Short version: if I get a used google pixel from eBay that already has GrapheneOS on it, is there a serious danger of malware also being added (by the seller, not graphene)?
My iPhone is at the end of its life and I decided a while ago that I’m not getting another iPhone. I was gonna get just a normal android phone (probably a Samsung thought I did check out the Motorolas) but when I was trying them out they all shove that stupid Gemini ai shit down your throat. I was already aware of GrapheneOS but initially I was thinking I’d get an android, wait for that Motorola GrapheneOS phone to come out, and see if it looks worth switching to that since I’d prefer to not give google my money. Now though, I think I’ll just switch to graphene immediately for my own sanity
Since I don’t want to give google money by buying a new pixel tho, I was considering getting a pre-owned one on eBay that already has graphene installed on it. My question is if that’s dangerous. Like, can the person that puts graphene on it also add other dangerous stuff? Or is that not really a concern? Or should I just get a new pixel bc realistically me buying one phone, while not perfect to my values, is still not the end of the world? And that way I know it should last me for a good 4-5 years at least before I need a new phone. Also realistically, I will be running the sandboxed google play services for at least some apps so I’ll still sort of be “supporting” google in that sense
Also, if anyone has any advice/tips about graphene, I’d love to hear them! I’ve been watching videos about it and reading through the website’s documentation but hearing from actual users is always helpful!
Side note: I like how my brief lemmy post history is just me getting advice/support on my journey of switching to Linux/open source/user centric alternatives since I don’t know anyone irl that knows about this kind of stuff. Y’all have really helped so much in improving my life so thank you <3
I moved from an iPhone to Graphene about a year ago. I miss the quality hardware that Apple makes, metal and glass feel nicer than plastic. The pictures the Pixel 8 Pro takes are crap compared to my old iPhone too. However… I bought the Pixel used to test the software primarily and will stick with Graphene for the forseable future. It runs great and instead of buying a better quality Pixel, I am waiting for what Motorola will offer next year.
Some advice regarding the switch. Apple will make it annoying to leave their ecosystem. I recommend to move gradually, get your Graphene set up and keep your iPhone as a daily driver until you’re confident everything works on Graphene. I did this for about a week. I moved my pictures off of iCloud with Proton Drive and for NFC payments I switched to a bank that supports it from their own App. (Although I also switched to using 95% cash, it’s good to have a backup on the phone.) Using a Mac or going to icloud.com will make exporting your contacts and calendar a lot easier than trying it on iOS.
Two profiles is my setup. The main without Google for Threema, Signal, OrganicMaps, Voyager for Lemmy and all the other dailies. The secondary profile has the GooglePlay services running for my two banks. I use OLauncher for a clean home screen and HeliBoard as a keyboard, neither of these two have network access.
Chat me if you have specific questions, I enjoy tinkering with this stuff and chatting about it :)
Thanks for the advice! I wasn’t gonna trade in my phone anyways bc I only get like $50 for it, so I was thinking I’d keep it to make the transition easier, like you said. I’ll probably shoot you some questions once I get the phone and get graphene on it. Thank you!