GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 • Hacker News Board

Re: GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17

#341

Post by strcat » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:33 AM UTC

d3Xt3r wrote: post #242

lucb1e wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see anything they offer for security that's not also in AOSP/LineageOS/eOS/stock/etc. Which is not to say that's not enough for most people, but why highlight them? It doesn't seem comparable to the laser-focus GrapheneOS has on security

Not GP, but Volla phones are cool in that they officially support running proper Linux[1], so you could just use Linux instead of Android if that's enough for your needs. And you can still boot into their de-Googled Android if you need to run Android apps. [1] https://volla.online/en/operating-systems/ubuntu-touch/

Ubuntu Touch is drastically less private and secure than AOSP let alone GrapheneOS. Volla's devices don't come anywhere close to meeting the update and security requirements for GrapheneOS. GrapheneOS is a Linux distribution much closely following along with the Linux kernel LTS releases, unlike those devices. It also regularly moves to new Linux kernel LTS branches. Pixels are in the process of moving to the 6.12 LTS branch with Android 17 QPR2. 6.18 is currently in the early stage of stabilization.

Re: GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17

#342

Post by strcat » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:34 AM UTC

NamlchakKhandro wrote: post #115

phreack wrote: post #84

That Motorola phone that lets you install Graphene can not come soon enough. Pixel phones are not sold worldwide so it feels like they're gatekeeping security. I know that's not the case really, but there's very few ways to successfully degoogle otherwise.

This is a thing now https://volla.online/en/operating-systems/volla-os/

Those are much less private and secure than the Android Open Source Project on Pixels without the major privacy and security improvements of GrapheneOS. Those aren't privacy or security hardened devices.

Re: GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17

#343

Post by oceanhaiyang » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:36 AM UTC

[flagged]

Re: GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17

#344

Post by strcat » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:37 AM UTC

mmooss wrote: post #202

MinimalAction wrote: post #125

What's the biggest draw of GrapheneOS apart from de-googling? Does it have a better battery life? And compliance with NFC payments?

Greatly improved privacy and security and end-user control of your phone and its data. In those areas, possibly the best option, though iPhones might be better in security (not necessarily the other two areas) - Apple has a slightly bigger budget and a few more engineers, and directly controls the hardware.

GrapheneOS exists to greatly improve the privacy and security of an existing open source OS project. Android Open Source Project has good privacy and security as a starting point.

Pixels provide strong hardware and firmware security. Pixels have made multiple significant hardware and firmware level improvements based on recommendations by GrapheneOS. GrapheneOS now has a hardware partnership with Motorola Mobility which includes working with Qualcomm. It isn't only a software project.

Regularly leaked data on the capabilities of Cellebrite show they have the least success with GrapheneOS by far despite specifically hiring for it based on their job postings.

Re: GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17

#345

Post by flexxxxxxxxxer » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:41 AM UTC

madduci wrote: post #232

I wish they supported much more phones

Only Google Pixel’s and Fairphone’s currently provide bare minimum for 3rd-party OS support: working verified boot with user-provided signing keys. None of the other phones doing that yet

Fairphone cant be supported because it does not keep up with Android updates and in particular Linux kernel updates. Currently supported Fairphone’s have EOL (outdated, not supported) Linux kernel version. They are bad in terms of other aspects like lack of MTE, lack of USB port(s) control from software level on hardware level (Pixel 6 and newer have that), etc. You cant have privacy without security

But in 2027 this may change due to Motorola and GrapheneOS partnership

Re: GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17

#346

Post by harvey9 » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:41 AM UTC

Cub3 wrote: post #221

sivers wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha! Me too! Exact same. Bought a Pixel 10. Intended to do the default Android for a while. But it was filled with ads for “Wicked” which had me looking at my phone with a sneer on my face I couldn't erase - as if someone had smeared feces all over it and threw it on my bed. So I jumped straight to GrapheneOS, which was way easier and less extreme than I had been warned. So beautifully minimal, with no crap. Now my ph…

> it was filled with ads You bought a phone from an advertising company?

Don't recall my old nexus devices having ads in the OS. Disappointing where Google has taken this.

Re: GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17

#347

Post by strcat » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:42 AM UTC

dmos62 wrote: post #326

Makes me sad, because I can't make the jump until I know my banking and related essential apps will work.

See https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa... for banking apps. Anything that's not a banking or government app is extremely likely to work. Very few other apps ban using a non-Google-certified OS and that's the only significant reason for incompatibilities. GrapheneOS has a per-app exploit protection compatibility mode to work around memory corruption bugs caught by the features. It's in the process of overhauling the secure spawning feature to avoid tripping rare anti-tampering measures in certain banking apps. Play Integrity is increasingly the only compatibility issue. Some apps using Play Integrity have explicitly permitted GrapheneOS though.

Re: GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17

#348

Post by llarsson » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:43 AM UTC

MinimalAction wrote: post #125

What's the biggest draw of GrapheneOS apart from de-googling? Does it have a better battery life? And compliance with NFC payments?

The ability to sandbox Google Play Services (if you need it, but realistically, you probably do) and to simply not assign it more permissions than it absolutely needs is awesome. I run it with very restricted permissions, where it by default requests every single permission it can. In stock Android, it has all those, and you can't limit it. Just that is worth it for me.

Re: GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17

#349

Post by whizzter » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:45 AM UTC

elAhmo wrote: post #318

wraptile wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only obtaining but if you ever need warranty you're done. Just last week I went to a Samsung center and had my fold 6 fixed in 30 minutes, and these centers are everywhere around the world. Same thing with Apple, yet a 4.5 trillion dollar company can't ship and maintain a phone globally. It's so unserious.

They definitely can, they just don't want to.

And that's the unserious part, they really don't want anything to do with consumers despite making consumer products (gmail, Android, etc.) so you're always at the mercy of their automatic systems.

Re: GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17

#350

Post by saint_yossarian » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:46 AM UTC

MinimalAction wrote: post #125

What's the biggest draw of GrapheneOS apart from de-googling? Does it have a better battery life? And compliance with NFC payments?

For me it's the added security features: per-app network permissions, scoped storage/contacts permissions, and a bunch of system hardening measures.