I took the jump and installed GrapheneOS on my Pixel 9 this weekend. Easiest alternate OS load I’ve ever done, didn’t even need to see a command line. (I’ve put LineageOS on many a phone and GrapheneOS’s web-based installer is amazing).
Loving it so far. I have three profiles, the main ‘Owner’ with NO google services/app store at all; and two more ‘Personal’ and ‘Work’ profiles that have Google stuff that I alone chose to install.
Amazingly GrapheneOS even lets you deny Google App Store itself permissions to install from untrusted sources (in this case, Google App Store itself) – I was suprised to see installing just App Store triggered attempts to then load: My Pixel, Google Photos, Fitbit(!!? WTF), and a few others, without any confirmation first. Was able to shut that shit down immediately. (I had never, ever installed Fitbit on my previous phones, so there’s no excuse to install it “from my previous device” or whatever…)
I hope GrapheneOS spreads to other phone models. And I’m sure Google has a team planning on how to strangle it before it does…
I haven’t yet tried – planning to do that in the next day or so when I get the time.
Others already replied with promising results, I sure hope they work for me as well (Scotiabank in Canada is particularly annoying in this respect in my experience, with LineageOS I had to use Magisk and define stealth rules specifically for their banking app).
Edit: As for camera, I’ve only tried the GrapheneOS builtin/default camera app. It’s pretty basic, but I should see if I can get the Pixel9 official camera app on there, it would be nicer to use if possible but the basic one is probably good enough for my purposes.
Forgive me but what is intune? I did a quick search and just found some Microsoft endpoint protection thingie – there is mention of a Managed Google Play but I have no idea what that would mean.
I think the user is referring to the fact that MS Intune is famously very cautious about verifying the device it is running on.
Many people need to use Intune on their device, to get access to work apps (eg, Teams and Outlook). If you have a rooted device, or run a non-stock OS, then Intune will fail the validation and prevent you from signing into your work accounts.
This is the reason I don’t currently use a rooted or alternative android on my primary smartphone.
Is it just not in the cards to request a separate device for work, I know I would tell my employer that I cannot guarantee that my personal device will meet their expectations.
Then I have to carry two devices. I just have a custom phone and a stock tablet, this works out ok. Except the stock tablet is a Samsung and the software is super annoying
Yes. I can request a phone from work to use, but that’s lots of work, business justification, need to submit monthly expense reports for calls, and report data usage. Plus I’d need then to carry around two phones. There are lots of people at my work who do that. I don’t want the hastle.
Samsung has been accused of shipping budget Galaxy A and M series smartphones with pre-installed spyware that users can’t easily remove.
The software in question, AppCloud, developed by the mobile analytics firm IronSource, has been embedded in devices sold primarily in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
So these are cheap phones mostly being sold in the Middle East.
I took the jump and installed GrapheneOS on my Pixel 9 this weekend. Easiest alternate OS load I’ve ever done, didn’t even need to see a command line. (I’ve put LineageOS on many a phone and GrapheneOS’s web-based installer is amazing).
Loving it so far. I have three profiles, the main ‘Owner’ with NO google services/app store at all; and two more ‘Personal’ and ‘Work’ profiles that have Google stuff that I alone chose to install.
Amazingly GrapheneOS even lets you deny Google App Store itself permissions to install from untrusted sources (in this case, Google App Store itself) – I was suprised to see installing just App Store triggered attempts to then load: My Pixel, Google Photos, Fitbit(!!? WTF), and a few others, without any confirmation first. Was able to shut that shit down immediately. (I had never, ever installed Fitbit on my previous phones, so there’s no excuse to install it “from my previous device” or whatever…)
I hope GrapheneOS spreads to other phone models. And I’m sure Google has a team planning on how to strangle it before it does…
How does it deal with banking apps? What about camera apps? How is the camera workings with other camera apps?
All my bank apps work, I have the stock pixel camera app and it works perfectly
Chase is the only bank app that hasn’t worked for me on GOS. Also using the stock pixel camera app.
Banking app https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/
I haven’t yet tried – planning to do that in the next day or so when I get the time.
Others already replied with promising results, I sure hope they work for me as well (Scotiabank in Canada is particularly annoying in this respect in my experience, with LineageOS I had to use Magisk and define stealth rules specifically for their banking app).
Edit: As for camera, I’ve only tried the GrapheneOS builtin/default camera app. It’s pretty basic, but I should see if I can get the Pixel9 official camera app on there, it would be nicer to use if possible but the basic one is probably good enough for my purposes.
80% of them works. rest has real devs. they should have a bank and government app list in their forums.
How about intune?
Forgive me but what is intune? I did a quick search and just found some Microsoft endpoint protection thingie – there is mention of a Managed Google Play but I have no idea what that would mean.
I think the user is referring to the fact that MS Intune is famously very cautious about verifying the device it is running on.
Many people need to use Intune on their device, to get access to work apps (eg, Teams and Outlook). If you have a rooted device, or run a non-stock OS, then Intune will fail the validation and prevent you from signing into your work accounts.
This is the reason I don’t currently use a rooted or alternative android on my primary smartphone.
Is it just not in the cards to request a separate device for work, I know I would tell my employer that I cannot guarantee that my personal device will meet their expectations.
Then I have to carry two devices. I just have a custom phone and a stock tablet, this works out ok. Except the stock tablet is a Samsung and the software is super annoying
Yes. I can request a phone from work to use, but that’s lots of work, business justification, need to submit monthly expense reports for calls, and report data usage. Plus I’d need then to carry around two phones. There are lots of people at my work who do that. I don’t want the hastle.
Ah. That’s nasty, what a pain.
So these are cheap phones mostly being sold in the Middle East.
This is so gross.
If it works in non-google hardware I’ll switch, I’m not giving alphabet my money willingly