I agree with everyone here. Try to find a used Pixel 8a. It’s the cheapest Pixel with many years of support. Import it if possible. Save up for your phone.
If it’s too expensive or practically impossible to find a Pixel, then there isn’t really an alternative. Accept your situation and adapt your threat model accordingly. Use your current phone and apply other ways to protect your privacy. Practice minimalism by reducing the number of apps and accounts, for example. Disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC when you’re not using it. Consider removing your SIM card and turning on Airplane mode.
Like I commented on the thread yesterday. I could not and cannot say more without divulging any PII but I do ask that you trust me when I say, there is no solution for the constraints OP has that is going to work. I don’t mean to be defeatist here but it is the situation.
What solves this problem? Money. As it always does. The best way too if money is not an issue is for OP to travel to India and buy it there if Pixel is needed for GrapheneOS. Or have someone bring it to you from there if you know anyone. Or buying a brand new iPhone 17 but that’s going to be equally if not more expensive than the alternative (though this is available in the GCC countries).
Even UAE which is a more “open” country where all kinds of electronics and whatnot is available, Pixels are not. Just like you cannot find Dell products in the GCC because some companies and electronic makers do not support the region at all (or no longer do).
I have had second hand experience with folks from Iran with the difficulties they have and that’s why I say there is no solution or no good solution that can work for OP given the constraints.
Of course, anyone can choose to not believe me. I know I’m right here. I’m only making this comment to clarify what the real solution is.
I would say buy the best phone you can afford and harden it with the security and privacy features that are available. Don’t think about custom ROMs because you’ll further limit your options. I have Samsung Galaxy A14 (£120, price and availability depends by country of course) and there’s a feature where if you enter your pin incorrectly 20 times, your phone will reset. This is close enough to a “duress” pin, so look for features like that on your phone. If you need to encrypt your files, there might be options available, but since your threat model is surveillance, minimize your online identities and access to PII if you can.
You’re not wrong, but I guess the best option (or maybe the only option) is to work with the best phone (if not no phone) that’s available to them. Their budget is $150-190 so money is tight. And we also don’t know what the OP is trying to protect from Iran’s intelligence agencies. Since we don’t know which phones are accessible in Iran and how much it cost compared to our countries, maybe the OP could suggest a phone that they can easily get their hands on and then we can look at what features are available that could be helpful.
EDIT: OP hasn’t mentioned if saving for a better phone is an option. If so, maybe they can mention how much they can realistically save.
I agree that the most recent Samsung device you can acquire in your budget is probably your best bet. It MUST be still supported with security updates though.
A bit of a modification from previous advice here, but do you have a laptop that supports usage of Tails or Qubes? It may be easier to use a cheap burner phone and do most communications from this laptop. It should have around 16 GB of RAM or more. Tails needs less (around 8)
Since they’re looking to install a custom ROM, that has to mean they can access a computer. Tor is blocked in Iran and they may have to request a bridge.
Something I forgot to mention is that GrapheneOS still provides updates for older unsupported phones going all the way back to the pixel 4 with their legacy extended support. They explicitly state that it is only for harm reduction while you seek a new device, but it’s not like you won’t be getting any software updates. As I understand it’s really just firmware updates that you will be missing out on because those have to come from Google. It may be worth asking about your specific situation over at the GrapheneOS forum to see if they have any opinions/advice on whether legacy extended support would be preferable over some non-pixel with stock android from a security standpoint, since that seems to be the decision point for you: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/
I use GOS on an old Pixel 8 and I only have to charge it every other day — sometimes 3 days with no recharging. And that’s without battery-saver too.
To the OP’s point, what is a great battery life for you? How much do you use your phone per day? You could also use a power bank or save up for one as your budget is extremely tight.
Finally, would it be possible for someone in another country to buy said phone on your behalf and ship it to you? There are still some Pixels on the used market that could potentially fit your budget.
actually I was thinking about this too… I wanted to buy a used Nokia 105 or 106 but then I remembered GOS and other custom ROM’s and just wanted to weight my options
hmm… you know it’s possible but I have to have a friend who is visiting a foreign country or living there so he/she can buy the used pixel there and take it to iran with him when he’s coming back to iran. they wont charge or take personals items from tourists. but unfortunately I don’t have such a friend…
I’m already doing all of this but still I think I’m traceable. and if I get arrested I think all the information I have on my phone is easily accessible…
I trust you sir and I’m agree with you! money does solve all the problems
with the buying it off another country part you said, I was thinking about this myself too but I have to ask around and find someone who travels to foreign countries a lot…
There is AXP.OS it’s a DivestOS fork, I know they have a few relockable devices like Fairphone 3/4 but I know nothing about them so I can’t really recommend them.
really? I didn’t know that I thought they would stop all the updates they release for the legacy versions of pixel…
I will ask there too thanks a lot sir! (actually I didn’t noticed they have a forum for this kind of questions too)