this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2025
21 points (86.2% liked)

Privacy

43184 readers
418 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
 

After extensive testing, it's finally here: the new SHIFTphone 8.1 with iodéOS is now available at NovaCustom! It's a privacy-friendly phone that's not only user-friendly and secure, but also sustainable and fully modular. This smartphone stands for privacy, security, freedom of choice, and repairability: values that perfectly align with NovaCustom's mission.

Why NovaCustom and SHIFTphone are the perfect match

At NovaCustom, we believe that users should have control over their own hardware and software. The SHIFTphone is perfect for this in terms of hardware: it has a modular design and is easy to repair. In terms of software, the original product is less than ideal: it comes with Google software as standard. NovaCustom replaces that software with iodéOS by default. This is an operating system without Google services (only microG, but it can also work without it!). This gives you a privacy-friendly phone with maximum control over your data.

Fully modular and customizable

Modular Smartphone
NovaCustom launches the SHIFTphone 8.1

Whether you want to replace a screen, insert a new battery, or simply tinker with your smartphone yourself, the SHIFTphone makes it possible. No glue, no frustration, just pure freedom. NovaCustom has been supporting this principle for years with configurable laptops, and now we are bringing that same idea to smartphones.

top 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] shishka_b0b@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Am I missing something here? The phone can be bought from the manufacturer for €650 and this company is trying to flip that same phone, but with a custom rom pre-installed for €950? So it's essentially a €300 upcharge to have someone else flash the custom ROM for you. There's also an automatic installer available for download on the ROMs website, so people wouldn't have to mess around with ADB or anything if they wanted to do it themself. Most of what's mentioned about graphene is also BS and the whole write up is just riddled with misinformation.

Please tell me I'm missing something bc if I'm not then no one should buy a single thing from this company.

Edit: OP has a business relationship with this company

[–] acron@lemmy.ml 9 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Am I just old or is > 800EUR for a phone still just wild?

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

We're old bro. It's ok tho. Bound to happen.

[–] Luffy879@lemmy.ml 7 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Reminder that the IodeOS and such are simply LinaegeOS forks with a bunch of propriatery shitty subscription services thrown in, and literally hinder the progress on costum Roms VS if they simply just made a PR to add the phone to Linaege.

[–] maltfield@lemmy.ml -4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

hardened LinaegeOS forks seems like exactly what we need...

[–] Luffy879@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 hours ago

Just because Theres a subscription service dosent mean its hardened

Read what I wrote. Its not hardened LINAEGEOS. Its linaege OS with a subscription based DNS blocker you get for free via adbock.

[–] pokexpert30@jlai.lu 3 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

STOP RELEASING PHONES THAT ARE ALREADY OUTDATED SPECS-WISE THE DAY THEY ARE OUT

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

That's unpossible. By the time some tech device goes through beta, v 1.0, then production, and purchased by a user, it's already old news.

[–] maltfield@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 hours ago

Isn't the whole point that this thing can be upgraded?

Also, Pixel 3 still runs great, once you strip off all the google spyware.

[–] grey_maniac@lemmy.ca 2 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

I am not dyslexic, but for some reason I keep reading SHIFTphone as SHTFphone (which for me stands for Shit Hits The Fan), and that works even better in my brain. Does anyone know this tech, this company, anything? They are unfamiliar to me.

[–] maltfield@lemmy.ml 5 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Yeah, small dutch company that has a good history. They've been making highly customizable laptops for the EU market since 2015. And since 2021, they've been focusing on security and right-to-repair. You can watch an interview with the NovaCustom founder (Wessel Klein Snakenborg) here:

They're one of very few laptop manufacturers that sell QubesOS certified laptops. And that come with coreboot.

[–] Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 12 hours ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shift_(company) and https://novacustom.com/

NovaCustom makes custom laptops and minipcs (and phones now, I guess) and SHiFT is a German company that makes phones that aim to be sustainable (like Fairphone)

[–] jlow@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 11 hours ago

.A friend of mine said they misspelled it as SHIT phone in their own newsletter once. It is kinda an unfortunate name (not as bad as /e/ but you just can't top that).