Quite an overstatement.
I see more overstatements these past few days:
Do you know how the play store is installed in GrapheneOS? You go to the app called “App Store” which is preinstalled and on the front page when you setup the device. Then, among the list of 12 apps there, you click “Google Play Store.” Then, you click “install.” That is it. Apart from it being preinstalled, which would be an anti-feature for a privacy OS, it is difficult for me to imagine that process being much easier.
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of course…
Ok, literally, statement
“installing Play Store apps is only possible via complicated workarounds”
is incorrect
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Wessel from Novacustom has responded on Techlore, I’m only posting as a chance to get their side of story and if we discuss I remind that this is Wessel’s words not mine so direct any complaints, concerns etc. to them.
TO AVOID HARRASSMENT Please keep in mind Techlore takes a lighter approach to privacy and security, that is one that most users can get onboard and move forward and please do not harass anyone and anybody at anywhere
Also despite being a moderator, I accept morally that I do not hold any conflict of interest.
One thing I will take as proven wrong is their attempt to reaching out to Graphene, it still doesn’t excuse the fact that they said Google Play Store is complicated to install (unless they willing to reword it with “Google Play and make a pseudonymous account” or something like that) but it is something I’m willing to take as me being wrong.
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I doubt anything serious could use iodeOS and be realistically called “privacy-friendly”
Thanks for linking to this.
Setting aside the odd decision to post a response to criticisms made here on another forum, it’s a bit hard to swallow the “dependence on Google” argument when IodeOS has significantly more Google software/server dependencies and as others have stated GrapheneOS is working with another OEM for hardware.
I appreciate Wessel acknowledging that the claims made on the website about GrapheneOS are false, but they still need to change the website as well.
I also appreciate the attempt to help distribute a more repairable phone more broadly, and IodeOS may be more private than stock Android, but given the misleading and outright false claims made by novacustom, combined with the high price tag, poor security, and (compared to GrapheneOS) poor privacy, this is simply not it.
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Great example of constructive criticism (without harassment)!
Post this response on the Techlore post to his as well, if you can. Though I am not sure he is going to see this here anyway.
That response was hollow.
Here are some direct questions:
For iode:
- How does iodeOS plan to provide the latest Chromium WebView when they currently depend on LineageOS for that compile and do not support out-of-band updates for it?
- You can see the LineageOS update history here: https://codeberg.org/divested-mobile/divestos-website/raw/branch/master/static/misc/ch-dates.txt
- How does iodeOS plan to provide the latest Android security patches when it is currently based on Android 15 instead of Android 16 thereby missing a years worth of patches already?
- How does iodeOS stay “Google-free” when it phones home to Google out of the box for SUPL and hardware provisioning? And when it encourages use of microG which makes many more connections to Google and all apps talking to it do so using the proprietary Google Play Services library?
- Why does iodeOS still not support IPv6 for NTP? I documented this issue years ago now.
- Why does iodeOS still call their blocker snort despite being a trademark violation against Cisco’s Snort IDS tool (which is directly in the same class)?
- What is your relationship with Brax and their Brax Phone?
For Nova:
- How does your alternative phone help the community when iodeOS is violating the licenses of the non-commercial blocklists they use by selling a subscription on top of them?
- Why do you think it is OK to manually provision settings and app installs by hand and leave the user’s phone in an inconsistent state?
- Why do you think it is OK to sell a screen protector for 29EUR? And then further upcharge another 30EUR for a polarized “privacy” one? Especially when those same screen protectors can often be had in 2-3 packs for under 10EUR.
- even SHIFT’s own protector is only 12EUR
Bonus:
- @maltfield and @rmd do you have any association with Nova or iode?
- I documented more issues with iode years ago, but I can’t be bothered to check them all to see if they’ve fixed them yet, so someone else is welcome to: https://codeberg.org/divested-mobile/divestos-website/raw/commit/c7447de50bc8fadd20a30d4cbf1dcd8cf14805a0/static/misc/i.txt
Also to Techlore forum people: please get that animation removed. Years now I visit that website in a VM and my fans go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR because it has to software render that USELESS animation.
Disclosure: I have no horse in this game and am so tired of these awful “solutions” wasting people’s time.
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But thank you for continuing to speak for those who don’t know better to ask the right or the tough questions. Hope you continue to despite your tiredness.
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I am very happy NovaCustom customer 
also I follow their work closely on social media and like their work, and the work of their partners. Also I recommend them to everyone I can.
And iode no.
And I am wishing for lot more competition in the space for quite some time, so that is the reason I try to support it anyway I can. etc. etc. things I wrote before all the reasons I love the project.
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Thanks @SkewedZeppelin
As a European, I would also love to see options manufactured on this continent (or in any other countries that can genuinely be considered mature democracies). I wish Nothing phones could run GrapheneOS (though I believe they’re manufactured in China, and I say that because of their persistent human rights violations, not due to potential backdoors or whatever, although let’s not pretend the West is blameless either).
Without being an expert in anything related to technology, I find it saddening how oligopolistic and uncompetitive the high-tech sector currently is. Thankfully, there are still true geniuses and fair, honest people (like those behind GrapheneOS). And at least we got a small bit of joy recently with the new Steam Hardware 
If they couldn’t afford the licensing and annual patch subscription fee, how could they keep their software support pledge, i.e.
• Software updates: actively maintained till at least the 12th of November, 2032, possibly even till 2036
just backport of some of the security updates without even bumping android versions or updating any drivers?
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I’m glad I saw this before I bought a new laptop from them. I was planning to upgrade by the end of the year and NovaCustom was at the top of the list. Looks like I’ll be on the hunt for an alternative as it’s hard to trust them after blatant dishonesty. I really don’t even mind them not going with or providing an alternative to GrapheneOS, but the claims they’ve made about why are just such a bold faced lie I don’t know how to take them seriously on anything else.
Such a shame, really.
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I think its too early to conclude.
It seems iodeOS team did provide significant amount of support to make their phone happen, which they seemed failed to get from GOS Team.
Regarding some of their claims, I think they were trying to make their OS choice more appealing for less advanced users. While I don’t think that is bad faithed, but it is misinformed and misleading, which is unfortunate.
Btw, Framework also has some issues with their firmware security so I think you could be a rather tough spot now, due to lack of good options 
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Yeah I mean I think it would be totally fair for them to come out and say they didn’t go with GrapheneOS because the GrapheneOS team wasn’t as willing to work with them, so they went with another option which they feel provides comparable security and privacy via different ideas and approaches. That’s not what they did though, they made blatantly dishonest claims about GrapheneOS to disparage it, while misleading their customers about the merits of each solution which could cause real world harm to users who end up with a product that doesn’t actually fit their threat model.
Maybe too early to reach a conclusion about their product but I don’t think it’s too early to reach a conclusion about the claims they’ve made about GrapheneOS, microG, and Aurora Store already, which are entirely what I’m basing my judgement on, to be clear.
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Competition is good and bringing alternative options to the market is valuable, but trying to sell your own product with false claims while bashing the current gold standard in mobile operating systems is disingenuous.
If they had simply launched it and not tried to paint the picture that what they deliver is even comparable to GrapheneOS, and instead were honest about how it compares to the current landscape of mobile devices and operating systems, it would have had a right to exist.
In its current state, considering the OS, hardware, and price they are offering, they are at best overcharging customers for what it is worth, or at worst selling a false sense of privacy and security that someone might depend on.
This is a massive stain on the entire NovaCustom company, and they should seriously reconsider whether this is something they can or will stand behind.
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Its the same GrapheneOS narrative over and over again about every competitor. Its amazing people support GrapheneOS, and buy into their narrative built throughout the years hating on alternatives. I really don’t understand it, its surprising. Maybe will understand someday.
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A hot topic within the community is our choice of iodéOS over GrapheneOS. Although GrapheneOS is known for its strong security, it also has a number of significant drawbacks. Ironically, this operating system only supports Google Pixel devices, and installing Play Store apps is only possible via complicated workarounds, which still require you to sign in with a Google account.
This is still on the website considering this reply from Wessel, founder and director of NovaCustom.
Regarding the installation of the Aurora Store on GrapheneOS, it doesn’t seem to be too hard indeed. Admittedly, this may have been a bit of an exaggeration. But a pre-installed experience is, of course, even easier.