I agree with that.. additionaly, I'm finding it to be insane that organizations are trying to force you to have a "audited" phone to interact with them. (I.e. events, businesses, etc)

Don't phones have identifiers outside of phone number anyway? I feel like you have to trust the hardware/os vendor anyway. So if you don't trust apple to not misbehave, maybe not getting an iphone is better than chasing the whole phone-number idea.

I’m on the edge of migrating from my iPhone to a Pixel with GrapheneOS.

But there is ONE feature I love on iOS and it’s the Live Photos. I feel like it’s an amazing way to keep family memories. Do you know if it exists on GrapheneOS?

well you cant blame apple for that since Government can literally force your company to doing shit like this

Actively encouraging interference with law enforcement doing their jobs is not OK.

Since it seems to be missed, in GOS you can disable these alerts completely.

You should be able to disable these alerts via the Wireless Emergency Alerts.

> The article mentions that an abuser could put spyware on your phone? Is that a realistic scenario?

Yes, stalkerware is an entire genre of software and it is designed for exactly this purpose.

How “stalkerware” apps are letting abusive partners spy on their victims https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/07/10/134249/stalkerwa...

The Abuser in Your Pocket: How Stalkerware Threatens Women’s Privacy https://safeescape.org/stalkerware-threatens-womens-privacy/

'I thought I'd been microchipped': How abusers spy on partners with 'parental control' apps https://news.sky.com/story/i-thought-id-been-microchipped-ho...

A web search for the term will turn up many more results. Graphene OS's hardening against exploits, compared to the abysmal record of Android vendors, gives much better odds against any of these apps being able to run with elevated privileges, which means Android's sandboxing is effective.

(Happy Graphene OS user of many years here.)

Zero Google services are shippsx by default, but you can install Play Store and Services in a sandbox and it has minimal privacy problems, depending on the permissions you give it.

Their docs are really good, not only for their phone but for learning about privacy and security: https://grapheneos.org

You could still install an app that spies on you on grapheneos because it has 99.99% android app compatibility, so if you gave an app designed for spying the relevant permissions, it would still be able to spy. No way it could hide location indicator or anything like that, but I doubt it could do that on other OSes (don't quote me on other OSes).

GrapheneOS allows for "twin states" with a default vanilla state and additional non obvious parallel accounts that are secured to low level milspec(?)

Popular in Ukraine for keeping captured phone data resistant to opposing forces.

Popular with outlaw gangs for annoying LEO anti gang squads.

Now recommended for battered domestic victims to keep controlling others from spying on digital habits.

An unsuspecting clueless abuser might put the spyware on the vanilla account, the victim can "live with that" assuming that the secure obscure login in safe from spyware apps on the alternative state.

Counterpoint: Not all abusers are dumb, smart people can be toxic. Also - I'm not as clear as I would like to be on the GrapheneOS isolation.

It's an advertisement. That's pretty much the difference, the company selling these phones has a very high margin for essentially resell of Google phones with reflash of GrapheneOS.

I mean, some obvious things are there in the article, IMHO -

- App isolation and hidden profiles (up to 32 separate profiles)

- Verified Boot (tamper detection on every startup)

So you can do stuff on there that's not going to tip off someone who's controlling enough to demand to see your phone, and so you'll at least be tipped off if someone compromises it.

It's funny the page recommends de-Googled phones, but requires a Google service(reCaptcha) to view the page.

Just open your favorite browser MCP and ask it to beat the captcha

Try megaladon.jp/https://example.com uses cloudflare instead

Any data collected can be abused. This is like saying why care about what flock knows about you, when it's been used by far too many police to stalk their romantic interests.

Police can obtain data from Google. Police can be abusers or friends with abusers.

So that your abuser cannot obtain real-time information about you via integrated accounts.

You should google 40% of police..

> It's not like Google is going to sell your tracking data to abuser.

No, that's exactly the fear. With enough disclaimers and third parties involved, a motivated, highly intelligent and rich attacker with the right connections could get that information.

Here's an article explaining why one should care: https://privacypros.com.au/privacy-hub/articles/dv-safe-phon...

The tl;dr is that you can either share this data by accident through some sort of "locate my family" app, or because your abuser gets access to your Google/Apple account (for instance because you're signed in on another device they have access to).

The threat model here can be: domestic abuse victim flees a situation at home in a hurry, stays signed in on a computer. Abuser uses the sign-in on that computer to track their phone, figures out they're staying at their aunt's place.

Yes, you can avoid this on a regular Google phone as well, but that requires correctly configuring it (and a lot, such as location and search history, can be re-enabled remotely!). If you're running Graphene you are protected by default, rather than compromised by default.

ouch

Stock photo - yeah that triple camera is equivalent to an Apple logo. Perhaps royalty-free image chosen without enough care or b/c it’s just a stock photo. (Or they already licensed that one.)

Yes, I find it much easier to set up and use than any other Android phone. There’s less bloatware, and battery life is noticeably better.

Two tips for beginners:

Google Play Store and Google Play Services can be installed from the App Store. They aren’t included by default because GrapheneOS works fine without them.

If a trusted app has trouble running, try enabling Exploit protection compatibility mode on the app’s Info screen (long-press the app icon → Info → Exploit protection).

Check whether your bank is supported: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa.... If it isn’t, it likely depends on the Play Integrity API, which means it requires customers to stay under constant surveillance by the world’s largest advertising company, with no real security justification (see https://grapheneos.org/articles/attestation-compatibility-gu...). In that case, you should switch to a more trustworthy bank.

Yes it's usable by everyone. It's secure by default but anyone can make something insecure. For example granting malicious apps accessiblity permissions would not be great for security.

It has 99.99% android app compatibility. Over 90% of banking and government apps work. These apps take extra measures to ban grapheneos, apps must put in work to make their app incompatible, not the other way around.

I wouldn't say anyone can use it, if you can't sign in to a Google account by yourself then you would have trouble setting it up. But that would be similar on iOS. For the average person, definitely. There's no code or anything like that. Works just like stock Pixels.

If I was giving it to my grandma then I would install her apps and she would be fine clicking icons. But similar on iOS.

Yeah that RAM mention is very strange, not the best article.

The website also says:

"Australian research shows that 99% of domestic violence cases now involve some form of technology-facilitated abuse."

Where the "Australian research" is linked to a page where the first Key Finding states:

"Over one quarter (27%) of domestic violence cases involve technology-facilitated abuse of children."

Doesn't fill me with confidence in anything they say (even if I do believe the advice is right).

I'm curious what you are considering with recommending buying a privacy phone vs buying a regular phone and flashing in a DV situation?

I flashed a pixel using their webpage. They have made it remarkably simple to do.

Installing Graphene can be done through the browser: https://grapheneos.org/install/web

It's not as easy as it can be (the text is aimed at people familiar with Android flashing) but in practice you need to toggle one setting, reboot holding the volume button, and then click four buttons in your browser in order, with the exact names for settings spelled out in the guide itself.

I don't think wiping an abuser's malware is such a great solution unless you've already managed to get out of the DV situation. Perhaps GrapheneOS is a good idea on a secret second phone?

You'd be surprised how easy GrapheneOS is to install. You literally do it through a browser with your phone connected via USB.

I disagree, it's cool to promote good projects like GrapheneOS that help people.

Have you seen how many articles recommend not secure and not private alternative phones, that's not cool.

Edit: damn some of their phones with it preloaded are like 4x the price your can get for pixels in the state's. Can't speak to Australian prices for regular pixels tho.

> God, I hate techno-solutionism.

I don't hate it nearly as much as this weird genre of accelerationism where any attempt to improve one's immediate circumstances is just a distraction from the real work that needs to be done.

This.

I looked at this headline and I thought to myself, that I couldn't think of a stupider solution or a dumber sales pitch than "hey DV victims! use this complex gadget!"

No. I mean, come on. This is the sort of thing where people read a poster in the ladies' room and then they carefully plan a discreet exit from their life of abuse. These are very low-tech escapes. They involve packing your necessities and slipping out while your abuser's not watching.

And yes, the social safety nets, and the institutional protections, are the operational needs here. No gadgets, please.

What was troubling for you using it or setting it up?