I've been running GrapheneOS for 7 months now and I'm not going back. When I bought my Pixel 10 last year, I wasn't actually planning on trying Graphene for a while....until I noticed Google had force bundled a 'Wicked For Good' movie promo theme with the latest security update.

That Motorola phone that lets you install Graphene can not come soon enough. Pixel phones are not sold worldwide so it feels like they're gatekeeping security. I know that's not the case really, but there's very few ways to successfully degoogle otherwise.

I've been using Graphene on my Pixel 7a for about a year and I'm happy I made the switch. For sure it is a bit rougher than using Google's OS, but not enough to make me regret it.

The main things I miss are (1) when I'm entering text I can't swipe left and right on the space bar to scroll the cursor left and right, and (2) the texting app doesn't just attach reaction emojis to a message -- it quotes the whole message and prefixes it with something like "Marty like blahblahblah". When there is a whole family text chain it isn't uncommon to see the same message 7 times as various people react to the original message.

Anyway, I looked at Google's Android 17 blog and yikes:

"With deep integration between hardware, software and AI, we’re transforming Android from an operating system to an intelligence system. It's about delivering new helpful experiences that anticipate user needs, and it brings more opportunities for engagement with your apps."

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/06/Android-17...

Also on the homepage: "Volkswagen started blocking GrapheneOS users"

  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48571526

That's exactpy why I get Google Pixel phones.

Support expires? Upgrade to custom ROM Ads? Upgrade to custom ROM Want to use it as server? Upgrade to custom ROM.

If I would use Apple iPhone, these old phones would be trash very soon.

I took the plunge into GrapheneOS a week ago. I picked up a new Pixel10 Pro and never even tried the stock OS (except to unlock the boot loader).

I've got almost everything working the way I want. There were a few non-essential banking apps that won't install. The most annoying problem I had is when I tried to install Strava, which I cannot get working. The app installs, but it will not let me sign in. I guess I need a replacement, because I use that app a lot.

~Happy iPhone user for almost 20 (!) years. This has got me seriously thinking about picking up a Pixel.

Jumped to GrapheneOS a few months ago. Works great. The keyboard was bad but you should install FUTO, as some other comments recommend.

My only issue with it has been a few apps not working correctly, and not the ones I expected. I did my research before hand and knew that my banking apps would work, thinking those would be the main challenge.

Turns out the bike-sharing system in my city, Madrid, won't work. I ended up installing Google Play services (that run sandboxed in Graphene, but still wanted to avoid), and it works sometimes, but mostly doesn't. I use these bikes a few times a week, so this is a major hassle, and I end up carrying my ancient iPhone with me sometimes just for this.

This and Trade Republic have been my only two problems. Happy otherwise, but do your research before switching, and don't assume only the apps you expect to be problematic will be.

I was using GrapheneOS for years, until the battery died while I was on an important call, trying to get someplace. Plugged it in, but little did I remember that I had installed OS update that was pending app optimization phase that happens during next boot.

GrapheneOS has some hardening in this phase, which as I understand, essentially has to rebuild all apps without cache.

And as I have a ton of apps, I was parked for 30 minutes waiting my phone to boot up.

And because of this app optimization thing, I always delayed OS update finalizations, which probably isn't the best thing.

Unfortunately, GrapheneOS recommendation to this was to have fewer apps. Had to let it go after that.

What are North American people doing for replacing contactless payment? Last time I checked, the solution was to use Curve but it only works for Europe.

Graphene made me like using a phone. It behave like a computer. Really lovely

Sadly not an option as long they don't support Fairphones

I have two questions, if anyone has any advice.

1) What's a reasonable Pixel phone to buy to try out GrapheneOS? Is a 128GB Pixel 7 "good enough" or will I get a significantly better experience with a newer phone and/or more storage?

2) Is there a Graphene alternative that would let me de-google an Samsung A12? Back in the day I had some Galaxy S3 and S4 phones that I installed Lineage on, I have no idea if that's compatible to Graphene and/or still a going thing?

The post doesn't say - what's new? Anything to look forward to besides the security patches for A17 being available for longer than they will be for A16?

Asking as an A11 user who will probably soon need to switch to a new device. I haven't noticed anything on other people's phones that isn't available on mine, including on my work phone that runs an up-to-date GrapheneOS (but I don't need to do much more than calling and 2FA, so I might just not be seeing it). Anything you guys are excited for, or any protips of things to check out that were released recently?

If you are new to GrapheneOS and wanna try. Here is the great introduction: https://dataswamp.org/~solene/2025-01-12-intro-to-grapheneos...

I have always wondered what this OS looks like. They have an incredibly detailed website with zero screenshots.

Been toying with the idea for a long time, but I'm concerned about US financial institution apps and multiple countries specific apps (local transport, finance, medical and governmental), whose apks do no exist, as well as (crucial for me, as a heavy international traveler) google voice. For a lot such I now need to use a combo of Google playstore, for US account tied apps, and Aurora for non US apps.

I run GrapheneOS now 2 year :) always working fine

GrapheneOS is fantastic

If you'd like to donate to the project, you can do so here: https://grapheneos.org/donate

Been waiting for this for so long. Huge respect to the team for pulling this off.

Does it means that any device that supports android 17 will support graphene as well?

> We've already tested the Android 17 port of GrapheneOS on the Pixel 6a, 7, 7a, 8, 10a, 10 and 10 Pro Fold.

No love for 9 or 9a? I guess it's still coming eventually.

- A 9a owner running GrapheneOS

I've been thinking it might be worthwhile to showcase that you can make GrapheneOS look beautiful or the same as stock Pixel UI. When I was considering switching from iPhone I had this misconception that it would look ugly or wouldn't look the same as Pixel UI, which is not the case at all. When I asked about it I wasn't given this clearcut answer that you can make GrapheneOS UI look the same or better than Pixel UI.

But the we need a compact high-end phone for this.

What does it mean for an OS to be ported to another OS? Do they mean "ported to devices that support Android"?

Makes me sad, because I can't make the jump until I know my banking and related essential apps will work.

A pity that GrapheneOS works only on Pixel and those phones are trash for me (no microsd support). I have a 1.5 tb microsd card with all media/books and it is easy to move to another phone by just swapping the microsd card so this is one of the most important features for me.

I wish they supported much more phones

What's the biggest draw of GrapheneOS apart from de-googling? Does it have a better battery life? And compliance with NFC payments?

Couldn't be happier using this on an old Nord Oneplus N10. Had to look around since it was out of date but thankfully they have archived builds.

I've been running GrapheneOS for over an year now. Bought a Pixel 6a last year as a cheap way to test waters, but pretty soon I upgraded to discounted Pixel 9. It took a while to set the basics (coming from iPhone), and I'm still have a couple of stuff missing, but at this point don't intend to use anything else (for as long as possible).

The biggest hurdles for me were - should I use separate profiles and how to get apps. Initially, I started with a separate profile for google stuff (like play store/services and apps downloaded from there, like Viber), but eventually I moved everything to the owner profile (and took a bit of a privacy and battery hit in the matter of convenience). Still, being able to control many app permissions, gives me a good state of mind that apps are not doing more then I expect.

Just looked at what android 17 brings to the table and I'm mildly excited - especially improving performance and adding more permissions (like ACCESS_LOCAL_NETWORK)

With Google making side loading extremely difficult soon, there's never been a better time to switch to a more secure OS for your phone.

There are some apps I can't do without like ReThink DNS, NewPipe and other open source apps which I use regularly. All would get blocked under Googles new regime.

H

Well, for some reason Pixel 9 series and also 10 pro is excluded?

From Google's Android 17 release:

> ... Android 17 expands the capabilities of AppFunctions, a platform API with a corresponding Jetpack library. It allows you to contribute your app's unique capabilities as orchestratable "tools" for Android MCP, the on-device equivalent of the Model Context Protocol. AI agents and assistants (like Google Gemini) can discover and execute AppFunctions to perform workflows on behalf of the user with direct access to the app's local state.

Is that implemented in GOS? How is that done securely - giving LLMs power to control some apps?

GrapheneOS would be so much more interesting if there was an official supported way for rooting it. That's the only reason I haven't switched to it on my several devices (all rooted)

I own a z fold 6.

If I try Graphene what do I lose? Similar to how if you use something like icefox or icewolf one of those very secure browser, lots of normie websites like banking just straight up don't work. What would I lose by moving away from samsung's default to this more private OS?

permanent reminder that graphene and all other "alternatives to android" depend on extracted binary blobs. tons of them. which is the reason new (kernel) versions are such a chore/achievement.

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I had been using LineageOS + microG for many years on my Pixel 3. I upgraded to a Pixel 8 and tried out GrapheneOS and the install experience was good, but I found some odd performance quirks - apps would be slow to install and run, downloads were slow, etc. Has anyone had similar issues?

Many apps that work on microG don't work in GrapheneOS without installing Google services anyway. I'm by no means across the full privacy implications, but my feeling is microG balances privacy and usability better for me.

I've since switched back to LineageOS+microG and am happy with it. Just my experience.

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Since grapheneOS only supports latest Google pixel phones, I tried installing LineageOS on my Mi11. Sadly, if you own a Xiaomi, you can’t just install another os. You need to unlock the bootloader and Xiomi limits you with a global quota of daily unlocked phones, you basically need to enter at midnight and hope. This is a complete nonsense, we have zero governance on our devices after paying them so much.

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So I still need to buy a Google phone to get it? No thank you.

I'm Anounimus

I have tried ubuntu on mobile only once and never come back, because it had very bad and poor experience compared to native experience of that mobile. On which models this system works the best?