GrapheneOS vs LineageOS vs iodéOS
According to Comparison of Android-based Operating Systems, GrapheneOS seems to be better than LineageOS and iodéOS in every aspect.
I’m wondering if there is any downside of GrapheneOS. What am I giving up for using GrapheneOS instead of LineageOS and iodéOS (besides GrapheneOS only support pixel)?
In terms of privacy, security, customizability and functionality, which OS would you recommend and on what device would you recommend using it?
Answered questions
- Does LineageOS supports muti profile like GrapheneOS (I thought all AOSP supports multiprofile feature)
- Does LineageOS supports full device encryption using some open source app? (like veracrypt)
- @https://lemmy.world/u/who@feddit.org Yes, full-device encryption is built in to Android these days.
- Can LineageOS supports Sandboxed Google Play with some tweaks?
- no
Some questions
- If there is backdoor planted in pixel (which in my opinion is very likely), then I guess the “risk of an adversary gaining physical access to the phone” is quite equal for both of OS?
- https://lemmy.world/u/upstroke4448@lemmy.dbzer0.com - It is highly unlikely there is a backdoor in the Pixel. It’s just not worth the risk for Google. Not only are the phones highly scrutinized by experts but Google has a million other legal ways to get info off your phone for 99% of users who use the stock OS.
- @benjaminoakes https://lemmy.world/u/benjaminoakes (how do I @ another user in lemmy???) and I qoute “Graphene is likely to run into issues soon. They were relying on the AOSP source tree including Pixel-specific files. Google isn’t releasing those anymore, so GrapheneOS would have to reverse engineer or extract the needed files somehow.”
- should I be concerned about this issue? Will it affect my experience in the next 5 years ? (I usually update my device in 5 year cycle)
thanks a million
There really isn’t much comparison.
Graphene only supports Pixels because it is the best phone for hardware security. If you choose to use a different phone you have already accepted a less secure device.
Sandboxed Google Play is going to offer the most compatibility as it allows you to access the main app store in the Android eco system without giving up privileged access to your phone. Devices that use Micro G or regular play store can’t make that claim. Which is a massive privacy issue.
Since Graphene OS works with other launchers there really is not a difference in customizability.
I’d love to be able to say there is a good competitor for GOS but none of the other custom ROMs actually focus on Privacy/Security and most are dishonest about that fact. Divest OS was one of the few other ROMs that was honest about what it was so it was sad when the dev moved on.
I’d also note that threat model matters. Not everyone needs top notch security or privacy. There are good reasons to not use GOS, but better privacy/security isn’t one. The obvious one is opportunity, whether it’s regional or financial, Pixels can be a pain to get.
Claiming that literally installing Google Play, though sandboxed, gives massively better privacy than MicroG is a pretty wild claim.
Not at all. Sandboxed google play is…sandboxed. Micro G has privelged access to your phone. That is a massive canyon in the difference of access you are giving an app.
Its the primary privacy reason why standard Google Play is such a privacy nightmare.
The only difference with Micro G is your shifting trust from Google to Micro G. Which is fine if that’s what your threat model allows but it doesn’t erase the issue.
The reason why Google Play Services is such a privacy nightmare is that it’s malicious, and it’s privileged.
The recent revelation of how Yandex/Facebook were tracking us through anonymous sessions shows just how much damage can be done with unprivileged apps.
Unlike Play Services, MicroG will do only what it has to (or nothing, if you decide to forgo using all google services). While doing so, it will still minimize the data sent, and spoof what it can to reduce fingerprinting.
As far as I can tell, MicroG seems to be reasonably well trusted. All objections I could find to MicroG are either based on principle, like yours, or on FUD. I have yet to find any mention of actual issues with MicroG.
Yes, it’s privileged, and if you reduce the issue of running privileged code an issue of trust, either microG is about as trustworthy as your android ROM (which runs a lot of privileged code on your device). You ROM, minus a few patches, come 99% from Google after all, but you place a lot of trust in the GOS team to sanitize and patch that up. It’s OK, I don’t disagree.
So once we establish that MicroG is not malicious, running it privileged may be less than optimal, but it’s only an issue in terms of attack surface.
Which is not nothing.
With all this being said, I expect that the threat model that regard as an obvious advantage running know malicious code, though unprivileged, over non-malicious privileged code, are going to be few and far between.
Trust does not fix the core privacy issue of allowing an app to have privileged access to your phone.
As I said before, if your threat model allows you to decide your fine with Micro G having that access, good for you. That isn’t a remedy for the actual issue. Its just deciding to ignore it. Trust is much easier to break and abuse then a sandbox.
It seems we differ on the value of trust in this situation. To me, no app is ever trust worthy enough for that type of access. Especially for something like play store access where there are other non privileged ways (aurora store, third party apk mirrors, etc) to access the apps from the play store if you really feel Google is malicious.
ManyThanks!
I still have a few questions:
I’ll answer what I know.
LineageOS doesn’t have anything like sandboxed Google Play. That is a flagship feature of GOS.
It is highly unlikely there is a backdoor in the Pixel. It’s just not worth the risk for Google. Not only are the phones highly scrutinized by experts but Google has a million other legal ways to get info off your phone for 99% of users who use the stock OS.
Thanks !