While the Motorola/GrapheneOS news is interesting, it’s a shame that GrapheneOS’s lack of root access continues to be a significant limitation. For users who prioritize data ownership and the ability to create full, local backups (Swift Backup being a prime example), it’s simply not a viable option. Security is important, but so is control over your own data.
I think most people here don’t really understand what’s going on here. Graphene OS is an Android mod with some extra security features designed to run on a hardened hardware. The main goal of Graphene OS is to protect users from some very specific attacks like some devices police uses to unlock phones or some targeted hacks by state actors. Unless you’re worried you may be targeted by such an attack and have some date you need to protect from them you don’t really need Graphene OS. You can run any of the other deGoogles Android mods on any hardware that supports it. You can already buy phones with pre-installed /e/ of iode ROMs. Many other phones support Lineage OS. Also, let’s keep in mind that GrapheneOS only supports Pixel because they don’t want to allow people to run their OS on hardware they don’t think is secure enough. It’s their choice not to support other phones.
Also, Google still controls AOSP so this does not solve any of the bigger Android issues. Motorola forking AOSP and providing the resourced needed to keep the development going would be amazing news. This is just one phone maker promising to fulfill the security requirements of Graphene OS. It’s basically like Dell offering Ubuntu laptops. Good news but it will not have a big impact on the ecosystem.
Nice try officer.
If you’re worried about police getting your data you’re already using GrapheneOS on a Pixel device. This is good news for you because you will have more options when changing phones in the future but not really a game changer in any way.
It’s not just degoogling is the reason for using grapheneos. There are many other user friendly controls. For instance, you block apps from network use, so your click farming game doesn’t track everything about you.
iode has a build in app that let’s you automatically block trackers for each app. You can manage internet connection and allow specific trackers separately for each app. I think internet access is a basic Android permission, any ROM can just block internet access for apps. I’ve used iode before, I’m using Graphene OS now. If restoring all the apps wasn’t such a pain in the ass I would go back to iode. It also had a nice ‘long press’ navigation button shortcut feature, pattern unlock for the lockscreen and automated backups to self hosted ownCloud instance. Graphene OS is good but it’s not a game changer.
Guess I know which brand my next smartphone upgrade will be.
If they did some nice 7" tablets too, that would be perfect.
I remember my original Moto G. It was a good phone for the time. I will follow Graphene wherever they go until a Linux phone is ready.
SailfishOS runs in Jolla phones (linux) and PostmarketOS is doing strides.
Hello Moto!
Removed by mod
This is crazy big news.
How will they be able tackle the play integrity checks and all those things?
Who? Grapahen OS? The same way they do now I guess. Nothing changes for the OS. It’s the hardware that needs to fulfill some extra requirements for Graphene OS team to support it.
Let’s see if it gets released before GrapheneOS and unlockable bootloader get outlawed
That’s the point, right? Google is trying to lock down Android even more, and third party vendors can see the increasing risk. If they fork now, they can maybe undercut the increasing monopoly efforts.
I am sure they are also seeing a growing demand for more privacy, the only reason own a pixel is because of GrapheneOS. If I could buy a phone with the OS pre installed I would, don’t know if they are going to do that. Also, by patterning with GrapheneOS they don’t has the development cost and they can trade on Graphenes name
OEM, they can lock the bootloader. So at least there’s that
deleted by creator
W Moto ❤️🩹
Very interesting, I’ll keep an eye on Motorola phones. Not that I need a new one anytime soon, but still that’s the kind of thing that could be refreshing to read news about.
What’s the likelihood that Motorola will eventually lock down GrapheneOS though? Imho it’d be a bad move if they did. The FOSS mobile OS community has matured to the point that we don’t need to rely on for-profit monoliths any more. Motorola would be smart to lead the way to where the mobile device economy will be.How would Motorola lock it down? They don’t control it in any way.
Oh snap, I misread it as Motorola bought GrapheneOS! This is way better news than I realized! Thx for the clarification. 🫡
Edit: On reflection can FOSS even be bought since it doesn’t have an owner to pay? I’m caught up now.
On reflection can FOSS even be bought
Yes, you can pay developers to stop publishing new changes. Basically hire the people developing it and stop releasing the code. Community can try to still develop it independently.
At the limit though they’d have to pay every coder with an interest in that software’s development and enough time for a hobby. I guess they could target distribution like Codeberg but alternatives would eventually fill their place.
Normally there’s a small group of people with expertise doing most of the work. If you poach them and pay them to work full time on the project it will be really hard for the community to compete.
GrapheneOS is open source, Motorola - just like anyone else - can make changes to it before they install it on their devices.
Like a locked bootloader and bloat.
That’s not what “lock it down” means.
What does it mean to you?
Prevent changes. Locking down software project would mean making it closed sourced. Locking down hardware means preventing software/firmware changes.
We meant the same thing then. Nothing prevents Motorola from making changes to GrapheneOS, making it closed source, and blocking software/firmware changes on their phone so that you can’t install the open source original.
Any phone manufacturer can do it and they don’t need any special deals with GrapheneOS for that. GrapheneOS would definitely not support Motorola making some secret changes to the OS before installing it so this news is the complete opposite of such situation.
Different tense.
I wasn’t using it in the privacy hardened sense.Just realized it refers to the same thing both ways. GrapheneOS is user-side hardened whereas iOS is producer-side hardened.
matured to the point that we don’t need to rely on for-profit monoliths any more
Which phones are we using for Graphene OS at the moment? Ah, yeah… Google… well known for its non-profit behaviour… I say: Give me alternatives which we aren’t to try to get rid of in the first place.
See: PinePhone (Ubuntu Touch, postmarketOS) for $149-199 via their intl site: pine64.org.
OR
SF’s Librem 5 (PureOS, plus Ubuntu Touch, postmarketOS) for ~$700 via puri.sm.
Both shippable to the US. They’re unpolished OSs and expect delays, but they do exist. The competition will only increase going forward.
Both are alternatives, but not fleshed out as far I know. There is also e/OS, but it’s the same story. So we actually don’t have a viable solution
Also: Why is “shippable to the US” a criterion for FOSS or the rest of the world? You know, there are other Countries on this blue Marble…
We’re speaking English and the US is by far the largest demographic for English speakers on BlueSky. The UK is the second closest and represents 5-6x less people. I genuinely wish you luck with how you engage with people in the future.
Jesus dude let them get compatibility before you bring out the assumptions.
A question isn’t an assumption. It’s possible to hold an idea in one’s head without immediately accepting or rejecting it. I also don’t see any problem with planning ahead. Why are you assuming I’m a dude?
maybe my next phone will be a Motorola.
Me too. I’ve always bought Google Pixels but I don’t want to give Google my money anymore.
So I’ll probably buy a Motorola if this deal gets through.
Me too. I’ve always bought Google Pixels but I don’t want to give Google my money anymore.
what about used?
What phone do you use now?
deleted by creator
I’m on a Google Pixel 9A.
But at least I didn’t pay for it, Google paid me, thanks to a clever mix of a big 9A launch discount, a trade-in discount and the fact that the older Pixel I traded in had already been partially refunded because of the infamous battery problems.
My last few phones have been Motorolas and I’ve been very very happy with them.
My only issue was that back then, I wasn’t really paying attention to alternative OSs like Graphene, Lineage or e/os and was therefore not really too concerned with ROM support/chip set. When I switched over to e/os, two of my Motorola’s (including the one I WANT to use with it) has no ROM support because it’s running a Mediatek chipset. So I’m using my second to last one while my nice new one collects dust.
Moving forward I’ll be paying more attention to Qualcomm vs Mediatek.
yeah i might focus on Android phones that have Good ROM/ support
i think their graphene OS powered phone will have bootloader unlocking.i hope Google does not take away Sideloading. (but i think graphene returns it)
i bought a mororolla 3 years ago and it still lasts 2 days on a charge. id say go for it.
i gotta see first if Motorola/Lenovo will actually ship graphene OS and other factors.
they dont sound like bad phones and even better with this collab
My biggest concern is the life cycle of the device. I almost went with Motorola for my last phone, but saw that you were lucky to get 3 years of OS updates. Is that likely to be better on GrapheneOS? If so, that is a huge win imo. If not, it still isn’t ideal because I don’t want to have to buy a new phone every 2 years…
Thats the trick, when a company supports romming, you can extend the support for however long you want!
But gos dropped support for pre-6 Pixels so not quite.
GrapheneOS was claiming 5-year support IIRC. Apple level support is infeasible. Not sure how affordable longer firmware support from Qualcomm is.
Why do you think they are $300-500? I don’t care about “only” 3 years of updates if i don’t have to spend $1300 on a friggin cellphone.
I mean, I sort of get what you are saying but it also feels a little like Grimes’s boots thing from Terry Pratchet. Like, I can spend $200- $300 and get a phone that will stop getting security updates in 2-3 years… Or I can spend $700-$1000 to get a phone that comes with 7-10 years of security updates. Money per year, you are the same or better off if you can afford the up-front cost of the more expensive product, and we are generating a lot less techno-garbage clogging up the planet.
Generally, I hate the hard limit of use of these things. Coming from desktop computers, if you spend more money the machine is faster, but if you don’t need the speed you can use the cheap machine just as long (or longer if you really don’t need performance). All phones feel like they are just a subscription model.
Upvoted for Sam Vimes reference!
Reading the original press release might be a good Start
Their Thinkphones pretty much always had good update policy
Almost like you cant really sell a 100€ device and expect it to be optimised like a mid range
but saw that you were lucky to get 3 years of OS updates.
fucking great, less enshittification when they stop shoving the updates down your throat.
Yea, except you aren’t getting security updates either… Basically anything connected to the internet should be getting security updates…
Well, fuck. I really hoped they would pick FairPhone. Motorola is… Okay. I guess they made the Nexus 5 ; which was one of the best phones ever.
I hope they make a SMALL one, I am so tired of this GIGANTIC pixel 9.
Fairphone isn’t available everywhere while Motorola is. It’s pretty easy to understand why they chose them.
That’s not the reason, the real reason is Fairphone doesn’t take security seriously. The GrapheneOS devs have called them out numerous times on that.
But if they partnered with GrapheneOS, there could have been a concerted effort to remedy that.
Who haven’t the gosdevs called out? Not even OpenBSD are as callous and their work is rock solid.
Also a good reason but you can’t get Fairphones in North America which is a huge market.
Motorola gets a little bit of love from me because they were (maybe still are?) the only ones who allowed me to shout “COMRADE MOTO!” to wake my phone up
I will not say “Hey Google” in a million years. I refuse.
SOVIET ANTHEM PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND
That’s definitely worth a fair few points. Always rubbed me the wrong way that you couldn’t change it to whatever you wanted.
I think LG made the Nexus 5, though.
I always thought Pixel was the platform to have for fucking around with the OS and stuff. Of fucking course I was an idiot.
Don’t be too hard on yourself, they definitely put money and effort into influencing opinions in all the subversive ways they can manage. But also, let this be a lesson to always check alternatives and their reason for existing. I consider it part of best practices.
“Embrace, Extend, Extinguish”. When have they ever done otherwise.
Point of order: That was Microsoft rather than Google.
Yeah, I’m aware that Microsoft coined that phrase, but Google seems to be doing something quite similar.
Google embraced the creation of an open-sourced Android project, extended its capabilities with centralized software distribution, and is now extinguishing by forcing developers to comply with its new requirements and banning third-party app stores.
