I'm looking to get a custom ROM that has good compatibility with my device. Would you recommend /e/? I couldn't find a tutorial on how to install it with Linux but I don't think it should be that hard to figure out.
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2025
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Privacy
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Here is a good comparison. As a reminder, there is no privacy without security, so if you live in the US (or anywhere that illegal searches happen regularly), I'd argue a less secure solution is by definition a less private solution.
https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm
It's dangerous to get too obsessed with trying to secure everything against state actor level threats. It's not that hard to dramatically increase your privacy if you're currently using a regular android phone. Sure, yes, more security is better, but a single individual's private information isn't actually that valuable. It only becomes valuable to exploit people at a massive scale. Even just putting up minor speedbumps to data collection can massively increase your privacy as long as you aren't being individually targeted, and more people getting into caring about their privacy is a good thing. Any de-googled android rom is already a big step in that direction. Lets not let perfect be the enemy of good.
If OP was trying to secure themselves against interest from conventional state actor like a large intelligence service, I'd say they probably need to throw their phone in a woodchipper and start hitchhiking to the nearest professional spy training program.
More realistic concerns that an ordinary person probably has are casual mass surveillance and local police fuckery. Random AOSP Roms are not sufficient to handle either of those threats.
They're actually pretty good at protecting you from casual mass surveillance as long as you don't do anything stupid with them, that was the whole point of my post. It's just not profitable to spy on you if they have to bother to put any effort into it.
I also think you're overestimating the capabilities of most local police. When I said state level actors I wasn't just talking about the NSA. Smaller countries, actual US states, or even some big cities would be included there, but your local small town police department wouldn't even know where to start. If you plan on personally pissing off any of those bigger police agencies then you should really just be assuming no phone is safe. Otherwise you're not likely to run into anyone that even knows what de-googled android is, let alone how to get into it.
Our local PD literally have access to stingrays, cellbrite/Pegasus (I don't actually know which one they pay for) and military weaponry. In the suburbs, they have armored vehicles as well (tanks and APCs, not armored swat trucks).
Obviously it varies by where you live because different departments will have different levels of funding and will ask for different toys from the feds, but you'd be surprised how comically over equipped many PDs are.
Well, it's certainly true that it varies by where you are, but I'm pretty sure Graphene isn't going to protect you from an APC any better than /e/OS, and the county sheriff where I live wouldn't know a stingray from an Xbox, but maybe I just live too far out into the middle of nowhere to be typical.
From the looks of it GrapheneOS still seems like the best choice by far..
Basically, but not everyone has a pixel or can afford to buy a new device.
$150 for a refurb Unlocked Pixel 6 from eBay. That's both cheaper, more ecologically friendly, and better for your privacy than /e/ can ever hope for.
I recently picked up a pixel 7a on ebay. $200 for like new condition. Probably the current sweet spot for value and remaining years of support.
if you got pixel and don't like GOS team, Calyx OS is a decent alternative also, you can lock bootloader and get most apps to work with microg
GOS team are some elitist jerks, sure, but what they make works well. And I respect the fuck out of Calyx for being committed to making something like MicroG work.
GOS or Calyx, either is gonna be miles better than /e/. /e/ is running their 'native IP scrambler' on a two-year old commit of TOR. Fuck everything about that.