Android is okish, but only if you use stock or lineageOS with at most minimal google services.
GrapheneOS is probably the best Android ROM, it completely removes all Google services and makes significant privacy and security improvements to the entire operating system stack.
Ive never used grapheneOS tbh. Should give it a go someday then!
Ive always used LineageOS, and installed the nano google services package afterwards. Time to shake it up a bit if i can i suppose! ( i do use android auto, but with voice app disabled )
Trust me, Graphene is awesome! Check out their website and read through the documentation, it’s truly amazing. So many security improvements, basically no bloatware, no Google apps or services whatsoever. All the Google network services are replaced by GrapheneOS proxies or can be entirely disabled, you can install Google Play services if you want to, but they are sandboxed and don’t have access to sensitive data on your phone. You can still pass SafetyNet checks and use most banking apps though. They also push out updates insanely fast, often on the same day, just a couple of hours later than on the stock OS. I think Graphene was the first major non-stock ROM that got Android 14.
Just did some research as it all sounds very good, and they dont support the fairphone 4. Some of their arguments are legit ( missing cpu features ), some of them are questionable ( fairphone not releasing security patches fast enough. Idk, lineagoeos seems to release weekly together with the android releases? ).
Guess ill have to look at grapheneOS at the future when i look at a new phone ( so in 7 or 8 years lol )
fairphone not releasing security patches fast enough
Yeah, they are really picky about phone vendors in regards to security. In order to achieve a fully patched Android system, you need multiple up-to-date components. Obviously, you need security patches for Android itself, but you also need kernel patches for the specific device that you are using. Those are provided by the vendor. I can imagine that Fairphone can’t always provide them on time, as they are a smaller company with limited resources. That’s why only Google Pixels are currently supported by GrapheneOS. Btw: If you get an 8th Gen Pixel, you can also use that for a really long time, they just extended the security patches for the newest generation of phones to 7 years.
You can try DivestOS, it’s also a good ROM for privacy and they have support for the Fairphone 3 and 4.
Thats too bad. I dont plan on buying a new phone in , at least, 6 years so itll have to wait then.
I know fairphone might look to be slow on driver update, but afaik they skipped a few versions to go straight to android 13. And i also know they try to maintain their own drivers so they provide support even if the soc vendor doesnt.
Its a very complex thing tbh, but ill keep grapheneOS on my radar!
maintain their own drivers so they provide support even if the soc vendor doesnt
Interesting. I don’t know how they do this, as SOC manufacturers almost never publish sufficient documentation in order to actually write custom drivers.
GrapheneOS is probably the best Android ROM, it completely removes all Google services and makes significant privacy and security improvements to the entire operating system stack.
Ive never used grapheneOS tbh. Should give it a go someday then!
Ive always used LineageOS, and installed the nano google services package afterwards. Time to shake it up a bit if i can i suppose! ( i do use android auto, but with voice app disabled )
Trust me, Graphene is awesome! Check out their website and read through the documentation, it’s truly amazing. So many security improvements, basically no bloatware, no Google apps or services whatsoever. All the Google network services are replaced by GrapheneOS proxies or can be entirely disabled, you can install Google Play services if you want to, but they are sandboxed and don’t have access to sensitive data on your phone. You can still pass SafetyNet checks and use most banking apps though. They also push out updates insanely fast, often on the same day, just a couple of hours later than on the stock OS. I think Graphene was the first major non-stock ROM that got Android 14.
Just did some research as it all sounds very good, and they dont support the fairphone 4. Some of their arguments are legit ( missing cpu features ), some of them are questionable ( fairphone not releasing security patches fast enough. Idk, lineagoeos seems to release weekly together with the android releases? ). Guess ill have to look at grapheneOS at the future when i look at a new phone ( so in 7 or 8 years lol )
Yeah, they are really picky about phone vendors in regards to security. In order to achieve a fully patched Android system, you need multiple up-to-date components. Obviously, you need security patches for Android itself, but you also need kernel patches for the specific device that you are using. Those are provided by the vendor. I can imagine that Fairphone can’t always provide them on time, as they are a smaller company with limited resources. That’s why only Google Pixels are currently supported by GrapheneOS. Btw: If you get an 8th Gen Pixel, you can also use that for a really long time, they just extended the security patches for the newest generation of phones to 7 years.
You can try DivestOS, it’s also a good ROM for privacy and they have support for the Fairphone 3 and 4.
Thats too bad. I dont plan on buying a new phone in , at least, 6 years so itll have to wait then.
I know fairphone might look to be slow on driver update, but afaik they skipped a few versions to go straight to android 13. And i also know they try to maintain their own drivers so they provide support even if the soc vendor doesnt.
Its a very complex thing tbh, but ill keep grapheneOS on my radar!
That’s not good.
Interesting. I don’t know how they do this, as SOC manufacturers almost never publish sufficient documentation in order to actually write custom drivers.
Maybe try out DivestOS, they support Fairphones.