> GrapheneOS is based on Android, which is solely developed by Google.
GrapheneOS is based on the Android Open Source Project. It's incorrect to say it's solely developed by Google and it's open source software which we're free to change as we see fit.
> GrapheneOS only supports Google Pixel devices. Thankfully, they are working on partnering with a different manufacturer, but details are still very limited.
No, we already have a partnership with a major Android OEM. It's not something we're working on obtaining and we've provided a fair bit of details including that it will be publicly announced by the OEM in March, that the devices will launch in 2027 and that they'll use a high end Snapdragon SoC which is either the flagship (most likely) or one step below it.
> They recommend using the Google Play Store
No, that's not our recommendation.
> recommend against using F-Droid
We recommend against F-Droid due to it being an unnecessary middleman between users and app developers which does not truly reduce trust the app developers. F-Droid apps are consistently out-of-date and often lag months being on important privacy and security fixes. F-Droid consistently makes problematic undocumented changes to apps including rolling back dependency updates. F-Droid is known to use highly outdated build infrastructure which is very poorly secured. They have a bunch of bad security practices throughout their approach and have made it clear it isn't a priority for them. They've repeatedly said they don't believe app sandboxing is useful and much more than that. Many open source apps including Signal and WireGuard have asked to have their apps omitted from F-Droid due to the security and trustworthiness issues with the project. That's not at all something specific to GrapheneOS.
> Their Vanadium web browser is based on Chromium, which is controlled by Google.
Chromium is an open source project which is collaboratively worked on by multiple projects using it as the basis for their browsers. That includes Microsoft who implemented the WebAssembly interpreter available in the upstream Chromium codebase which is used by Vanadium but is dead code in Chrome and regular Chromium builds since it was added for Edge.
> It also does not have an ad blocker
No, that's not true. Vanadium has a default enabled ad blocker which uses EasyList, EasyPrivacy, EasyList's Adblock Warning Removal List and also selectively activates a whole bunch of EasyList affiliated language/regional lists based on the currently active languages. This approach avoids adblocking being used for fingerprinting, avoids greatly weakening site isolation sandboxing as extensions do and is much higher performance which is important on mobile. It very clearly has ad blocking and a per-site toggle for it.
> or support extensions
Extensions greatly weaken site isolation and give third party code without verified boot extensive access to website content similar to dangerous Android accessibility service apps. Very few extensions are focused on privacy and security in a similar way to GrapheneOS and would compromise what we're trying to build. It's not the approach we want to use in Vanadium. If you want to use extensions then you can use a browser with them but it doesn't fit into what we're building with Vanadium where we want to implement features ourselves in a very private, secure and robust way which cannot be done with extensions. Extensions fundamentally reduce security including because they used a shared process across all isolated websites which inherently reduces isolation. Few extensions take this seriously, even the ones focused on privacy. They commonly add leaks between sites. There are plenty of other browsers available but ours is aiming for a standard of privacy and security which cannot be achieved with extensions.
> They recommend against using Firefox.
Firefox's Android app has atrocious privacy and security. A browser without even basic content sandboxing let alone sandboxing with full site isolation. That's combined with major other major security deficiencies and it isn't something we could recommend using. Recommending against it doesn't mean people can't use it...
You'll still be using Vanadium as the web content engine within apps using the WebView such as email clients rendering HTML email and many more. Many people have a misunderstanding of what the WebView is and confuse it with custom tabs which are provided by the user's selected default browser rather than the WebView used within other apps.
> This is not a criticism of the GrapheneOS project or developers.
How isn't it criticism of GrapheneOS? Regardless, Vanadium does have an adblocker and we don't specifically recommend the Play Store as you said. The biggest issue is that what you're saying about what we prioritize, advise or provide isn't accurate.
> I understand that security is the biggest priority of GrapheneOS
Privacy is the biggest priority of GrapheneOS and privacy depends on security. GrapheneOS is a privacy project.
> It is more directed towards the GrapheneOS community that often blindly recommends GrapheneOS as the only option and treats any alternative as inferior and not to be considered.
Our project and community regularly recommends iOS as an alternative which provides far better privacy and security than non-GrapheneOS options. Most other options have very poor privacy/security including lacking even basic privacy/security patches and protections. Similarly, our project and community regularly recommends using macOS for better privacy and security than either Windows or desktop Linux. What you're saying are blind recommendations are anything but that but rather very well informed information provided by the GrapheneOS project.
> Most users do not need security at all costs.
GrapheneOS is not about security at all costs and this misconception which regularly comes up that it's about security rather than privacy is completely wrong. Many projects failing to provide decent privacy treat it as if privacy is solely about which apps/services are bundled rather than needing to provide privacy patches, privacy protections and solid security to protect that from being bypassed. Much of what GrapheneOS provides are privacy features such as Contact Scopes, Storage Scopes and the Sensors/Network toggles along with much more. The security protections it provides exist to protect privacy. Why else would the security protections be there other than to protect privacy? It's not a separate thing from privacy but rather is a huge part of providing it. There's no other reason for us to work on security than protecting privacy. It doesn't make sense to say we work on security instead of privacy.
Most users do need basic privacy/security updates and protections. Failing to keep up with basic updates and misleading users about it is a severe issue. There isn't any major non-GrapheneOS AOSP-based OS that's doing the bare minimum of keeping up with updates.
> Especially among the free and open source enthusiast community, freedom and user control are often prioritized. There should be more awareness and discussion about what the user wants and whether that actually aligns with the security-first goals of GrapheneOS.
You aren't accurately representing what GrapheneOS provides, our approach or our priorities. People can see for themselves from the detailed article that it provides a highly usable and compatible system with a huge amount of user choice. People can choose from a wide range of approaches based on their privacy and security goals. It doesn't impose choices on people. You treat it as if people are forced to use Vanadium when it's another choice of browser which people have on GrapheneOS but not elsewhere. GrapheneOS users have more choice among browsers and the one we have DOES provide ad blocking contrary to what you said. GrapheneOS users can use F-Droid despite us recommending against it due to the major security deficiencies. Providing well informed recommendations with detailed explanations does not in any way hinder user choice but rather informs people so they can make better choices. Our recommendations not aligning with your personal beliefs or preferences doesn't mean we're somehow reducing user choice.