Given that its still open source and can be verified I am personally not concerned about it yet and will continue to use it for now. I think there is a big enough security community around it that it would be pretty difficult to slip something nasty in and would likely be caught fairly quickly? One can always do traffic analysis and audit the logs and behaviors at the end of the day.
CalyxOS is another popular android privacy/security fork that might be worth looking at. As well as simply degoggled LineageOS and pay attention to permissions and don’t install garbage apps.
Check out XDA forums there’s tons of info there.
My hope is that even if GrapheneOS dies, the hardened kernel and memory allocater and all the security/privacy benefits can be carried forward to another rom. Again thanks to open source. Not all the work is lost from a technical standpoint.
Frankly the dev can be as unhinged and as crazy as he wants to be but if the product remains good, it will still be my daily driver until a more technically superior alternative comes along (there still isnt, btw).
i abandoned graphene, i have as much trust in the project as i do in google (which is not much) so i’ll opt for the extra features until this blows over
From a code standpoint, there are others that work on Graphene, and many of the recent commits reflect this. I think the project will go on, although Daniel is quite the genius level programmer, so that is a loss in itself. I do hope that this is a good path forward for him. Developing Graphene (and Copperhead previously) seemed to take a toll on him, so I hope he can find some rest and balance.
As far as other projects go, there are several, such as CalyxOS and RattlesnakeOS. I think Calyx is fairly active, but I haven’t checked in on some of the other ones lately. I think they are all privacy minded to some degree, but make a few different choices along the way.
For myself, I build my own android rom and I have greatly benefited from Graphene and the work that they and Daniel have done. I consider Graphene to be a more ideal version of AOSP.
I do hope that linux phones are on the horizon. i have pixel 6/6a phones and I was hoping that linux phones would be mature enough to use after my pixel phone support is EOL.
My overall concern is that I would like to get a new phone because my front camera is broken and the screen is slowly turning into a void. I wanted to go Pixel so I could go graphene, I’d just don’t want to see another Cyanogen OS situation.
My issue goes down to another thread again regarding the multiple device conundrum. Laptop+Smartphone+Work phone+Camera+Desktop+Tablet, just feels like too much.
PIxel phones are always a trade off, regardless if you run the stock google OS or something like Graphene or Calyx.
They are generally well supported and get regular security updates. There is a robust ecosystem of tools and code to help with development.
I think some of the criticisms are that they are generally not premium/flagship phones. Some of the other manufacturers also add in their own unique features to enhance the rom.
I have a very utilitarian view of my phone, so I’m content to have a relatively cheap, unlockable, supported phone. I don’t put a high value on many flagship features or premium build quality. I usually use a case, no one would really see it anyway. I do wish the pixel 6 had a plastic case instead of glass. That being said, the glass does seem fairly robust, but it would certainly be lighter and cheaper with plastic.
Also, wouldn’t it make sense to make a security/oss ROM for the Fairphone 4, I do understand support Pixel because of the unlocked kernel but Fairphone is some 8 year support and repairability?
I do like the idea of fairphone, but I think it lacks the level of software support that I am looking for. The fairphone 4 was released in 2021, and after a diligent 5 minute search, I could only find the kernel source for the FP4. I didn’t find any device trees that would make it very easy to build. It’s possible that it’s just a mirror of a related phone, but there isn’t a “how to build” guide for FP4 that says, just copy the one plus 6 trees or something like that. It looks like lineage has a device tree for FP4 that they have built from scratch.
I do think that for most people, the FP4 would be a good choice, but it really depends on what you want your phone to do for you.
CalyxOS has support for the Fairphone 4. As far as I followed the conversation the decision of the GrapheneOS team for the Pixel fell not only because Google offers their version of Android but also because those Pixels features lot of security enhancements, some other phones do not have. The reason why they not support many phones is simply that it is a lot of work to port this and they do not currently have ressources for this.
I’m not really worried about GrapheneOS future, many people have been working on it besides Daniel Micay and it seems that his involvement in the software side have been very limited for quite some time anyway. The OS has never been that solid and usable so would be a massive loss if it were to disappear tomorrow.
Building a robust and secure android distribution in 2023 is a massive task, I would rather see him get back to the GrapheneOS team than to start a new project alone or with a reduced team to needlessly compete with his own previous creation. He does not seem to have anything against the team either so it would be a very weird move.
I could see him start a new project like a new lib or something but not an entire OS.