You can use Google Play on GrapheneOS just fine, see https://grapheneos.org/features#sandboxed-google-play
Many on GOS use a separate profile for apps depending on Google Play, see https://grapheneos.org/features#improved-user-profiles
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqmnwqngttz2xxpt8znsk565sl4q9mvtdere5mtp4l3622gel3e40segalsa This reply comes off as unnecessarily rude to me. I'd ask you to please be kind in my threads.
Lying is rude. Not responding to helpful answers is rude. Calling out either is not.
Here is a good third-person comparison between different mobile OS.
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqe2z26rv2fk5f9k8ex3xtu6whu5425u7dvn4ju40xr4hfve5q83uqc9wwe7 the main question is: do you need google play store/services. If no: go with calyxOS. It's more secure.
Calyx being more secure is a blatant lie. Please explain what makes it more secure.
Oh and ofc Pixel 4a has been EOL for a long time. It' simply not secure any more. Apart from that, GrapheneOS only has advantages compared to Calyx or Lineage. My heartful advice is to get a Pixel 8a and install GrapheneOS. The Pixel 8a still has around 5 years of full support for the full software stack pledged by Google and comes with decisive hardware security benefits (e.g. MTE) that GrapheneOS fully leverages. It's quite cheap and you might be able to trade in your Pixel 4 to get some cash back.
Following the #Pixel4a battery downgrade debacle https://wiki.rossmanngroup.com/wiki/Pixel_4a_Battery_Performance_Program I'm considering switching to a custom ROM…
#CalyxOS in particular seems very neat – does anyone have experiences with it? I'm not sure how it compares to #GrapheneOS? Or, seeing how the Pixel 4a is "end of life" for both of them, should I just go with #LineageOS?
I'm not certain but I think I read that switching OS does not solve the issue you allude to since it's firmware related.
It's really getting on my nerves that there's drama about something that I'd normally only see in app reviews on the Play Store. Like... In the Play Store I sometimes look at the (German) reviews of some pre-installed apps and laugh my ass off because holy shit it's so funny how stupid people are. ("I DON'T WANT THIS THEY WANT TO SPY ON ME AAA")
Now that there's actually many posts on fedi talking about how an pre-installed app spies on the users and scans images.... no? Haven't you guys read what it does?
Oh, I forgot. We're on fedi, where stuff like that starts and then just gets bigger - without thinking about it.
Sure, boosts can be well-intentioned, but without checking the information first, a boost can lead to a lot of FUD. (By the way, I also consider myself guilty here.)
It started getting on my nerves with the whole "VLC uses AI!! They want to kill all subtitles!! USE SOMETHING DIFFERENT 😱" thing, but now it's happening again??
So, what is that freshly new app "Android System SafetyCore" actually do?
Apparently it's just a collection of *local AI models* that can classify stuff *locally*, *without sending it to Google*. These can then be used by other apps, so they don't have to send it to other services / ship their own ai models.
Do you want an example for this? Google Messages uses this new app to classify messages as spam, malware, nudity, etc.
I can recommend reading this thread if you want to know more about this new app: https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/113969399692663684
But please... PLEASE check before going code red and screaming on the internet that something is bad, because, again, that's something I always made fun of. Because this shows me that you can't read. (Or check actual sources.)
Thanks.
#android #google #safetycore #privacy
Thanks a lot for this, I share the sentiment 100%. I tried to clean up all those alarmist posts you allude to by linking GrapheneOS thread but it's hard work.
Non GrapheneOS Android users are also "save" as in that the app in question is no "spyware". There are problems with it (see GrapheneOS' thread) but it spying on users is not one of them.
Google stealthily installed a spyware app called "Android System SaftyCore" to android phones to scan pictures without user permission or knowledge. Uninstall here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.safetycore
#Google #Android #spyware #privacy #tech #enshittification
You are grossly misrepresenting what that app does.
See the explanatory thread by GrapheneOS linked below. From that thread:
"The app doesn't provide client-side scanning used to report things to Google or anyone else. It provides on-device machine learning models usable by applications to classify content as being spam, scams, malware, etc. This allows apps to check content locally without sharing it with a service and mark it with warnings for users."
Don't forget to donate a bit if you can! Signal is a non-profit and fully relies on donations!
From that thread:
"The app doesn't provide client-side scanning used to report things to Google or anyone else. It provides on-device machine learning models usable by applications to classify content as being spam, scams, malware, etc. This allows apps to check content locally without sharing it with a service and mark it with warnings for users."
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqmnwqngttz2xxpt8znsk565sl4q9mvtdere5mtp4l3622gel3e40segalsa Didn't work, nevermind, We'll make a Nostr account at some point to interact there. We can't really see stuff beyond posts directly mentioning us at the moment.
Thank you!
This is inaccurate.
nostr:nprofile1qqs9g69ua6m5ec6ukstnmnyewj7a4j0gjjn5hu75f7w23d64gczunmgpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43q4gnztg corrected this already several times. Stop spreading this misinformation.
Well. Server side settings could be maliciously changed for the future. Social graphs could be derived. There isn't nothing one could do.
Android security patch backports are available but not the AOSP / Stock Pixel OS update for this yet. Potentially the other Android releases are still vulnerable until the update arrives. Usual Android updates on their own don't fix this until the monthly patches come. In this case we were 1-2 months ahead.
https://grapheneos.org/features#more-complete-patching
We released a new update with the early backports (2025020300) as well.
Thank you!🤗
I am still quite confused by all the different kinds of updates wrt Android.😕 Like I don't really know which kinds of updates there are and what they each focus on. A nice table explaining this would be great haha.
Thanks for your reply!
Sorry actually for tagging you; I realised too late that these issues are addressed by the usual updates (so potentially stressing you guys out via tagging seemed unnecessary to me posthoc), I didn't look properly.
Thanks a lot for your thread!
Nicht sicher, aber ich glaube nicht, da das ja an der Firmware hängt.
**Google Android zero-day**: [Android Security Bulletin February 2025](https://source.android.com/docs/security/bulletin/2025-02-01 )
46 CVEs (1 critical, 45 high severity)
[CVE-2024-53104](https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-53104 ) (7.8 high) media: uvcvideo: Skip parsing frames of type UVC_VS_UNDEFINED in uvc_parse_format (EoP in Kernel) cc: nostr:npub17wvr8uywpuzew2lqvprnt4g7cuq0kyvdf8gz57dlv3rsjvfcer3qqgnag2
> Note: There are indications that CVE-2024-53104 may be under limited, targeted exploitation.
#CVE_2024_53104 #android #google #vulnerability #zeroday #eitw #activeexploitation #infosec #cybersecurity
nostr:nprofile1qqs9g69ua6m5ec6ukstnmnyewj7a4j0gjjn5hu75f7w23d64gczunmgpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43q4gnztg nostr:nprofile1qqstnr0dfn4w5grepk7t8sc5qp5jqzwnf3lejf7zs6p44xdhfqd9cgspzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5hszrnhwden5te0dehhxtnvdakz7qgawaehxw309ahx7um5wghxy6t5vdhkjmn9wgh8xmmrd9skctcnv0md0
🤔 A concern for GOS?