Whenever a malicious app breaks or scammers get to you, its always through the google play store. Their shit isnt even safe to make this fucken claim about safety.
this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2026
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Privacy
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Right but its official, so its safe. That's what matters. Not whether it has malware or not.
But most importantly, some rich asshole will make some money this quarter and that’s all that matters
This is a nice list I'd consider for new phones. Murena (France) with /e/OS (France) on: Fairphone (Netherlands) Hiroh (USA) SHIFTphone (Germany) Teracube (USA) Punkt MC03 (Switzerland) Volla (Germany) with Volla OS or Ubuntu Touch (Germany) Jolla (Finland) with Sailfish OS (Finland) Purism Librem (USA, manufactured in the USA)
i got a fairphone from murena with /e/OS preinstalled recently. i love it so far, but theres a weird glitch where it will randomly switch timezones and only goes back when i restart it and some apps are a little broken.
the issues are relatively minor and its nice to have a phone i know i can plan to keep for a really long time. also the camera is so much better than my old phone. some people said its mid compared to other new phones but if i wanted a camera that nice id buy a real camera.
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So, do I finally need to learn about GrapheneOS? What are other people doing?
Graphene is only of help (today) if you buy some shit from Google namely a Pixel. If you have another phone, step numero uno is always to learn what custom ROMs are available for your make and model.
Used Pixels are cheap and the money doesn't go to Google again.
It supports Google by making their reseller market strong. People will buy pixels knowing they will be of value on the reseller market thus strengthening the primary market.
That's the problem with buying a used Pixel.
On theory, yeah. I got a 512gb pixel 9 fold with a dead inner screen, the rest works fine, for $200. It's a good deal.
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Graphene is by far the best. I highly recommend it.
Right now you need a Pixel to run it but soon you can get a Motorola that works with it.
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This is why I'm happy about Motorola next year
With some luck I'll have time to put together my diy palmtop-esque machine, but we'll see if that works out.
I really hope the Motorola thing actually pans out. Based on the general state of things I’m done with both Apple and Google.
Same here. And its not like we are overwhelmed with alternatives, too.
Things have taken quite the turn from the nexus era to now, dropping nexus for pixel felt so blatant too.
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For anyone who hasn't heard, Motorola is partnering with GrapheneOS to release compatible phones in 2027.
I hope they push this out and spark the ire of the EU, who tells them to unfuck it or starts funding an alternative like Ubuntu Phones or something. That would be an amazing outcome.
Unfortunately, things have to get worse before they get better. It's how people learn.
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And what are we supposed to do about it?
I made a goddamn prediction back in 2012 when Google was introducing the Nexus line of handsets. I FUCKING KNEW this "open platform" bullshit had it's days numbered.
These companies are fun when they're young, but they will ALWAYS turn on the consumer.
Adam Smith was right. Without ethics and morals, the system WILL crumble.
We have extremely moral billionaires preaching their theology in silicon valley, so it should all be fixed pretty soon.
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Direct Link to Petition mentioned in Post
Remember Change.org is a for profit company, when they ask you to “chip in”, do not do that, if you wish to chip in donate to an advocacy org that fights stuff like this such as the Electronic Frontiers Foundation.
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Is this update going to affect older Android versions in phones that stopped receiving OS updates years ago?
And, if so, how do I disable all OS updates entirely?
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I'm on GrapheneOS on tablet and phone running mostly/exclusively open source, so not affected.
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Until people fork and forget Google, they will always control Android.
Everyone happy about motorola and GOS scene, moto has been recently found out for some honey pot scam they were doing in people phone. So the brand we will be paying is not that good and is also just evil like Google
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What's going to happen to phones that already have 3rd party apps installed?
It'd be a stunningly idiotic move if they let you keep the ones already installed, but not let you update them - allowing security holes fixed by future versions to persist so you're wide open to exactly what they claim they're trying to prevent. More likely they'll use them as marketing for how "safe" Google is making you by repeatedly pointing out one at a time how they're blocking app "x" now that a security hole has been found on it.
We all love grapheneOS, but please stop buying Google Pixels to do it. It's such a contradicting action to first stuff googles pocket with even more money, and then be like "I am privacy conscious." Please spend your money on alternatives that will put the money to actually developing good alternatives like FairPhone.
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Will it effect free custom ROMs like lineage?
Not directly, but they've been making other moves to make life difficult for such users — such as significantly delaying releasing the open source parts they're supposed to, potentially leaving users on insecure versions for far longer.
Also things like trusted computing preventing things like banking apps from running on rooted OS
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Its being pushed through the play services, so anything ROM based on AOSP without google will be unaffected.
haven't rooted an Android phone in quite some time, but looks rooting is back on the menu
This is the reason I've disabled automatic system updates since 2024.
Edit; annddd just bit the bullet, procured a Pixel, and installed Graphene. :)
it will not come with system updates, but with updates to the google play services package. you can't disable that. how else would they lock down most phones if manufacturers only supply updates for such a short time, if any.
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So what is the next fork here? I've been handcuffed to android/Google (phones/ tablets) for decades. I have a couple of iPads but they don't have cellular and don't fit in your pocket.
Graphene OS
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