Other phone OS suggestions for people who can't afford a new phone

[blibly]

I understand that PG has stopped reccomending any smartphone OSes other than GrapheneOS, like Calyx and OS, probably because the others fail to meet the criteria. But there are certainly people who don’t already have a Pixel and can’t afford to buy a new phone. It might be helpful to have recommendations for those people, with a disclaimer that these OSes don’t meet our standard criteria, and they fall far short of actually protecting your privacy, but at least they help with harm reduction. I understand that this would only go for Android users, and Apple users are kind of SOL.

[basenote]

@blibly

with a disclaimer that these OSes don’t meet our standard criteria, and they fall far short of actually protecting your privacy, but at least they help with harm reduction.

This is exactly why they don’t do it. Plus, it would dilute the importance with which PG assesses and evaluates a tool/product/service before recommending. And recommending something less than what it should be for what something is, is not good and could only end up harming others if they are trusting PG for quality and accurate info.

[jonah (Jonah Aragon)]

Probably a duplicate discussion of:

CalyxOS (Android ROM)

I noticed that CalyxOS is no longer mentioned as a recommendation on the site and I was wondering why that’s the case. I mean it in a genuine way and not as in “why isn’t my favorite ROM not listed” kind of way. In looking into it I did find the blog post discussing why GrapheneOS is recommended over CalyxOS. I understand that as it lines up with the general consensus - it seems like Graphene has pulled ahead of the pack in terms of security, privacy, and user experience. But then I see that D…

LineageOS (Android ROM)

Continuing the discussion from ~$150 Budget Android Hardware [Suggestions Needed]: I personally think it would be nice to add Lineage as a “in case every other option is not available to you”. So something like a half-endorsement, similar to PG not technically recommending iOS, but leaving safari as a recommendation in case people is on iOS Difference is that in Apple’s case it’s Browser on OS, and in this case it’s OS on hardware

/e/OS (Murena) and Fairphone

Should /e/OS and the Fairphone be added to Privacy Guides? Since it is now available in USA too: Fairphone's repairable smartphone goes on sale in US for the first time -- in a 'deGoogled' Murena e/OS variant | TechCrunch

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If you want us to consider recommend an OS other than the three above, you have to actually share what the other phone OS recommendation should be, and post it in Site Development > Tool Suggestions.