This is a marginal case and charity is off topic. Beggers can’t be choosers. Everyone has a right to privacy and I wish GOS or equivelant was the norm. But it isn’t. I wish poverty doesn’t exist. But it does. I wish PG had a solution for everything but they don’t.
Just so we’re clear
£ ≠ €
Doing conversions as Jan 22 2026 15:00 UTC
£150 = €172.07
£200 = €229.42
I also have to say that the puzzle you are missing is shipping, even in countries like cyprus they always have to pay shipping for getting things overseas regardless, there’s almost no free shipping here (outside of Skroutz for orders over 200, still) or through eBay or whatever it may be. In Cyprus it is not bad but In Brazil and India that is almost impossible to get a good deal if you account for shipping and I think Indonesia as well. So no in conclusion you can but it shouldn’t be everyone can
Actually you may be right. I paid £300 when the phone was released and saved money buying an open box return. Paying a premium for privacy was worth it though and the used market is full of Pixels with years of support remaining.
I know most people in Brazil can’t afford Pixels. My position is they should have educational resources but Privacy Guides isn’t the place. Muddying the waters talking about debloating devices which aren’t available in English speaking countries could be counter productive.
5G isn’t available globally so different markets require a targeted approach. PG shouldn’t be expected to address continental differences. It isn’t arrogance or an unwillingness to help.
Then where? Techlore?
That’s fine if that’s the case but I guess it’s safe to say we can agree to disagree
On a regional website catered to their unique challenges obviously. I’m not searching for Portuguese alternatives. I have the same issue ordering a System76 laptop from the USA or Tuxedo computer from Germany. There is no point getting worked up because a company based in Colorado doesn’t have any UK retailers. I just can’t have one and bought a cheap ThinkPad instead.
The long and the short of it, as others have explained, is that if you have no alternative to GOS then you’re screwed. Apple is less bad than stock Android in some respects but still invasive and expensive. Threats cannot be entirely mitigated on a device full of intentional backdoors.
Ironically there are homeless people with no banking or bills who enjoy more privacy than me. The only advantage I have is a locking door and curtains. Highlighting alternatives is a moot point when a Pixel 9 costs less than the average person earns in a week. This number is skewed by high earners but not everyone needs the latest generation phone.
I purchased the budget model after weeks of deliberation and bargain hunting. An equivelant phone would have been £100 cheaper but privacy is a luxury these days.
Yeah, maybe in the west. :v
My current phone is some Chinese brand, ~100$ when I bought it in 2023.
Meanwhile used iPhone 11 64gb in my place is ~256$ in 2026.
I already eat instant noodles every day, buying iPhone is just not rational choice for me. XD
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Tldr: Feel like this conversation might be redundant and the website already have answer for most of the questions.
The only talking point left is suggesting UAD-ng or Canta and maybe dumb down the guide to be more clear step by step if the concern is to reach more general populace
Because PG is Privacy Guide. Not Phone Guide, of course PG guide main recommendation will be about privacy. Not about your best value to price phone.
PG did acknowledge them tho.
in Android section:
Unfortunately, many custom Android distributions often violate the Android security model by not supporting critical security features such as AVB, rollback protection, firmware updates, and so on. Some distributions also ship userdebug builds which expose root via ADB and require more permissive SELinux policies to accommodate debugging features, resulting in a further increased attack surface and weakened security model.
Not to mention it’s opening another can of worms. So many hardware vendor and various android distros.
Unlocking bootloader
Risking bricking
SELinux not enforcing
Etc
@Onscreen5341 talk about giving alternatives for non techie people but the truth is there is no alternative that is good enough.
Like iPhone is recommended here in forum as alternative for pixel but if we check official PG recommendations for mobile phone
PG didn’t even recommend the iPhone.
We talk as if PG don’t have hardening guide but we already have Android and Android Overview tho.
Don’t have Pixel or iPhone? Then just use filtering DNS and PG software recommendations.
Also pretty sure officially PG here is just want to teach people to be more aware, decide your threat and pick your poison yourself based on your independent assessment. Not spreading absolute dogmatic.
If non techie people are the concern then perhaps more correct solution is giving opinionated, dumbed down, step by step guide to harden your android.
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you cannot “degoogle” stock android. connections back to google are too entrenched.
this entire website is a harm reduction guide. if a user does everything else recommended on this site except buying a pixel to install gos, they have reduced harm.
here is that word again. literally nobody “needs” a headphone jack or a five inch screen or any of the other features you’ve used as an example of things people “need”.
i have never found a single app that would not work on gos. i know they exist, but they are not incredibly common like you would suggest. gos simply works.
this is not a good recommendation unless someone is just going to use this for an occasional call or text. nothing on a dumb phone can be secured or private.
This won’t make you feel any better but a used iPhone 11 in the UK costs £130.
I don’t actually recommend iPhones. We can’t enjoy privacy using any Chinese phone 
Some banking apps don’t work apparently. I’ve never encountered this issue myself either.
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Tfw
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gos ships with vanadium, which uses practical and sensible means to harden chromium and in my experience does not break hardly any websites. i access my bank in the browser. most people should be able to do the same.
here is that word again. literally nobody “needs” a headphone jack or a five inch screen or any of the other features you’ve used as an example of things people “need”.
Okay, then let’s try some other feature.
Which smartphone is capable of being rolled over by a truck, crane or being punched with an iron sledgehammer?
There are phones designed exactly for that. Mainly used in construction work.
Depending on the person he also does this at home and not only wants his work phone to survive such things. So he buys one of these phones.
He values privacy, but his priority is more to the phone physical hardening.
(such person exist I know at least on of them …)
What do you know recommend? Degoogling it, using F-Droid and NextDNS filters without any accounts or using GPS with a Google account and so on.
Also, nobody “needs” privacy, but some people want privacy.
So if you are actually making a word game out of this, then you are also kind of wrong.
i have never found a single app that would not work on gos. i know they exist, but they are not incredibly common like you would suggest. gos simply works.
I need to use two apps (mainly banking) that don’t work on GOS (for that I have an old phone).
this is not a good recommendation unless someone is just going to use this for an occasional call or text. nothing on a dumb phone can be secured or private.
A dumphone should be cable of more … otherwise it is a smartphone.
Have you heard of phone cases? Stop clogging up the forum with this debate.
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Have you heard of phone cases? Stop clogging up the forum with your shilling for crappy privacy suggestions.
No … cases will not survive that.
Any smartphone in a case or box.
Use a tough phone at work and a privacy respecting phone at home.
You cannot have a consumer grade privacy respecting smartphone capable of being struck by a sledgehammer. They don’t exist.
Carry multiple devices and stop trying to shift the goalposts.
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Any smartphone in a case or box.
Okay, I didn’t think of a box.
Use at tough phone at work and a privacy respecting phone at home.
You cannot have a consumer grade privacy respecting smartphone capable of being struck by a sledgehammer. They don’t exist.
This argument ignores the fact that the top priority of people is privacy. Again this is not always the case.
People might have another priority first and then privacy only as a second. Which is okay. Individual threat modeling.
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These people would be better served on another forum. There are currently no sledgehammer resistant privacy phones on the market.
Even these deveces wouldn’t meet that absurd criteria. Phones in this context are a disposable items provided by the employer.