Operating System Discussion

GrapheneOS

You might think that there's only two phone operating systems. Of course there's two major ones but another lesser known OS that people have been using recently is Graphene! Here's a write up from their website:

GrapheneOS is a private and secure mobile operating system with great functionality and usability. It starts from the strong baseline of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and takes great care to avoid increasing attack surface or hurting the strong security model. GrapheneOS makes substantial improvements to both privacy and security through many carefully designed features built to function against real adversaries. The project cares a lot about usability and app compatibility so those are taken into account for all of our features.

GrapheneOS is focused on substance rather than branding and marketing. It doesn't take the typical approach of piling on a bunch of insecure features depending on the adversaries not knowing about them and regressing actual privacy/security. It's a very technical project building privacy and security into the OS rather than including assorted unhelpful frills or bundling subjective third party apps choices.

GrapheneOS is also hard at work on filling in gaps from not bundling Google apps and services into the OS. We aren't against users using Google services but it doesn't belong integrated into the OS in an invasive way. GrapheneOS won't take the shortcut of simply bundling a very incomplete and poorly secured third party reimplementation of Google services into the OS. That wouldn't ever be something users could rely upon. It will also always be chasing a moving target while offering poorer security than the real thing if the focus is on simply getting things working without great care for doing it robustly and securely.

This page provides an overview of currently implemented features differentiating GrapheneOS from AOSP. It doesn't document our many historical features that are no longer included for one reason or another. Many of our features were implemented in AOSP, Linux, LLVM and other projects GrapheneOS is based on and those aren't listed here. In many cases, we've been involved in getting those features implemented in core infrastructure projects.

The only downside to this OS? It can only be installed on specific Google Pixel phones. Which makes it pretty limiting. Here are the list of Google Pixel phones that are supported, taken from their website:

So if you have one of these phones, have you given this operating system a go yet? I've been thinking about getting a Google Pixel as my next phone so I might give this OS a go. Here's a link to the official website for GrapheneOS. https://grapheneos.org/

Never heard of Graphene OS for phone. Are there any phone brands using this OS by default?

@Nomad no but they are working on their own "Graphene Phone." Not available yet.

I've used this for years and it's way better than stock android. Much less bloat and the ability to have 15 different profiles.

On May 28, 2026, NeoMetallix said:

@Nomad no but they are working on their own "Graphene Phone." Not available yet.

I've used this for years and it's way better than stock android. Much less bloat and the ability to have 15 different profiles.

Ah nice I was going to get a Google Pixel but I might just wait until the Graphene Phone comes out. I'm sure installing the OS isn't too difficult to do but this option would be much better.

On May 28, 2026, Ravenfreak said:

Ah nice I was going to get a Google Pixel but I might just wait until the Graphene Phone comes out. I'm sure installing the OS isn't too difficult to do but this option would be much better.

It might be a couple years though. For Pixels, it's super simple. You connect your Pixel to PC via USB and press a button on their website. The web installer does everything. O did that on my Pixel 7. They didn't have that option on my Pixel 4 and was much more complicated.

On May 28, 2026, NeoMetallix said:

It might be a couple years though. For Pixels, it's super simple. You connect your Pixel to PC via USB and press a button on their website. The web installer does everything. O did that on my Pixel 7. They didn't have that option on my Pixel 4 and was much more complicated.

Since it's that easy I'll probably just get a Pixel 7 then lol. Would be nice to be able to purchase a phone with the OS already installed but meh.

On May 29, 2026, Ravenfreak said:

Since it's that easy I'll probably just get a Pixel 7 then lol. Would be nice to be able to purchase a phone with the OS already installed but meh.

Make sure you have a quality one. I tried on my 7 and I thought I bricked it because it kept hanging. Turned out I was using a low quality cable and when I swapped it with another one, it worked fine.

You can buy them preinstalled but people charge a ton for it.