Curious what people think.
Do you think using the GrapheneOS operative system is useless if the user plans to/needs to install Play Store apps anyway?
I think I’m not alone in feeling this way, but sometimes I feel a sense of imposter syndrome because I’m not perfectly private and am dependent on some Play Store apps. This has caused me to question if the transition to GOS is meaningful at all.
Feel free to share your opinion. Cheers! …posted from my GrapheneOS Pixel.
IMO, just the options to automatically turn off WiFi and Bluetooth after being disconnected for a while are enough to make it worth it. Not to mention all the other privacy benefits, like others have stated.
Oh, and network permission toggle is also really useful. If only passkey APIs were part of AOSP instead of Play Services / GSF, I’ve got them installed just for that (with only sensors permission)
Maybe a stupid question, but what is the difference between sensors and location permission?
Not a stupid question at all.
Location is for, well, location specifically. Sensors is a GOS thing, it blocks access to all sensors, like gyro, proximity, ambient light, etc.
Since it’s not part of AOSP, apps will very likely misbehave if you turn the sensors permission off. That’s why I left it enabled for Play Svcs and GSF, not sure if it’s actually necessary.
From https://grapheneos.org/usage#bugs-uncovered-by-security-features :
Similarly, some of the other privacy and security improvements reduce the access available to applications and they may crash. Some of these features are always enabled under the hood, while others like the Network and Sensors toggles are controlled by users via opt-in or opt-out toggles. Apps may not handle having access taken away like this, although it generally doesn’t cause any issues as it’s all designed to be friendly to apps and fully compatible rather than killing the application when it violates the rules.
Thanks for the answer. My sensor permission is on for all apps, naturally, but I wasn’t sure if this was safe or privacy-invasive, so your comment definitely helped clear things up! Do you think it’s a good idea to leave the permission on for all apps?
I don’t think most apps even access sensors. I also think disabling it is not necessary, more so if you don’t allow network for an app. Though some (google) apps may still send data to Google via Play Services, supposedly.
I wouldn’t worry about it, but you need to decide for yourself. Usablilty is also an important factor, pixels aren’t cheap at least where I live.
Saw this question posted elsewhere, so I’m paraphrasing somebody else, but the privacy benefits of Graphene OS are ESPECIALLY impactful if you’re using invasive apps. The whole point of setting up all of the extra sandboxing, storage limits, network restrictions, yadda yadda yadda, is specifically for people who might need or want to still leverage some apps from bigger, less trusted providers.
I’ll flip the question, if you’re only using trusted, vetted, open source applications, do you even need GrapheneOS? Why not LineageOS, which also comes free of gapps?
And this also fully neglects the inherent distinction between privacy and security. Maybe you trust google knowing you called your mom last night, but you don’t want your oppressive conservative government accessing your phone to view your Signal messages to your Grinder date. There’s more to privacy than just the number of times your phone pings Google Telemetry servers.
the privacy benefits of Graphene OS are ESPECIALLY impactful if you’re using invasive apps. The whole point of setting up all of the extra sandboxing, storage limits, network restrictions, yadda yadda yadda, is specifically for people who might need or want to still leverage some apps from bigger, less trusted providers.
Honestly, this resonated with me very well. This excerpt alone motivates me to keep using and committing to GOS because it just makes sense. Now, I don’t know the technical aspects of these kinds of things, but I imagine using Facebook Messenger on GOS is preferable to using it on a regular iPhone. Perhaps. Meh, whatever, I like the feel of GOS and its community, so I suppose it doesn’t matter that much.
