secured flavors of Firefox better (LibreWolf, Fennic, etc.)?

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
        01·
        9 months ago

        I just wrote a longer comment but it seemed to disappear. I did not find that writeup very easy to understand nor convincing because the underlying message is that Firefox is bullshit?

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
        01·
        9 months ago

        I don’t really feel like they explained much in terms of why just a lot of detail around what they believe. The tldr seems to be that Firefox isn’t truly secure but Google’s work is.

        All the talk about Tor also seemed to go back and forth between “this is the best and that’s why we use that approach” and “it’s not very good but will be eventually”.

        Nothing they wrote was clear to me honestly. I do find it hard to believe that Firefox is inherently insecure and that the extensions many rely on for privacy reasons are all bullshit security theatre…

        • LoveSausage@lemmy.ml
          0·
          9 months ago

          Sandboxing is crap on Firefox (specially on android) . Google is really fucking good at security since they are well a huge multinational behemot. They know security. Security =/ privacy. When you are using android you are using Chrome webview no matter what browser you are using. So just piling on stuff instead of replacing things won’t be a good security practice.

          Also the Google parts are optional , you don’t need Googles stuff to use chromium. Just like vanadium does.

          • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
            01·
            9 months ago

            Regarding webviews – am I right in thinking that webviews are simply a frame within another app that acts as a web browser? I’ve been under the impression that since I disabled chrome on my android phone and that the upper right menu offers to open in FF, those are using FF. I guess I’m wrong?

            Well you say the Google parts of chromium are optional, but that’s more just tracking and sign in stuff. Google is the major player in the chromium codebase, no? They have some fantastic engineers but it still sort of has the stink of Google on it, if nothing else due to the web standards supported which is steered by Google business decisions. That’s mainly why I don’t want to use it. I want other browsers to exist. That and mobile ff extensions are fantastic from a user perspective

            • LoveSausage@lemmy.ml
              0·
              9 months ago

              I’m no expert but webview is used anytime remote content is loaded I believe. Certainly you can open links in FF but webview is always there , and not so obvious things always load that way. Webview is baked inte the OS itself. No matter how much you degoogle. Bromite had another webview based on chrome but that’s all the alternative that exist as far as I know.

              Chromium is still Foss. Google might have a stink and definitely tries to influence on the Foss part. But when it comes to vanadium I have no question about that everything is under a magnifying glass.

              As I wrote elsewhere , all projects have their place and I do use FF, just not on android. I would be really happy if FF on mobile would be able to compete but I don’t see that happening until we have full Linux phones (that actually does everything android does)

              https://www.androidauthority.com/what-is-android-system-webview-3267814/

              • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
                01·
                9 months ago

                I appreciate your response. However, upon reading that article, it seems the truth is somewhere between our two understandings. WebView is no longer baked into the OS:

                Around the same time, Google also decoupled WebView from the rest of the operating system and packaged it as a system app instead. This allows the component to be updated independently of major Android updates or security patches.

                What I said about an app displaying content using Firefox is also true in some cases. You can see in this screenshot of the article that Firefox is being used in the manner I described (and the selected text describes):

                I have often noticed that “powered by Firefox” text, so I guess that’s where my assumption came from.

                I don’t doubt at all that certain apps, specifically Google built ones, still require/use the google WebView, but that’s not every app. Boost for Lemmy for example, in my screenshot, uses the custom tab feature which can use Firefox. I am tempted to disable the Google WebView app just to see what happens… I am guessing Google-built apps like Gmail will crash. I wish “custom tabs” were adapted in a manner that Firefox could always be used, but I doubt Google would make that a thing.

                At least they do have the custom tab feature, something apple would never do, maybe not even if the friggin EU forced them to. They seem to be weaseling out of some other EU regs, anyhow.

                But back to GrapheneOS. Given that Google apps are sandboxed and almost discouraged in that OS, I’m still not sure I understand the specific guidance against Firefox.

                Edit: yeah disabling the WebView app causes Gmail to crash horribly and even K9 mail, made by Mozilla, responds the same way. :'(

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
        01·
        9 months ago

        So… Firefox is a scam and Google’s browser isn’t? I didn’t really understand that writeup

  • Chemical Wonka@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    My only problem with GrapheneOS is when I record the screen on Vanadium browser it doesn’t capture the audio

    I’d like to see some features as:

    1. Block Screenshot whole system

    2. True Black Mode to make the most of the OLED screen

    3. Extreme Power Saving

    4. Block recharging when it reaches 80% to preserve battery health