When the iPhone 15 came out, I felt the pressure to upgrade, so I bought the standard model with 128 GB. I’m now experiencing the limitations of their ecosystem, which closed as dolls ass. I’m looking to sell my iPhone 15 and buy two Android phones for myself and my wife. If I could get some extra cash out of it, that would be a nice bonus. I’m not concerned with the fancy cameras or features. I just want something I can manipulate to be private and also install whatever I want, use the common apps everyone uses with no issues, stream movies and TV shows. My main concern is that most phonew from well-known brands, their Android OS are almost as disappointing as Apple products. I think it would be better to get a phone with hardware that is well-suited to a custom Android OS that is well-maintained and known for being reliable, and with a focus on privacy and not bloated. Thank you in advance for your help.
Graphene OS
CalyxOS
Lineage OS
Those are the big three players in alternative operating systems that I know of. I use Calyx because my threat model is corporate data collection more than absolute security. Ironically, the best phones to put these operating systems on are the Google Pixel line because you can unlock and lock the bootloader. I’m not sure if there are other phones that allow this but the websites of the OS should guide you to hardware.
A last-gen refurbished pixel + GrapheneOS has been my go-to for years now. Gives me all the polished featured of flagship hardware with regular security updates and privacy.
Bonus points, the google play compatibility shim means you can run 99% of apps that are on the play store.
Just test the refurbished phone thoroughly on the stock os in case you need to swap it out.
Can you run google maps without their location service? That’s the one thing I really miss and there’s no way to do it with Calyx that I know of
I don’t know if you can or not, although I can confirm you can use Google Maps in a web browser if you grant the google maps website location access, and it’s pretty one to one with the app I believe. It does require you burn through mobile data if you don’t have unlimited since you can’t download offline maps, but the web version has gotten me out of a jam when open source map apps fail and if you don’t worry about data it might be worth trying.
I give DivestOS a mention - it’s a Lineage fork with some security changes (such as sandboxing MicroG if you decide to install it).
Additionally LineageOS for microG which rolls the microG stuff into the ROM which saves a lot of work/frustration when trying to unGoogle a device. Any device that is officially supported by LineageOS will have builds which can’t be said for many other ROMs.
Thank you. Which versions of pixel do you recommend? Cost - compatibility - benefit. I guess I would be able to get 700 € from the iPhone 15 128 .
If you are looking for a generic phone with good privacy and usability I would highly recommend a Pixel with Graphene OS. If you’ve never flashed a phone before, you can install Graphene within a web browser and never need to do any of the more complicated flashing stuff like most other setups require. It also allows you to optionally install Sandboxed Google Play Services (on the main profile or isolated on a second one), letting you access normal apps while still having some of the privacy and performance benefits of an otherwise de-Googled phone.
And from what I’ve seen, Pixels are probably the friendliest to other custom OSes as well.
I’m still using my old Pixel 4a because I refuse to get a phone without a headphone jack lol
I’ve been considering this for a long time, but I can’t figure out if my banking apps will work.
As it’s a work phone, there are certain apps that I must have.
Have you experienced any issues installing and using apps?
I’ve had no issues personally with my banking apps. Most require sandboxes gPlay to be installed but there was no need to be logged into google for them.
Not sure now up to date this list is now but check out this site: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/
Thank you. Which Pixel models would you recommend considering cost, compatibility, and benefits? I estimate I could get around €700 from selling the iPhone 15 128GB.
Depends on your price point, but the 8a might be a good middle ground. It’s got the 8 year update support and is second to newest so it’s a tad cheaper.
This is the best option for buget-ish, easy to flash GrapheneOS and 7 years (6 more now) of firmware updates. You can get the 256GB version for around 500 dollars, which should translate to around 460 euros. The 158GB version is only 50 dollars less, so not worth skimming on that, in my opinion.
As others have said, the Pixel line is the easiest if you want to have full control over the phone.
There are others, but it will take more effort to get there (I say this after flashing and rooting all my phones since 2010).
Take a look at lineageos.org/devices to see what devices they support, it’s a good approximation of which phones can be boot loader unlocked.
After lots of looking around, I decided to finally jump to Pixel, and I’m running DivestOS (a fork of Lineage with a little bit more tweaked, like sandboxing MicroG).
Once you decide to go down this road, I’d suggest downloading the factory rom image for your phone, and practice flashing it, before trying with a custom rom, just so you have some experience with a known-good image. Plus, sometimes you have to flash back to stock - I just did one the other day because I screwed up the custom rom flash.
Thank you. Which Pixel models would you suggest, factoring in cost, compatibility, and benefits? I expect to get about €700 for the iPhone 15 128GB.
Whatever you can afford for pixel 8 and above, if possible. Those will be supported for longer.
I recently bought a Pixel 8 for 500€, they got cheaper since the Pixel 9 was just released. If you want to save some money you could probably just buy a Pixel 7a which will get updates until May 2028 (vs October 2030 for the Pixel 8). Supposedly the 7 has better battery life than the 8, but in the end it comes down to how long you want to use it.
When you say supported, does that only mean the original (Android) OS will be supported and updated? What does it mean for a different ROM?
As others have stated, grapheneOS is a good choice, and it’s extremely secure.
Another option is murena’ eOS. If you live in Europe, thier store sells phones with the OS preinstalled, and if you don’t, the easy installer app works pretty well with most models.
But fair warning, I recently installed eOS on my wife’s old Samsung S7, and I ended up having to do the installation manually with adb (command line tools). So read up on the phone you want to use, some are easier than others.
The operating system itself is great, and allows for anonymous usage of the play store (free stuff only of course) as well as F-Droid out of the box. You can also add your Google account to get full play store functionality, but then Google starts getting your info again, albeit less than with standard android.
The issue is that easily unlockable bootloaders exist, it’s just that they exist on [Shady Company] Pixels. So you either move on to a privacy focused OS and lose a bunch of basic ass features because [Shady Company] slowly removed them from the main OS, or you end up using the least privacy focused device ever made in the history of humanity. So if you’re just in it for the basics, iOS is the way to go. I’m telling you this as someone who has been rooting, buying and selling Android devices for about 9 years.
The internet is forever and there is no privacy on the internet.
I have been in the same road. And I agree. I should had emphasize I’m more interested in that freedom that a rooted android can provide. I want to install so many apps available in F-Droid and ofcorse in iOS I’m in the other side of the galaxy. iOS It works flawlessly, it’s the most advanced and developed operating system in my opinion. But well it’s in its jail. Maybe that’s why is so realiable. But, don’t get outdated because you will be even more isolated. Gravity movie like.
