# UP Phone - A new Android-based privacy phone? **URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/up-phone-a-new-android-based-privacy-phone/14358 **Category:** Questions **Created:** 2023-10-09T16:27:03Z **Posts:** 17 ## Post 1 by @RevealedInWords — 2023-10-09T16:27:04Z Just wondering if anyone knows anything about the soon to be released UP Phone (see unplugged dot com)? I never heard about it till today when a friend sent me an interview with Erik Prince (one of the founders and former Navy Seal and founder of Blackwater… yikes) on Shawn Ryan’s YouTube channel. In doing a quick search I can find very little about it (one article at MIT Technology Review from a year ago), but Erik claims the hardware is in-house (and not made in China and from the looks of it resembles an iPhone), with a physical kill switch, crazy camera specs, microSD slot, running a custom version of Android called LibertOS with its own supposedly secure messenger, VPN, and antivirus, its own app store (which carries Signal Messenger), and a way to instantly wipe the phone when inputting an alternate login pass code. One preliminary audit was conducted by some firm call PwC Technologies out of Israel and all checked out okay, but unless the OS is fully open source and more thoroughly audited though I would never trust it. Anyone have any thoughts? --- ## Post 2 by @3QVvxrhnYZ — 2023-10-09T16:39:52Z Please no. We have a fu\*\*load of “”“secure phones”“” already. Use GrapheneOS. --- ## Post 3 by @anon63378630 — 2023-10-09T16:48:07Z Big no for a litany of reasons. Their Anti-Virus is a GPL violating fork of my Hypatia and they even still download databases from my server: [VirusTotal](https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/a461f8194554fd92d83a1aff20fa48f730a99e7679e1f1bbfc6935e1b049aafb/details) See also the questionable apps they have: [list of apps on the unplugged "app store" returned from /api/store/app?size=10000 · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/aemmitt-ns/ad3f1d3ff34c36c0206fe6216fd56e19) --- ## Post 4 by @3QVvxrhnYZ — 2023-10-09T16:59:17Z Yeah, and there _a lot_ of other red flags I’ve found. --- ## Post 5 by @RevealedInWords — 2023-10-09T21:30:41Z Appreciate the clarification! And thanks for Hypatia and VirusTotal… I’ve made especially good use of the latter. --- ## Post 6 by @RevealedInWords — 2023-10-10T01:21:40Z Yep, been using a GOS for about 3 years now. Far and away the best mobile OS there is! --- ## Post 7 by @ignoramous — 2023-10-10T17:50:40Z > [@anon63378630](#): > > Their Anti-Virus is a GPL violating fork of my Hypatia Wow. If I may, are you in touch with [sfconservancy.org](http://sfconservancy.org) or [fsf.org](http://fsf.org) or similar orgs that help developers / FOSS projects enforce xGPL compliance? --- ## Post 8 by @deadorbit — 2024-01-20T19:15:43Z Can you explain what those links mean for the uninitiated? --- ## Post 9 by @ignoramous — 2024-04-04T11:38:38Z > [@deadorbit](#): > > explain what those links mean for the uninitiated? They _stole_ other people’s work (in this case, forking FOSS apps without attribution) is the allegation. --- ## Post 10 by @Niek-de-Wilde — 2024-04-04T12:03:11Z Looks like these folks pulling a “Purism”, their messenger is just a skinned version of element. --- ## Post 11 by @anon48875053 — 2024-07-05T13:29:29Z GrapheneOS absolutely destroyed Unplugged: 1/2 [https://x.com/GrapheneOS/status/1804634097442324989](https://x.com/GrapheneOS/status/1804634097442324989) 2/2 [https://x.com/GrapheneOS/status/1808159435245646046](https://x.com/GrapheneOS/status/1808159435245646046) --- ## Post 12 by @Brisingr05 — 2024-07-05T15:55:57Z Both links point to the same tweet :sweat_smile:. --- ## Post 13 by @anon48875053 — 2024-07-05T16:12:26Z I blame Twitter. --- ## Post 14 by @dumpster — 2024-07-05T16:35:10Z Mastodon links: > **Summary** > > [GrapheneOS: "Unplugged uses an older Android release. They do …" - GrapheneOS Mastodon](https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/112717895466801293) > [GrapheneOS: "Unplugged has tried to misrepresent these improve…" - GrapheneOS Mastodon](https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/112717895910617586) > [GrapheneOS: "Unplugged has tried to spread fear, uncertainty a…" - GrapheneOS Mastodon](https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/112717896230768697) > [GrapheneOS: "Unplugged was founded by Erik Prince, the same pe…" - GrapheneOS Mastodon](https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/112717896776489472) > [GrapheneOS: "Unplugged in also infringing on the open source l…" - GrapheneOS Mastodon](https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/112717902803632376) (now there’s 5 recent posts about Unplugged) --- ## Post 15 by @RevealedInWords — 2024-07-08T18:03:16Z So good to see this inferior, problematic, deceptive UP Phone project going DOWN through GrapheneOS’s public shaming. --- ## Post 16 by @ph00lt0 — 2024-07-08T19:27:02Z How did this get alive again. Didnt we conclude this project is BS before? Just use grapheneOS. --- ## Post 17 by @securitybrahh — 2024-07-11T19:59:16Z I am pretty confident that, this is indeed honeypot. [https://discuss.techlore.tech/t/up-smartphone-a-potential-honeypot/](https://discuss.techlore.tech/t/up-smartphone-a-potential-honeypot/) > **[5 Steps to Avoid Falling For Honeypots!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Zks95SZ3s)** > > Honeypots are a commonly thrown around word...let's talk about what they are and what we can do about them. But most importantly, how they can teach us about...