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this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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I want a phone, not a hobby.
Discounting some minor comparability issues, the process just requires a computer, an internet connection, a cable, and the ability to read through a couple paragraphs of instruction.
I'm talking about daily use. I have a good friend, we've both been computer nerds since The Apple II era, we both used to put custom roms on our android phones, we're avid self hosters, etc... He recently switched to Graphene and wants to switch back to something that's less of a pain. His complaints are pretty much the same as reasons I haven't switched. I warned him it would be an adjustment.
As someone who uses GrapheneOS with sandboxed GooglePlay on his only smartphone (with daily usage for years at this point): I don't know what kind of adjustment you are referring to. I never had to adjust to anything, because I never encountered anything that GrapheneOS couldn't do that stock Android could. Follow the installation process and after that the phone behaves like a regular phone, except you have way more options regarding security and privacy.
Is your friend trying to use GrapheneOS without any Google services maybe?
I had to fiddle with some stuff to get the Google location history and Android Auto working. But if you're using it for privacy-from-Google purposes you probably don't care about those.
Edit: also RCS and tap to pay with credit/debit card. Those require your carrier and Google to allow them, respectively.
Correct, I am not using GrapheneOS to then give my data to Google willingly. Kinda defeats the purpose I would say. I think it is the right thing that this is blocked by default and you have to actively turn it on. (Edit: I am assuming that you are talking about the fact that location data gets redirected to GrapheneOS by default, which can be changed in settings)
Is this a country-specific topic? I don't know anybody who still uses SMS/MMS to communicate. Everybody uses WhatsApp or Signal where I am.
Yeah, as an example Tmobile / Mint Mobile regularly stop working and require reprovisioning every 36 hours.
My own personal experience over the past year with it has... Largely not lined up with that? The install process was easy, I do have gplay enabled but rarely use it, favoring fdroid, and it's... Been fine? It's felt mostly like stock android tbh
That’s the same thing stopping me from switching my friends from Linux. I know one of them would if I pushed.
I’ve been daily driving Linux for almost 2 years and also always have a minor issue daily. “Oh. Bluetooth module decided it just didn’t want to work. Better reload. Oh. Reloading doesn’t work? Got to restart. Oh. Now my Wi-Fi has completely crapped the bed and restarts every 5 seconds”.
Then the major issues are catastrophic, even though rare. I once had a system just start… filling up empty storage at a rate of 1 GB a second with an empty log file. I couldn’t figure out why. Ended up reinstalling everything.
I don’t mind fixing these issues. And hell, I have fun, but I’m the only computer guy in our group though so I’d be playing tech support for these people if they ever changed.
What distro are you using? This seems bizarre and the sort of thing you see on a less stable rolling release.
But this is different. Linux doesn't work well on many PCs especially laptops because the manufacturs don't give the needed drivers and firmware. And on the top of that many programs are built with Windows and maybe macOS in mind. GrapheneOS is not entirely different operating system and is only for Pixels with Google's own firmware and everything work the same as stock ROM.
So you haven't used it yourself and are shitting on an OS based on anecdotal evidence? "Stop making stupid assumptions”, I once heard someone say.
I use GrapheneOS and have helped other less tech-savvy people install and use it. You can just roll with the defaults and have a better privacy stance than the spyware Google puts out, or you can take a deep dive. It works just fine either way.
Hey, you can judge something without using it in some degree in my opinion. I've judged iOS and macOS because of their user experience, design and etc based on things I've seen and knew. But I didn't want to spent a fortune just to express my thoughts and end up with something that I don't like. Now that I've used them I hate on them even more. But in this example it seems that this person don't have enough knowledge about this specific thing and don't know what they're talking about.
I'm an experienced technologist (a software engineer for over 30 years), I used to regularly install CyanogenMod on my phones. While I didn't find the graphene OS installation to be particularly difficult, I did find actually using it to be too much of a challenge to live with every day. The biggest single problem I can recall is that I could not do any group ~~SMS~~ MMS texts. Many searches and attempts at fixes later, I realized that it was a known bug that for reasons unknown did not seem to affect all users. There were a number of minor annoyances in addition to that bug.
That may reflect more on how Google has locked down things on the pixel phones, or other stuff they've done to keep things as proprietary as possible in their software and devices. I switched back because it wasn't worth the hassle to me.
You can't send group texts over SMS
I'd guess the group chat is stuck sending messages to RCS (basically Google Proprietary) rather than MMS
This is the same problem iPhone users have dealt with for a long time when switching to Android and their number is stuck in Apple's iMessage system
Corrected to MMS.
My friend tried using it last year and he started getting some super annoying RCS issues that caused him to switch back to iPhone. He was very invested in using graphene but it became too much.
I don't mean to sound callous but if some relatively minor RCS issues, and there's really no way they could be classified as major, stopped your friend from doing what he set out to do then he wasn't all that invested in the idea.
I'm not saying there's no problems with GrapheneOS or any other product helping consumers to change their habits but if you really care about issues like corporate overreach then a little inconvenience isn't a deal breaker. In fact, it's to be expected when switching away from mega corporations. They invest tons of money to make their user experience decent so that they can profit off of your data. If you want to get away from that you have to accept the fact that you're moving away from a product supported by thousands of engineers with billions of dollars to spend towards a product developed by tens of engineers or less with very limited funding. Those developers do a damn good job IMO but a dip in ease-of-use has to be expected.
At the end of the day we all have to decide if we're going to prioritize convenience or mindfulness. It sounds like your friend made his choice, and there's nothing inherently wrong with the choice he made, I just think it's important to put it in the proper perspective.
He was between jobs and could not afford his phone to be unreliable at the time. The RCS issues were messing with all of his group chats, family communications, and more. For him in his situation, it was not minor.
Clearly not that invested because you can just turn RCS off, or use a non-RCS messaging app
If this was the only big problem and only because of work your friend could've buy a cheap second phone only for work. I did that. That way you have privacy and security for your personal life and better convince for work.
I've been thinking about it for a long time. Does the installation wipe everything stored on the phone? I don't mind installing apps individually, just wondering about files and photos. Also can I run Action Launcher on Graphene?
Set up Immich and move all your photos and videos to it.
You can also run syncthing on your android phone just fine, allowing you to simply mirror everything on it to any file server of your choice.
I don't know about the launcher, but I do know the that all storage is wiped in the process of switching over.
It's not a hobby.
Don't confuse Graphene with a tinker box, or some ROM you once rooted.
It's a professionally polished and very secure fork of Android.
There are some minor limitations with a handful apps that can't pass their Google specific internal security checks, but there's lists of them that you can check to see if any are a deal breaker for you.
Well well well, look who likes using banking apps and tap-to-pay.
I have GrapheneOS and use banking apps and tap-to-pay on a daily basis.
I am not in the US, though.
All of my banking apps work in Graphene, but yes, some banks apps don't work, which is why there's published lists so you can check before flashing.
I've used GOS daily for years. Your characterization of the OS as a "hobby" could not be further from the truth. After some basic initial configuration, it simply works like any other phone. My bank app works. Every app they told me would not work, works fine. Honestly, I'm beginning to wonder if all this FUD is a result of personal lack of willingness to do the research or something more nefarious like intentional misinformation.
I was on GrapheneOS for ~6 months as my daily. I agree that for the most part it "just worked".
However, after the 3rd time RCS messages broke on T-Mobile requiring Google Messages to be reinstalled every 36 hours, I gave up and went back to stock.
If the GrapheneOS devs implement their version of RCS, I'd gladly go back.
Using RCS is not worth dealing with a spyware phone in my estimation. And any conversations over SMS can be considered compromised by default. So I do not discuss sensitive or private information over SMS. This leaves one with a device that the Gestapo as of yet has not contrived a way to invade. The existence of any such device horrifies tyrants. They must see all and know all, and we are to trust in their benevolence to Keep Us Safe!™
Chang your carrier provider with better one.
Safely using an insecure device swiftly becomes a hobby, unless you give in to the default experience.
I installed GrapheneOS, installed my apps, and I'm done. If I want to deny telemetry or to set up something like the duress password, it's one to two taps.
iPhone users, man... stop drinking the fucking punch.
I'm not an iPhone user. I don't own an Apple anything and really despise them as a company. Stop making stupid assumptions.
Nowaday is not just iPhone users. Every major company fucks the consumers over and people defend them like it's their own company. I don't get it.
It's just as stupid to blanket defend Graphene. There's lots of different users, with lots of different use cases. If there was a one size fits all solution for every user on the planet everyone would already be using it.
Up voting because you made be lol, not because I agree with you. Been on GOS for over a year, it's not that bad. A few apps don't work, it's only slightly inconvenient.
That's not what you said. But since you did, it's very easy to install and use. No hobby required.
come onnnnn
this shit is fun!