My current phone is 7 years old, does not support recent android versions, and battery life is becoming atrocious. This feels like right time to change my phone.

Currently, I know of & am considering 3 options:

  • Google Pixel
  • iPhone
  • Samsung Galaxy

I heard that Pixel is the best choice for privacy, despite it being Google^TM. Should I go with it, and install Graphene OS or similar options? The very fact that the name “Google” is attached makes me nervous. Also, I don’t think I can trust android, so I would have to install Graphene OS or the like. In the case, app support would be lacking, though.

I am considering iPhone as well, since it has “reputation” of being secure. Of course, Apple can access my data, but that might be a good enough compromise? Honestly, I don’t know. It’s the best supported option as well - lots of apps support iPhone.

Galaxy is just the one that I am the most familiar with (my current one is Galaxy S8). I don’t trust it, though. Do they even make good hardware nowadays?

EDIT: Turns out, Pixel phones are poorly supported by local telecomm companies. It is relatively cheap though. Still worth it?

EDIT2: I heard that data & message is fine, but the call quality is impacted by lack of VoLTE compatibility.

  • thatonecoder@lemmy.ca
    23·
    2 days ago

    Just to let you know, GrapheneOS uses AOSP (the base Android system) and sandboxed Google Play Services, making it compatible with 90% of all Android applications. From what I’ve heard (don’t take my word for it), the apps that have the least compatibility / more breakage are banking ones.

    • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
      8·
      2 days ago

      It does not “use” AOSP, it’s built on AOSP, like every Android device.

      AOSP is like the foundation of any Android OS.

    • Brujones@lemmy.world
      101·
      2 days ago

      While this tends to be true, the vast majority of the banking app incompatibilities are overcome with a simple app-specific toggle.

        • corn@reddthat.comEnglish
          3·
          1 day ago

          The other answers are correct but I have not gotten cashapp to work. I use an old phone connected to my current phone via hotspot on the rare occasion I need cashapp.

          I still recommend GrapheneOS regardless, almost everything else works with nothing more than minor tweaks. If you want something that “just works”, you’ll run into some hangups. Privacy unfortunately has a cost.

        • Brujones@lemmy.world
          10·
          2 days ago

          Exploit Protection Compatibility Mode. It’s a setting that relaxes this particular security enhancement for a given app.

          It’s worth knowing that NFC payments do not work with Graphene currently.

    • Novaling@lemmy.zipEnglish
      5·
      1 day ago

      The banking app thing is unfortunate, but then I kinda realized that I don’t really need them anyway. I have all the features I need in browser, and text notifications set up for when I spend money.

      The wallet not working REALLY sucks, but if I look on the bright side that’s one less thing Google knows about me and my spending.

  • utopiah@lemmy.ml
    15·
    1 day ago

    best choice for privacy […] “reputation” of being secure

    Disentangling privacy and security, and potentially other priorities, e.g. secrecy, anonymity, etc might be important before making suggestion.

    Another way to help deciding what is the best choice for you, not necessarily anybody else, is what is your threat model?

    An analogy I thought recently is “Are you putting a very tough lock on your door but leaving the windows opened?” or “Are you locking your car but walking outside naked?”. The point here is not to imply that people do obvious mistakes but rather that, truly there are people who go to parades naked AND lock their cars. The concerns can be orthogonal and thus must be considered individually. For that I believe thinking about “who the enemy is” as a way to discover your threat model is interesting, namely :

    Are you worried by :

    • government getting your private data without your consent?
    • government doing so automatically and cheaply through intermediaries e.g. platforms?
    • government doing so via extremely costly individual security attacks e.g. 0-days, with a “legit” hacker manually doing it?
    • small private companies?
    • platforms?
    • your actual neighbor?

    The answer to those questions will then provide you a more limited set of options. Basically I would argue only the 3rd option ties tightly with security but that’s up to a certain extent and companies like Pegasus shows that it can also be done at scale, for profit. Still, AFAICT it wasn’t done for a random person BUT that was few years ago.

    Anyway one you go through options, e.g. iPhone vs Android vs deGoogled Android vs Linux phone vs dumb phone you will see your usage itself will have to change. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it is not something most people will think about initially.

    I suggest then to… try. I know it’s not the answer you want but what you are asking for, I believe, is genuine change. It is about the technology, yes, but it also is about your habits. Consequently it is a process with some success, failures, cascading changes and thus IMHO must be iterated on.

    It is worth it though.

  • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
    51·
    9 hours ago

    Also, I don’t think I can trust android,

    Yes. Google’s framework service seems to be spyware.

    so I would have to install Graphene OS or the like.

    GrapheneOS does seem to be the best way to address the privacy concerns with Android. There’s also LineageOS and others.

    In the case, app support would be lacking, though.

    Uh…Android is the single most popular operating system in the history of operating systems. The app support is quite good.

    If you mean because many apps require Google Farmwork Services, and GrapheneOS replaces it - I find that to be a largely solved problem. The GrapheneOS neutered rebuild of Google Framework Services now fools most apps into working.

    It’s been years since I encountered an app that actually couldn’t run on GrapheneOS, unless the app was aggressively trying to spy on me.

    The remaining issue tends to be bank and credit union apps, which aggressively spy on their users “for security”. I work around this by using my credit union’s mobile website, instead. It has all of the same features without the spying, anyway.

    • tiramichu@lemm.ee
      7·
      5 hours ago

      Just for clarity, Graphene doesn’t provide a “neutered” version of play services - the version of play services which runs is the same code as provided by Google, with the only difference being that it runs in a sandbox which only grants it the same level of permission as normal apps (which you can choose to grant or not) rather than running as effectively root on your device like it does on most android phones.

      Docs: https://grapheneos.org/usage#sandboxed-google-play

  • 0x0@lemmy.zip
    302·
    1 day ago

    I am considering iPhone as well, since it has “reputation” of being secure.

    Which doesn’t mean private.

    Pixel+Graphene is a common suggestion.

    For real privacy you can’t beat these.

  • gortbrown@lemmy.sdf.org
    5·
    17 hours ago

    Out of the options you mentioned, Pixel with a custom rom (GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, etc.) is probably the best bet. Seconded by any Samsung that could run a custom rom, though I agree with others here that the hardware is better on the Pixels. Plus they have extra security hardware features that will be better. Of course, if things are weird with your telecom, that might effect things (trust me, been there with an Ubuntu Touch phone before.)

    Another option you could look at depending on where you are is Murena’s phones. They have a bunch of options pre-flashed with their de-Googled rom /e/ os. Not my favorite rom, but still not bad! And of course those can be flashed with another rom if you want as well!

  • dajoho@sh.itjust.works
    121·
    1 day ago

    Using a Pixel 6 with Graphene here with google services in their sandbox. It’s pretty neat, especially with apps like Firefox+uBlock and GrayJay, which let me also block 99% of ads, which was very important to me. I have not had trouble with any banking apps either.

  • mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.world
    151·
    1 day ago

    I owned 4 Samsungs: S8, S10e, S22 and S24 Ultra. Their products got worse. An example is the recent One Ui 7 update, it is just terrible: My notification area that works perfectly fine before, is now changed; my battery life got worse…etc.

    Even if I ignore the update, Samsung products are just not great anymore. Remember when a Galaxy can take really great photos? Those days are gone. My S24 Ultra takes the worst pictures in comparison to a Xiaomi or Huawei. Heck, even the controversial Asus Zenfone 10 takes better picture. Sure the Galaxy has better Megapixels, but the AI bullshit makes it so the colors are all wrong.

    With that said, you want to go for Pixel + GrapheneOS. Anything that is close to stock Android should be ok. Oh, and stay away from anything with a lot of AI.

      • moonpiedumplings@programming.devEnglish
        1·
        1 day ago

        On a Samsung Galaxy? I have one and am also similarly frustrated with the changes, but it seems like the support for custom roms is poor.

    • CCAirWater@lemm.ee
      3·
      12 hours ago

      If you swipe down on the notifs twice, you can edit them to be similar to the previous style.

      On topic of your post, fuuuuck everything about their forcing AI, but my biggest gripe is how they moved the audio display (from, like, Spotify or audiobook readers/podcast apps) to the bottom of the lock screen as a tiny bar on the bottom instead of showing me all the info as it did before. It’s super annoying when I swipe to unlock and pause what I’m listening to.

      • mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.world
        1·
        6 hours ago

        yeh the other day I accidentally swiped down and touched the Media section. It automatically played my music, eventhough the music app was off lol. Luckily it didnt play any “videos”…

  • St3alth@lemmy.mlEnglish
    353·
    2 days ago

    In my opinion, the Google Pixel with GrapheneOS is considered the gold standard in terms of security and privacy. While I am not fully knowledgeable about its capabilities, it offers a comprehensive suite of security features.

    The iPhone is also a viable option. You can easily swap between iCloud to a more secure encrypted provider for both cloud storage and photo backups. Additionally, any notes application can be replaced with a more secure alternative.

    Samsung phones can support a range of operating system images that can be flashed, including LineageOS. However, I am not fully aware of all the available options.