i’ve been using graphene os for about a decade now and my second pixel (6a) is approaching it’s end date. i am not a techy person. i am, however someone concerned with digital privacy. when enough people who i find trustworthy endorse technology like graphene, i take a leap of faith because the alternative seems so much worse.

to get to my point, i’m wondering how the fairphone compares to graphene. my understanding is that most fairphone users run lineage os. does the security compare? does the repairability of fairphone compromise its security? i’d really appreciate an expert opinion or two.

  • CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    41·
    15 hours ago

    It’s not for “purity reasons”. It’s because only Pixels (and their upcoming Motorola phone) have crucial security features like hardware memory tagging and the ability to physically disable the USB-C’s data transfer ports to protect against Cerberos. Cerberos is one of the main threats for end users’ security in the real world. Security “cranked up to the max” is not just for fun or for the love of the game. It’s the whole point of Graphene.

    Additionally, you fail to mention that Graphene expected Google to eventually stop supporting the security features needed and partnered with Motorola to get around that ahead of time. Google didn’t rugpull Graphene, they rugpulled all Google Pixel 11+ users. Graphene is going to continue to be supported on Pixels other than Pixel 11, and it will continue with new OEM devices that have the required security features.

    I say all of that as someone who used to daily drive Calyx. I moved to Graphene years ago, and prefer the featureset of Graphene. For example, Sandboxed Google Play is fantastic.

    My next phone will likely be the Motorola, unless huge improvements are made with Postmarket (or whatever they rebranded to) from both usability and security standpoints.