Im considering buying a new phone and i don’t really consider a Pixel. I really like Fairphones approach, with the self repairable stuff. Even though they don‘t have a headphone jack. But well… I can’t change it. I’ll definitely go with the adapter over wireless headphones.

But to my question: What private OSes are there? Fairphone sells FP4s with eOS, how is that? And does it work on the FP5? GrapheneOS only works on Google Pixels right?

  • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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    3 months ago

    Graphene does only work on the pixel devices. What makes it special is that you can lock the bootloader again after installing it, which with things like lineage, you cannot do. I have never used /e/OS but i use lineage as my daily and it can be installed on FP

  • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    Yes, GrapheneOS only works on Pixel devices, because the project has some pretty extensive hardware security requirements: https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices

    The Fairphone is a highly insecure device, which comes nowhere close to the (hardware) security of a Pixel. On top of that, the Fairphone company doesn’t even know how to maintain their own Fairphone OS. The verified boot implementation is fundamentally broken and very misleading, since it’s signed with the publicly available (!!!) AOSP test private keys. This is such a blatant disregard of security practices, that should have made it impossible to certify their devices. It’s not a surprise either that Fairphone regularly misses important Android security patches, or delivers them months later. That’s also why GrapheneOS will never support devices like the Fairphone. There are more issues with Fairphone’s misleading update policy that I haven’t covered in detail.

    I highly recommend against purchasing such insecure, and poorly maintained hardware. DivestOS is the best option for “damage control”, if you already own a Fairphone. Its developer actually cares about users and their security, and the OS is properly signed.

  • N4CHEM@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    There are several degoogled OS options for the Fairphone models, with different levels of degoogling and privacy: LineageOS, CalyxOS, DivestOS, iodéOS and /e/OS.

    Most of these are based on LineageOS (I understand that CalyxOS isn’t, but I might be wrong). I personally use iodéOS and I like the helpful developers, the ability to remove / replace any of the apps preinstalled with the system, and the iodé blocker which blocks trackers, adds and any connection you want to at a system level.

    • yonder@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      I currently run DivestOS on a oneplus 6 and it’s pretty slick with mull for web browsing and neostore for apps.

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    I’m on CalyxOS, it works great. Locked bootloader, ability to block connection of devices when screen is locked (defeating cellebrite’s method of choice), work profiles and firewalls etc.

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    There are only a few to consider. /e/os if you want it easy or DivestOS if you want it most secure and private. All the other possibilities have disadvantages compared to these.

    Please be aware that you should buy FP5 as FP4 has huge hardware issues and the support is a dissapointment. And yes, /e/ is available for FP5 (but not via easy installer, but it’s not hard to flash it yourself)

    /e/ is announced as ‘degoogled’ but that’s not 100 % true (and not nearly as well). For example MicroG connects to Google as well as connectivity backup check. Patch level is far behind AOSP. The App Lounge uses clean APK for some apps which is very risky. Communication is a problem and they do not react like they should for example when Mike Kuketz analysed /e/ and found several problems.

    The community is huge and they support many devices.

    DivestOS is better in most points but is managed by one person alone. MicroG is not included by default (if you need it) and multi sim support is a problem.

    • infeeeee@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      You can disable microg connecting to google servers, but basically you get a standard gms free experience, with most apps simply not working from play store. They list in the wiki how and why they connect to google: https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/wiki/Google-Network-Connections

      A completely google free experience would be unusable for “normal” people, so they somewhat right as they target “normal” users. I also don’t like /e/, but because they are deliberately obfuscating a lot of things in their documentation, and they try to sell their os as something genuine, but it’s mostly just AOSP with microG.

  • Black Dog@feddit.uk
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    3 months ago

    If I had a Fairphone I’d use CalyxOS or DivestOS. They seem to be the best for privacy and security out of the OS that Fairphone supports.

    • LinsensuppeOP
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      3 months ago

      Can you explain that? Why is Fairphone problematic?

      • refalo@programming.dev
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        3 months ago

        Well, whether anything is problematic or not is highly subjective.

        Do you consider no headphone jack to be problematic? Or that some think it was done intentionally to push their wireless headphones?

        What about the use of slave labor? After realizing it was impossible to get away from that, they tweaked their slogan from a fair phone to a “fairer” phone.

        How about the high price and little demand?

        See what I mean? One person’s problem is not everyone’s.

        • LinsensuppeOP
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          I do consider the missing headphone jack a problem, but are other brands better? I did not research any of this, but don‘t other brands do the same. Considering this, I think Fairphone is one of the better phone producers. Im not saying they are the best or that they do nothing wrong. And please correct me if I’m wrong, I think the high prices come from the higher loans and better quality materials than other brands.

        • Ilandar@aussie.zone
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          3 months ago

          What does any of this have to do with Fairphone? You can apply every single one of these criticisms to the rest of the industry and it would be way more relevant than it is with Fairphone.

          It seems some people will not accept paying more for an ethically superior product unless it is literally perfect in every single ethical aspect. If it’s not perfect, then this company that is vastly superior to all its competitors when it comes to ethics is somehow the villain. This is braindead logic.

          • communism@lemmy.ml
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            3 months ago

            I think the point is, why avoid buying a more mainstream phone like a pixel if even fairphone can’t avoid slave labour? The two big reasons why people go for fairphones is ethicality of the manufacturing process (labour and environmental impact) and modularity/fixability. If their labour is unethical then that means they lose one of their most important appeals. The horrific treatment of miners in the global south is easily one of if not the most significant issue with modern phone manufacture.

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              3 months ago

              That’s not a point. This is not a case of all or nothing. You seem to have been raised with some kind of Disney fantasy land ideals about good and bad but the reality is that nothing is perfect including ethical consumerism. We simply look for the better or best alternative and that is currently Fairphone. That’s an objective fact.

              • communism@lemmy.ml
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                3 months ago

                Where did I say it was all or nothing. I don’t think you’re reading anything me or the other person is saying

                • Ilandar@aussie.zone
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                  3 months ago

                  why avoid buying a more mainstream phone like a pixel if even fairphone can’t avoid slave labour?

                  You acknowledged yourself that Fairphone is also environmentally superior to its competitors, such as Google, yet apparently this doesn’t matter to you when it comes time to purchase. Your logic seems to assume that because Fairphone is not perfect, it is therefore no better ethically than a company like Google. That is an all or nothing mentality.

    • jherazob@beehaw.org
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      3 months ago

      As somebody that might be changing phone sometime this year and to cover all the possibilities, do we have a recent comparison of all these projects?

  • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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    3 months ago

    Depending on your linux knowledge, you may want to use real linux (postmarketOS). But beware, the amount of things that require closed source OSs like android or ios isnt 0. banking apps for example arent accepting of non proprietary phones yet. I dont know about emulation though.

    • MrSoup@lemmy.zip
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      3 months ago

      For emulation there is Waydroid. I’ve never tried to run bank apps with it, but everything else worked smoothly.

        • MrSoup@lemmy.zip
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          I’ve used it in multi windows mode with a libhoudini (installed thru a script, I think it was this) (had no luck with libndk) on desktop (x86) because some android apps are not compiled for x86. No need for it on an arm device.

          If you have a dual gpu setup, enable software render because it got issue with dual gpus (see here).

    • yonder@sh.itjust.works
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      I daily drove a Oneplus 6 with PostmarketOS for a few months. While it was very cool and gave me a bunch of freedom compared to android, I missed things like always having proper mobile UIs and a working camera. It is my understanding that the fairphone 4 is in a similar state of support, if a bit worse. Can recommend it though if you like using linux and don’t need banking or a camera from your phone.

      • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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        3 months ago

        Thanks for chiming in. I agree that pmos is not a perfect drop in alternative for android yet. but for me it is 1. not necessary to have a perfect copy and 2. not a permanent situation since pmos is picking up steam, same as the rest of linux. So I believe cameras will become usable at some point and banking apps will probably also come around at some point. The more people use it, the faster imo.

        • yonder@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          Every few months or so there is news of what hurdle has been overcome getting the camera on the oneplus 6 to work. So you might be right there.

    • AstralPath@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      Not true. I’m a Tangerine customer and have no issues at all with their app on Graphene.

        • AstralPath@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          That one use case literally invalidates the claim that banking apps don’t work. Your banking app might not work, but mine does.

          • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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            3 months ago

            Thats not how logic works my friend. If 99 people cant get it to work and you do, that makes the claim not invalid but either you lie or you have an „unusual“ setup. The claim still holds true in most cases.

            Instead of waltzing over someone like this, you could try and show interest in their usecase and how to troubleshoot the underlying problem. That would be making the world a better place.

            • AstralPath@lemmy.ca
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              2 months ago

              I’m not here to troubleshoot this issue. I don’t have the technical skill or understanding of this platform to do so.

              I’m sure I’m not the only one with a working banking app. We don’t all use mainstream banks, right? There are options and I’m sure I’m not alone in this.

              Thanks for insinuating I’m a liar though. That’s nice.

              I’m on a Pixel 8 with GrapheneOS and a working banking app with no special fuckery because I genuinely don’t know enough about android to deviate from what’s offered in the stock Graphene experience other than using the FUTO keyboard and customizing basic settings just like everyone else.

              • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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                2 months ago

                Well, thanks for the info. I never said you were a liar. I said thats an option.

                The point I took issue with is the way you approached this. I dont mind being corrected. I mind it being done like this as if I were somehow saying stupid things which 20 yrs of IT work clearly speak against.

                So maybe we just forget this issue and agree that you have a working setup which I find very positive.

                Have a good one.