Hi,

I am (very, very early) in the process of degoogling. I am definitely not a high risk as far as needing to be completely locked down. It’s more about trying to have a little more control over how my data is used.

I am looking at Graphene OS, but I am a little confused how certain apps (that rely on Google services) work. I have a Pixel 8 and will have it for the foreseeable future.

The apps I currently use that I would still need (or their equivalents) are:

  • Clash Royale (Supercell)
  • Notion (Notion Labs)
  • Clickup (Mango Technologies)
  • Business Calendar 2 (Appgenix)

  1. If I installed these exact apps “sandboxed”, what exactly does that mean from a user standpoint? Will I have to use a separate account, reboot my phone, etc, or is it a quick process to use the app?

  2. Is there a list of apps that I could browse to find equivalents to the above? Recommendations here are also ok.

  3. I saw that Firefox isn’t exactly private(?) and that Vanadium is better in that aspect but I don’t understand why. Can someone ELI5, and help me see if this is a relevant concern for me?

Thank you! 😁

    • JJLinux@lemmy.ml
      3·
      3 months ago

      Mod-trolling here too? Aren’t you going to mod-order us to stop talking about Graphene because it’s detrimental to Android and discriminates Apple, or something like that? 🤣🤣

        • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
          2·
          3 months ago

          Things like cellebrite and pegasus are rapidly evolving tools based on specific zero day vulns that are known only to (and jealously guarded by) the respective tools devs. No one would have any meaningful way of validating whether Graphene is secure against those specific attack vectors or not unless they did test it, but “trust me bro” on the part of a dev doesn’t inspire confidence. I would assume any zero day vuln in AOSP is very likely present in most derivative systems based on it.

        • JJLinux@lemmy.ml
          11·
          3 months ago

          I never defend lies. But attacking them would be lying, because I’ve no idea what you mean by “Cellebrite Kits”.

          What I am doing though, is riling yoi up because you’re evidently constantly angry in every single post I’ve seen you write.

          I tried to appeal to logic in one of them (xenophobia, remember?), and all you did was post an even angrier message. So, since logic and good intentions don’t work, trying to increase your anger kay, or may not, do the trick. I just had to give it a shot.

          By the way, no, that didn’t work either. It seems that nothing short of lithium will help. I’m sorry about that man. You sound exactly oike the GrapheneOS guy.

            • JJLinux@lemmy.ml
              1·
              3 months ago

              I found the article (ironically in Graphene’s own forum) where they word their explanation in a way that would have us believe their project can counter Cellebrite with little to no effort. And I find that to be deceiving. I don’t know if they can, but from the universal knowledge that the 100% secure system does not exist, I find their claim hard to swallow.

              I have to say, this is good food for thought. And this is where we could try to start a productive debate.

              Within my limited technical knowledge, I have yet to see any mobile OS (ROM or otherwise) that comes close to the level that Graphene allows the user to secure their phones. I am not saying that Graphene is some sort of “fire and forget holy grail” of security, but checking the tracking in the included apps (all 5 of them), and finding absolutely nothing tracking, I have to say, it’s a very nice move from what the common folk uses (or used in my case) in their devices. On top of that, I have full control over 99% of my system (what with storage and contact scopes, plus the ability to disable ALL the apps I want, whenever I want, the control over all of the connections to my preference, and the list goes on and on. I have also tried Calyx (I have nothing bad to say about it, it’s pretty good and intuitive), which I think is an easier entry level than Graphene to incur into the privacy seeking life (my very personal opinion), but Graphene does take all that to different heights.

              You might be wondering why all this long bloglike post. I thought it best to clarify my position towards Graphene as much as possible before i came out with what I’m hoping will spark the productive debate I mentioned before.

              Other than GrapheneOS, what other real, potentially competing, options are out there?

              Because, even with whatever flaws that GrapheneOS may have, it certainly beats having an iPhone, more so any other Android OS/ROM for that matter.

              All previous joking aside, you’re evidently better versed on this subject than most of us, from my perspective anyway.

              What would you recommend, short of getting a dumb phone with a prepaid sim card?

              I’m genuinely curious about what you understand would be a better option.

              “Linux phones” are not a viable option in over 90% of use cases (God O wish that wasn’t the case).

              I’m waiting for the Pixel Fold 2 to launch, to see if I’m going to change my Pixel 7 Pro for that, or if I’m going to wait for the 9 Pro. But since this came up here, I might as well pick other brains and then do some research using the suggestions I find here as a starting point.