I’ve been lurking around the website and forums for a few months now, and I’m jus now starting my journey to reclaiming my privacy. One of the things I’m looking to do is install GrapheneOS on my Google Pixel 8. From what I’ve read, it seems supported. I’ve come up with a couple of questions I haven’t been able to find answers to online.
Has anyone had experience with removing the factory OS with Xfinity? Do they support that? I’d hate to go through the process, just to have to revert everything.
Is there anything else I should know that maybe you’ve come across that could help in this process?
I don’t have personal experience with this, but from what i have read, it seems like many carriers lock the phone to prevent alternative OSes from being loaded. The best way to avoid this is just purchasing the phone from Google’s official store
This comment in a thread in the GrapheneOS subreddit from around a year ago seems to indicate that they do support it, or at least don’t disallow it. Granted, it’s a year old comment, so take it with a grain of salt.
Something to consider about this method of purchasing an unlocked Pixel is that the Google Store no longer allows guest check out; checking out requires signing in to a Google account, with seemingly no way to get around it. I recently encountered this when trying to purchase USB-C earbuds from their online store.
I wouldn’t recommend any carrier phones. Most of them are bootloader locked and prevent you from installing an alternate OS, and they also typically add extra bloatware and nonsense and other tweaks to the stock OS. You’re really better off just buying it unlocked if you have the ability to.