# Google appear to have discontinued ARM MTE support on new Pixels **URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/google-appear-to-have-discontinued-arm-mte-support-on-new-pixels/40297 **Category:** News **Tags:** article **Created:** 2026-08-29T15:32:19Z **Posts:** 23 ## Post 1 by @privacyisconsent — 2026-08-29T15:32:20Z > **[GrapheneOS (@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social)](https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/117179231167297908)** > > We have a partial port of GrapheneOS to the Pixel 11 series after a week of work on it. We're unable to complete the port due to lack of support for ARM hardware memory tagging in software, firmware and near certainly hardware. It appears Google cut... MTE support was introduced with Google Tensor with the Pixel 8 series. --- ## Post 2 by @Relieving6 — 2026-08-29T15:38:02Z I knew something was not going to go as planned with this Pixel 11. Time to ditch completely this company. Motorola QUICK! --- ## Post 3 by @Valynor — 2026-08-29T15:54:58Z Kind of hard to believe as “MTE is an intrinsic feature that is part of all of Arm’s v9 CPUs.” and Google hyped MTE in their own blog posts plus the obvious security benefit. Why would Google turn its back on that. --- ## Post 4 by @user1 — 2026-08-29T14:31:06Z > **[GrapheneOS (@grapheneos.org)](https://bsky.app/profile/grapheneos.org/post/3mua32q4ds22e)** > > We have a partial port of GrapheneOS to the Pixel 11 series after a week of work on it. We're unable to complete the port due to lack of support for ARM hardware memory tagging in software, firmware and near certainly hardware. It appears Google cut... This looks like the end of GOS on Pixels. --- ## Post 5 by @notwithstanding — 2026-08-29T19:08:34Z Good thing I didn’t get an 11. --- ## Post 6 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-08-29T21:44:25Z I know, right? I’m crossing my fingers that GOS made a mistake. --- ## Post 7 by @Aslop1 — 2026-08-29T23:25:19Z Can someone explain why it’s not possible to implement MTE themselves? Isn’t the source there from prior Pixel versions to guide them? --- ## Post 8 by @any1 — 2026-08-29T23:30:52Z > [@Aslop1](#): > > Can someone explain why it’s not possible to implement MTE themselves? > **[Arm Memory Tagging Extension (MTE)  |  Android NDK  |  Android Developers](https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/arm-mte)** > > This guide explains how to leverage Arm Memory Tagging Extension (MTE) for memory safety debugging in native Android applications, covering its operating modes, device support, and methods for integration into your development workflow. They can’t implement it themselves, since it is a hardware feature > We’re unable to complete the port due to lack of support for ARM hardware memory tagging in software, firmware and near certainly hardware. --- ## Post 9 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-08-30T00:05:28Z Nearly certainly gives the impression that they’re not 100% sure yet. --- ## Post 10 by @any1 — 2026-08-30T00:30:40Z > MTE is definitely gone from the SoC boot firmware. It’s not usable without that and it appears it’s simply gone as a whole. [https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/117181058028642959](https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/117181058028642959) --- ## Post 11 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-08-30T01:28:10Z I spoke too soon. Sorry! Fuck Google and their Pixel 11 series. --- ## Post 12 by @libertarian — 2026-08-30T05:48:30Z I would imagine a fair number of people will be canceling their pre-orders. Motorola is still at least 1 year away, and the quality of the first Motrola phone with GrapheneOS remains to be a mystery, so I think I won’t be upgrading for a while. --- ## Post 13 by @IksNorTen — 2026-08-30T06:56:55Z With the other Pixel (9 and 10 especially) we will have at least 5 years of GOS update support in front of us so we’re good. --- ## Post 14 by @WhinyHamletPayer — 2026-08-30T12:09:59Z Me losing my 6a was timed perfectly. --- ## Post 15 by @Expert4870 — 2026-08-30T15:04:58Z The [10a](https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices) has at least 6 years 6 months. --- ## Post 16 by @Ganther — 2026-08-30T15:26:46Z > [@Valynor](#): > > Why would Google turn its back on that. Why wouldn’t they? They also hyped their Rust-written DoH implementation that launched with Cloudflare and Google DNS support. What happened with expanding it to anything else? Four years later and… Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Feature requests poking them about this are closed as “not planned” and it’s laughable. I was planning on trading in my Pixel 10 for a Pixel 12 when the time comes. I was counting on GrapheneOS obviously being available for Pixel devices in the foreseeable future. But I guess I won’t be trading it in. This will probably be my last Pixel. Fuck Google. --- ## Post 17 by @Sar — 2026-08-31T09:14:04Z Thank god I got the 10 Pro XL and didn’t wait longer. This Pixel I’m using now will have GOS support for years to come, but I’ll likely be switching to their Motorola phone implementation in a couple of years. --- ## Post 18 by @iluvprivacy — 2026-08-31T11:23:56Z Yeah, I’m surprised that DoH is still limited to Cloudflare and their own DNS service. I guess Google really doesn’t want people to use DoH unless it’s with those two services. --- ## Post 19 by @levobe2624 — 2026-08-31T20:27:12Z Just my two cents. From a non-tech person, this seems like GrapheneOS is just saying this because they want to hype up their Motorola phone that’s coming out. I’m sure the Pixel 11 supports this, the team at GrapheneOS just doesn’t want to put any time or effort into it. And also, they want people to buy their new Motorola phone when it comes out. Again, this is just my opinion. I’m not saying it’s true, it’s just, if you connect the dots, this seems most likely. --- ## Post 20 by @seize — 2026-08-31T20:50:26Z I would find it very hard to believe that the GrapheneOS team would outright lie about something like this. Further, as discussed in previous replies [here](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/google-appear-to-have-discontinued-arm-mte-support-on-new-pixels/40297/10) this is not as simple as something GrapheneOS can impliment themselves. If it is gone from the hardware and firmware then there is nothing the GrapheneOS developers can reasonably do to bring MTE to the Pixel 11. I _will_ say that I can understand some skepticism around this situation, _and_ can also understand the perception that the GrapheneOS developers are “giving up” on pixels now that they have the partnership with Motorola. However I do not believe that comes strictly from a place of “wanting people to buy their new Motorola phone”. --- ## Post 21 by @fria — 2026-08-31T21:36:52Z > [@seize](#): > > I _will_ say that I can understand some scepticism around this situation, _and_ can also understand the perception that the GrapheneOS developers are “giving up” on pixels now that they have the partnership with Motorola. However I do not believe that comes strictly from a place of “wanting people to buy their new Motorola phone”. Yeah they were actively porting to the Pixel 11 when they hit this roadblock. I think it’s pretty clear they really wanted to be able to finish the port. --- ## Post 22 by @Astravaris — 2026-08-31T23:10:12Z Hopefully Motorola will eventually release a smaller phone that supports GrapheneOS, although I very much doubt it. I find the Pixel 10 too large as is. 6.9" is simply too large to be viable for me. I had planned to stick with Google Pixels as a result of that. Well, the Pixel 10 should last a good five years at least. --- ## Post 23 by @user1 — 2026-09-01T05:04:18Z > **[GrapheneOS (@grapheneos.org)](https://bsky.app/profile/grapheneos.org/post/3mugn23cpx22l)** > > We have good news about the Pixel 11. It still has at least bare minimum support for MTE at a hardware level. We think they removed most of the hardware acceleration from the CPU cache to save money. They ruined the performance so it ended up being...