I was at Best Buy asking about transferring data to my eventual new phone, and the conversation eventually came to the subject of privacy, since I’m getting GrapheneOS, and the guy suggested OnePlus and Nothing Phones, which make a point of not sending anything when powered off. But I know that those aren’t recommended. Why is that?
Nothing but the Pixel is officially tested and supported. Here’s why and the two biggest reasons are the 7 year security updates from Google and titan cores are state of the art.
8th/9th generation Pixels also bring support for the incredibly powerful hardware memory tagging security feature as part of moving to new ARMv9 CPU cores. GrapheneOS uses hardware memory tagging by default to protect the base OS and known compatible user installed apps against exploitation, with the option to use it for all apps and opt-out on a case-by-case basis for the few incompatible with it.
You’re not gonna be able to get that support from anywhere but big tech. Thankfully Pixels have all that and are very easy to repair and find spare parts and schematics online to fix the phone.
Edit: hopefully one day that won’t be that case. But these newer security phones dont have a large enough market today to charge high dollar for something that seems slightly clunky compard to Pixel and Samsung phones.
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never heard of nothing phones, but the price is use attractive. if i could get graphene or calyxOS on it i would be very interested.
Just get a Pixel (at least 6, preferably 8 or higher) and put GrapheneOS on it.
Everything else is trash.
so iPhones are a joke to you.
tbh the whole thing of justifying a Pixel for it’s longer support makes no sense when even Samsung is offering 7 years of software update with now 6 on thier newer Ax6 series too and When Apple did it way earlier. (Edit: Nothing also committed to 6 years of security updates, Though this means nothing when it’s only 3 years of major android updates and they don’t deliver timely but point stands).
The whole point of Pixels is that it is the only phone to Support GrapheneOS which PG recommends. And the Titan M, but the support makes no sense when other companies are catching up if not already done.
Yes, they’re proprietary, walled gardens, mandatory account, and insecure.
See also them recently pulling E2EE feature for UK.
I’ve yet to see anyone actually compete with GrapheneOS.
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@GorujoCY I gotta agree with @anonymous296 here…but not because of issues with the phone itself but this walled garden and the planned obsolescence is what fills me with rage when I own one. I could easily say these practices are the bane of my existence.
I believe he meant the phone support of 7 years which may be true but it’s that plus the Titan chips.
To guess at what you’re getting at @anonymous296, youre saying currently the best option on the market today is the Pixel + Graphene package?
This with the aside that you would need an Pixel 8 or greater to also enjoy that sweet Titan chip hardware security.
If there’s anyone from GrapheneOS are there any plans for future support of other lines of phones?
I must say I love how easy it is to repair stuff in the Pixel 8a.
I have a tangent…
see tangent
I want to go on about making an open phone design inspired by Project Ara that would split everything up into modules and enable multiple people and companies to focus on one or two aspect of the phone.
We already have some ideas that could replace phone screens and push some aspects of our mobile devices less smart interfaces. Also there’s audio interfaces.
So then we could have other modular parts of the phone basically be small computers and keep the minimal interfaces for communication, directions, etc…
Then we just let the community go wild with designs, and ofc Graphene is the OS.
well here’s your red card, other than that one you’re not wrong.
Also proprietary isn’t always bad, see 1Password for example, Again not the worst thing on the grand scheme of things but Apple isn’t like 1Password in the end.
Accounts isn’t Mandatory outside of the App Store which uh bummer and maybe thanks EU but yeah.
Walled Garden it is but it is also possible to avoid the walled garden by using the other platforms available. But yes Apple doe make for a walled garden in their ecosystem.
In the end depending on who I’m recommending a phone for I would be recommending either a Pixel or an iPhone. (but of course I can’t convince everyone to just go with an iPhone or a Pixel and that’s understandable but I will be trying at least)
I meant in terms of software updates not anything else and if anything else in terms of security Apple is on par and Maybe Samsung Knox is something similar to Titan M but I wouldn’t count on it and I will exclude Samsung Knox here.
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Please see the part where “lawful access” tools can exploit iPhones and other stock systems, but not GrapheneOS: Cellebrite Premium July 2024 documentation - GrapheneOS Discussion Forum
Yes it is.
You can’t choose to use an alternative for iCloud backup.
You can’t choose to develop apps for iOS on a non-Mac.
etc.
The link you provided in no way proves iPhones are insecure here, Until you provide unbiased non-cherry picked evidence you will forever be classified saying this as false. (not saying it’s a bad source but it’s not proving it)
Not Always, Usually sure. Not always.
yes these are also problematic alongside the apple id requirement for the app store
The reason I said you can avoid it is because:
You want to backup photos? Ente Photos
Files? Use any other cloud provider, probably with cryptomator
Messenger? Just use signal or others
Peripherals? Use something cross platform
Browser? You can install brave and others
etc.
Let’s agree to disagree.
Pixels have had Titan M chip since 3rd generation. The Titan M chip has had several iterations since then. What the 8th Gen Pixels did introduce was the ability for Arm memory tagging extension (MTE). 9th Gen Pixels may bring Arm Confidential Compute Architecture (CCA).
Tensor ≠ Titan. The discreet secure element is the Titan M2 which has been used since the Pixel 6 series and still can’t be exploited by companies like Cellebrite.
Right, Tensor is a system-on-chip (SoC) architecture and Titan M is a security chip. @bitsondatadev was referring to the Titan M security chip.
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Oh I had no idea those were added in gen 6.
Previously they used the Titan M but that was ARM based and was exploited fairly quickly. The Titan M2 is a completed redesigned RISC-V chip that really has very little to do with it’s predecessor.
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Apple does good things security wise, but let’s not forget that before “Celebgate”, security posture on iOS and iCloud wasn’t as good.
And a company like Apple which thrives on upmarket sales, Celebgate was a kick in the teeth. The years of “Privacy. Apple.” marketing that followed Celebgate is them successfully erasing from public memory their very embarassing failures.
Unsure which OEMs are. As for Pixels, Titan is based off of OpenTitan, which is as close as “open source hardware” we are going to get.
That’s exactly right! 
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