GrapheneOS: 17 Months later, this OS is AWESOME! Highlighting changes.

17 months later, I am still using my GrapheneOS Pixel 5 everyday. The main change is that I now complete calls and messaging on my iPhone for reasons I explain in the video, but this will give me an opportunity to get a new anonymous number for my GrapheneOS device that I won't give out.
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[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

To see my progression with GrapheneOS: kzbin.info/www/bejne/npiVnXuKe89_frc 9 months kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqXFk5uVfrCDndE 12 months

[@MilanObrtlik]

"Move to Signal just for me" is the biggest problem for Signal. If everyone stop saying that, Signal will explode.

[@miltonx27]

I think is the biggest problem for any Messaging app other than WhatsApp, regular people don't give 2 fs about privacy and they're not willing to make sacrifices in commodity just for having a little more privacy.

[@privacyhelp]

@miltonx27 Some believe u.s targets after tiktok are telegram and signal.

[@hlbb8862]

Great... thx you for sharing

[@soundsnags2001]

Love how you break this down. Do you do any pc privacy setup recommendations to pair with this?

[@skl345]

Any Linux distribution, and a broswer like librewolf.

[@yodasgodfather1957]

Is it possible to use call screening or Google assistant? If no call screening are there any alternatives? Also what gif supported keyboard are you using? These are the questions I haven't answered that always make me come. Ack to stock

[@Jose-ur3vm]

What about notificaron of the Google profile in your main profile? Is there a way to make it work? And the camera is as good as in the pixel original rom if you installed in the Google profile?

[@nomadicwolf6132]

Thank you! I can now use banking apps!

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

Yup!

[@jonathanspence8642]

Re data SIM's or eSIM's have you come across Silent Link? I've not used them, but they may be of interest to you.

[@butwhoasked1801]

how is the camera? is it still the high quality image quality that comes out from a normal stock Pixel?

[@ultramaxpro8537]

Beautiful analysis of a private virtual life.

[@jimcabezola3051]

Mahalo for your Graphene OS review. THis is what I want to transition to this year. Waiting to see if I should wait until Pixel 7a or just grab a Pixel 6a in the coming months. I'm getting bored with Apple environment, and my old Android by Google phones are not supported with updates.

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

Aloha Jim! It's been a great almost year and a half for me, I have no regrets. But I do realize that it is not for everyone. As I mentioned in the video, most push notifications do not work or they are very delayed. So email won't pop up on your screen, and you'll have to manually go in your apps every so often to check for new messages (unless you install Google Play Services, which I have don't have except for my Google profile). If living the "pull" lifestyle doesn't bother you, then GrapheneOS is great!

[@jimcabezola3051]

@@ThePrivacyWayfinder I DO think your GrapheneOS install would be perfect for me. A few years ago...I simply lost track of my iPhone in public. It wasn't secure, and it was out of my hands for less than 15 minutes before I retrieved it at the lost-and-found. The actually-very-nice person who found it used my Facebook app to assure me it went to lost-and-found. She called the person I talked with most and said where the phone was and such like. My instance was...pleasant...compared to what COULD have happened. However...that experience led me do a reset on the phone. I uninstalled email and a large number of Apple's apps. I didn't install social media apps. Luckily, I've never used banking apps, so I may have prevented an even bigger problem. My requirements are MUCH more modest than yours, so that's another reason for me to go GrapheneOS. Plus...you get to really dig into the technology and explore more possibilities. I hope to follow your further adventures in the future. Aloha!

[@powermaker4504]

if you have GSF, you can disable battery optimization for Google Play services and GSF for push notifications to work. and without GSF, you can disable battery optimization for those individual apps. if you've already tried that, sorry!

[@jimcabezola3051]

@@powermaker4504 These are ideas to explore. Mahalo for the tips; they would NEVER have occurred to me! Now that I, like you, have just watched the Google I/O show last week, I felt the new Pixel 7a was MORE phone than I need. That led me over to the store to buy a Pixel 6a for $299. Even an old coffin-dodger such as I can SUCCESSFULLY install GrapheneOS on a PIxel 6a. Yay! SO many fun things that I can play with, and so much JUNK is gone that I never needed. I like the term "living the pull lifestyle" as opposed to the "push lifestyle". This has led me to discover I am a "pull" type rather than a "push." I never knew that before. This phone is...less needy(?)...than my old Androids and iPhones. It just...IS. It calms me down, lol.

[@kentaviousaurelius]

Do u still have to configure the vpn for every profile or did it automatically just turn on everytime u want to create a new profile????

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

Good question! You have to configure VPN for each profile. In several profiles, I just added my protonvpn app and once I set the VPN, I set it to Always On and Block Connections Without VPN, and it comes on every time I change profiles. Small inconvenience but I like it because I can set one profile to always connect to say a US server, and another profile to always connect to an EU server. And I have different IPs depending on the profile I'm using and I don't have to think about it.

[@albertoyape2976]

i can flash this rom for non pixel device what i mean for non support devices? thanks

[@AcidiFy574]

Was hoping to see some Divest OS content

[@shank3111]

I am hearing a lot of negative reviews on pixel 7/7a like over heating, network connectivity, battery drain issues etc. Have you faced such issues with GOS?

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

Been using my new Pixel 7 for almost 2 weeks now. No issues except for the phone gets a bit warmer than my old Pixel 5. However, not to the point of over heating and hasn’t impacted my battery life either. I go daily from 100% to around 40% consistently running GOS on Pixel 7.

[@truehere9623]

Does NFC payment works?

[@donm1025]

Why did you get rid of signal? Maybe do a video on that. I see the Session looks interesting

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

The only reason I got rid of signal was I moved my SIM card over to my iPhone, and my Signal account is tied to my phone #. So my GrapheneOS device is no longer tied to that number, and I can't use Signal. However, I still use Signal on a daily basis on iPhone and have no concerns, still think it is one of the best out there. Session has been good and on par with Signal for simple text messaging. It is just the adoption part of non-privacy caring people. Signal makes it easy just tying your phone # to the account and your good to go and for almost everyone, this is fine. Session is easy for me but again for someone who doesn't care about this stuff, creating a long Session ID and sharing that rather than a phone number is weird lol. Might seems normal to us but foreign and uncomfortable to others, I get it.

[@AdvantageWealth]

@@ThePrivacyWayfinder thanks

[@paulbailey6251]

That's a very interesting overview. One question that springs to mind for me, is about 'location'. Do you always have location on and if so, does it automatically stay on when you switch to a different profile. I'm assuming that some services require you to use it?

[@mrcvry]

The hardware settings are for all profiles if my memory is correct. For location I have it always turned off except if I|m using a navigation app.

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

I have my global location always turned off. So even if an app (such as navigation) has location permission, it won't be able to access location since the global setting is off. I just tested on my Pixel 5. I turned on location on a profile, went back to my owner profile and it was OFF, then I hopped back to the other profile and it was ON. So seems like the location setting is on a per profile basis. I can test more to confirm.

[@paulbailey6251]

@@ThePrivacyWayfinder Hey, that's good to know - I never turn location on unless I really have to. On another topic, here in the UK, they tested the 'emergency alert' system last week. It was a bit of a disaster for them. Many people complained that it reset some of the settings on their phone.I had the function turned off on my phones. But the next day I wanted to make a call and when I did, I heard a carrier message that I was 'out of credit'. This can't be because I have an unlimited deal. So I did a reboot and tried again, no issue the second time. This got me to thinking of how easily and silently our phones can be 'silenced'. Even if you take out the sim card, when you put it back in - the carrier would know and who knows what follows. Just a thought. Look forward to more videos.

[@cryptotech4401]

Hey, I recently installed graphene on a new pixel 7 , but I am not able to run the aurora store. It does not log in anonymously. How do you download your banking apps etc? Any suggestions for installing and running the Aurora store?

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

Yup, the cache trick works sometimes. I've also noticed that some VPN IPs don't play well with Aurora Store. So when I change to another VPN server, then it works. You might not be using VPN, but just FYI for future as well.

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

I downloaded my banking apps through Aurora Store.

[@saswatachakraborty5840]

I think I'm the only one who uses Google apps on GrapheneOS. I have installed GOS mainly because of the sandboxed Google Framework, Google Play Services and Google Play Store.

[@kevin-hv1se]

​@@Sadistic626everything works like charm, only possible issue you might face is facing issue with some banking apps, I think there is article about available banking apps for graphene os

[@Thorocious]

Big up Session and the Oxen team, the most underrated project in Crypto!!

[@mzudemk]

true!

[@Crftbt]

That Louis Rossman latest video on graphene though.

[@iTheGeo]

If you read in the comments of Louis' video or at the gOS forum, it is officially announced by the team that specific lead developer has stepped back and is no longer in control.

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

Yup, watched it :) Louis has his reasons for leaving, which I respect. All I will say is that my opinion about GrapheneOS does not change, and I still love the project. Their documentation on their site is very transparent regarding the data they collect, and there are many eyes looking at the code. There are two individuals I follow and closely watch: Naomi Brockwell and Michael Bazzell. I trust their knowledge and if they have any concerns, then I'll start to pay more attention.

[@kevin-hv1se]

​@@ThePrivacyWayfinderthat's reasonable indeed, as long as there actual experts keeping eyes on the project, then its reasonable not to worry

[@mentecriptica3163]

@@kevin-hv1se naomi brockell is no expert

[@kevin-hv1se]

@@mentecriptica3163 I believe the project is audited

[@Nikotine76]

Have you tried Element? If yes, How is it different from Session?

[@islamic_marxism_leninism]

Element is good because it is similar to Discord style. It isn't bad especially when you have your own servers and all. Session is easy to set up and runs directly through tor nodes and doesn't document hardly any data at all. So I heavily encourage it but it is a decision you'll need to pick after decent study.

[@Tomisbrrr]

Hi, why did you remove signal? I think it's safe. Good video thanks man

[@DevaPoints]

How do you install and use GrapheneOS/vanadium on android other than pixel phones? Do you have a video about it?

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

GrapheneOS can only be installed on Google Pixel phones.

[@rpavankumarjwtyhgsfsp1692]

Can we get system updates from graphineOS regularly???

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

Yes, the OS updates once a new update is available.

[@rpavankumarjwtyhgsfsp1692]

@@ThePrivacyWayfinder by automatically or we need to download manually?

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

Automatic just like iOS or stock android

[@masterchief9148]

Profil are from GrapheneOS or Pixel or Android ?

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

Profiles are an Android feature, but GrapheneOS has improved it by adding an End Session button for profiles. Meaning you can use them and when done, you end the session to go back to your main profile and the other profile is completely at rest and not running in background. Stock android doesn’t have this feature. Read here for more detail on GrapheneOS’ improvements: grapheneos.org/features#improved-user-profiles

[@masterchief9148]

@@ThePrivacyWayfinder Ohh thanks !!

[@0xavrc]

Does it support 5g?

[@Zer0_Decepti0n]

Yes.

[@milademjayy]

*can use WhatsApp?*

[@mrcvry]

iMessage does not need a phone number. I‘m using it with my email address. Does not help of course with people who have saved your number already.

[@kentaviousaurelius]

Still it isn't encrypted. Apple can can still access your messages evry time they want.

[@mrcvry]

@@kentaviousaurelius Advance data protection with end-2-end encryption. The only major iCloud data categories that are not covered are iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendar because of the need to interoperate with the global email, contacts, and calendar systems.

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

Yup, Apple can probably read unless both phones are using Advance Data Protection (ADP), then its fully E2E. However, no way to verify the other persons phone (unless you know them well). For example, my wife uses iPhone and I set up ADP on her phone. So if she uses I message by mistake, not a big deal. However, I'm not going to ask a Client, hey do you have ADP turned on? Haha. @mrcvry, true. Most of my clients I knew for a long time so they already have my number. Plus that number is out in the wild already. So I'm planning on the transition to just use that number for work (since it is already tied to me) and get a new number for my GrapheneOS device.

[@mrcvry]

@@ThePrivacyWayfinder If your work involves confidential material, I would ask them to use something secure. If not, it's not that important. 😉 Some lawyers here required their clients to use GPG. A good first step.

[@ThePrivacyWayfinder]

:) my side hustle is far from confidential, not important stuff. So I don't mind. But 100% agree that for work that requires a level of confidentiality, working with Clients to move to a secure messenger is a step that should be done!

[@mohdrazhar7711]

A lot of 'but'....

[@Bl4zik3n]

session sucks

[@spinkey4842]

consider yourself lucky that your family has enough brains to actually switch to signal, 99% of my family is way to dense to switch to signal. can't believe my blood is that obtuse..... i take that back i can and it sux

[@mikehawk7307]

News flash. Signal is compromised by the Gov.

[@Elias-vs2dx]

can you site your sources ?

[@quinton6463]

​@@Elias-vs2dx source? He made it up lol

[@Elias-vs2dx]

@@quinton6463 was curious how a government gets into a opensource program without anyone noticing it

[@LockedOutBy2FA]

Source? Also: stop spreading FUD

[@MonerBilly]

Probably referring to Tucker Carlson. That was most likely through another program, not signal. If the rest of your phone is unsafe, signal can't save you.