this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2025
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[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 150 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (14 children)

I took the jump and installed GrapheneOS on my Pixel 9 this weekend. Easiest alternate OS load I've ever done, didn't even need to see a command line. (I've put LineageOS on many a phone and GrapheneOS's web-based installer is amazing).

Loving it so far. I have three profiles, the main 'Owner' with NO google services/app store at all; and two more 'Personal' and 'Work' profiles that have Google stuff that I alone chose to install.

Amazingly GrapheneOS even lets you deny Google App Store itself permissions to install from untrusted sources (in this case, Google App Store itself) -- I was suprised to see installing just App Store triggered attempts to then load: My Pixel, Google Photos, Fitbit(!!? WTF), and a few others, without any confirmation first. Was able to shut that shit down immediately. (I had never, ever installed Fitbit on my previous phones, so there's no excuse to install it "from my previous device" or whatever...)

I hope GrapheneOS spreads to other phone models. And I'm sure Google has a team planning on how to strangle it before it does...

[–] amateurcrastinator@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago (6 children)

How does it deal with banking apps? What about camera apps? How is the camera workings with other camera apps?

[–] modular950@lemmy.zip 43 points 1 month ago

I am US-based. I have a handful of credit card apps, and a few banking / investment apps - all of them in my experience have worked fine. ONE of them required me to toggle a GrapheneOS option that enables you to exempt certain apps from some of Graphenes more hardened safety measures.

"Exploit Protection Compatibility Mode" is the toggle which can be flipped per-app, and is very easy to access so you can quickly troubleshoot whether that's related to any app troubles or not.

Similar to the other comment, I also use Pixel Camera by downloading the Google pixel cam APK and installing. I've removed all permissions from the camera (and photos) app besides to the camera lense itself, and file permissions of course. You can even use Pixel Cam's hefty features like unblur, erase me, etc. - though certain ones require you to temporarily give network access to the camera app so that it can reach out and download necessary packages. Once done, you can remove network permissions and the downloaded function will remain functional.

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

All my bank apps work, I have the stock pixel camera app and it works perfectly

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Chase is the only bank app that hasn't worked for me on GOS. Also using the stock pixel camera app.

[–] timhayes1991@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 month ago

I haven't had problems with Canadian banking apps, and I use 3 of them. Sadly, my favourite budgeting app doesn't work with Graphene OS. I use it every day (and have paid for lifetime premium access), so it was unfortunately a pretty big issue. But I love what they do. A cause worth donating to.

[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I haven't yet tried -- planning to do that in the next day or so when I get the time.

Others already replied with promising results, I sure hope they work for me as well (Scotiabank in Canada is particularly annoying in this respect in my experience, with LineageOS I had to use Magisk and define stealth rules specifically for their banking app).

Edit: As for camera, I've only tried the GrapheneOS builtin/default camera app. It's pretty basic, but I should see if I can get the Pixel9 official camera app on there, it would be nicer to use if possible but the basic one is probably good enough for my purposes.

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[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Samsung has been accused of shipping budget Galaxy A and M series smartphones with pre-installed spyware that users can’t easily remove.

The software in question, AppCloud, developed by the mobile analytics firm IronSource, has been embedded in devices sold primarily in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

So these are cheap phones mostly being sold in the Middle East.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 month ago

This is so gross.

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[–] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 132 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (13 children)

There is a reason quartebacks don't return kicks and linebackers dont play wide receiver. They followed their natural genetic build and skillset to become the best at what they are built to do.

Samsung has been a fuckin train wreck with every single piece of fuckin software they touch. They used to make amazing hardware products and I was their #1 fan 20 years ago. Then they started embedding software in every cunthole they can shove their tiny dicks into.

First I stopped buying their TV because the volume button on the remotes hat an embedded feature that when pressed down/in instead of up or down (like the sticks on video game contorll3rs) it backed you out of fuckin everything and launched the fuckin atrocious built in samsung broadcasted tv. Signed into hulu/netflix/disney/xbox/fuck even if your just listening to music and the tv is on sleep mode... NOPE FUCK YOU AND FUCK WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING WERE SIGNING YOU OUT OF FUCKIN EVERYTHING AND BUTTFUCKING OUR BROADCAST SERVICE OF CHANNELS CABLE COMPANIES CANT EVEN MAKE A DIME FROM. Not cable, not anything you plug in or choose. No it takes you to a tv service which broadcasts only shows that noone will pay to watch.

Then it was laptops but i dont remember why it might of just been residual pissed off-ness from the TV.

Now about to be my fuckin ZFold-5 that AGAIN is the best piece of mobile hardware ive ever owned. Indestructible, blazing fast processing power that is only slower than my blazing fast typing speed with full qwerty keyboards like the good Ole cellphone days, beautiful display, beautiful cameras. It really is my favorite thing that someone else has ever ruined.

They just facefuck shitty software onto of shitty software into everything they can. I MEAN PERFECT EXAMPLE AND TIME TO STOP WAS WHEN EVERYONE SAID FUCK YOU TO THEM MAKING FUCKBOOK A BUILT IN APP. Fuck samsung right in their fucking fuck hole.

[–] 01189998819991197253 38 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This was a super fun, and colorful read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hahahaha

Not to mention that I agree with everything said.

[–] Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf 12 points 1 month ago

I like how he rages himself into a stroke in the first sentence of the last paragraph.

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 month ago

Wow, I can really feel the emotion, all that rage.

[–] purplemonkeymad@programming.dev 13 points 1 month ago

I once saw someone get an ad for the new phone as a notification on their current one. They had never had a notification from Samsung like that before. At that point I knew they would build in advertising for all their other products in to the products.

I have never bought a Samsung device since. Some people I know live them, but it put me off so much.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I had an A5 a while back and samsung didn't make me hate them so the next phone I got was an s10. On that phone, they decided that they needed to dedicate a physical button to their fucking virtual assistant bixby. It was pretty obvious to me that these virtual assistants were mostly actually data vacuums, wanting to integrate into every aspect of your life so they can access better data on all those aspects.

Every single time it opened that fucking thing, it was unintentional. It wasn't as annoying as your TV, since I bet the phone was way faster and had enough memory to not have to discard whatever else you were doing just to open its app, but it exemplifies how I see samsung today. Hardware had great specs but the software made it annoying by trying to lock everything in to their ecosystem without a hard lock like apple. Even MS had ways of disabling the windows button (which used to have a high chance of crashing a game if you accidentally hit it).

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[–] A_A@lemmy.world 84 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I wouldn't be surprised if Israel, again, is pushing for this :

The software in question, AppCloud, developed by the mobile analytics firm IronSource, has been embedded in devices sold primarily in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

[–] dukemirage@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] A_A@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Amongst other things, Israel, if you recall, made some cell phones to explode, so too kill people they don't like. Or maybe there was something called "Pegasus" that went something like that also ? I would have to do some search to be sure.

[–] dukemirage@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I guess many foreign powers are interested in mass surveillance of unstable regions and low budget phones are a good way to do it. People there need phones and don’t have many options, or don’t care because there are worse problems.

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[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Huh, Unity owns IronSource.

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[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 51 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I hope that we someday have a Linux-based Steam Whistle from Valve, so that we have a phone that is actually ours.

[–] atmorous@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Let's not wait. Let's collectively ask Valve to make that next

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I hope that one day we fix our bullshit and stop relying on corporations to save us. This should should be regulated to hell and back by representatives and their teams who are at worst just mediocre at their jobs.

While we’re dreaming and all that I’m gunna high ball it.

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[–] peetabix@sh.itjust.works 45 points 1 month ago (8 children)

Don't buy any Samsung devices, got it.

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[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 44 points 1 month ago (2 children)

First sentence:

Samsung has been accused of shipping budget Galaxy A and M series smartphones with pre-installed spyware that users can’t easily remove.

So unremovable in the sense that it can be removed.

[–] affiliate@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago

also from the article:

Even more concerning, attempts to uninstall it often fail due to its deep integration into Samsung’s One UI operating system.

Reports indicate the app reactivates automatically following software updates or factory resets, making it virtually unremovable for average users.

but i do agree that “virtually unremovable” and “unremovable” are two very different things. and im not even sure i would classify this as “virtually unremovable”

[–] SnoringEarthworm@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

A new type of Android spyware that requires a password for uninstallation has been identified, making it increasingly difficult for victims to remove the malicious software from their devices.

The first sentence in the link that you linked.

So... you're technically right. It can be removed.

But not by the customer, unless they have an uncle who works at Samsung.

[–] Cevilia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 42 points 1 month ago (4 children)

When my Graphene'd Pixel 7 goes out of support I'm switching to something Linux based even if I have to get a Raspberry Pi and a case and carry around a brick. My handbag's big enough.

[–] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

I found this. Its a Raspberry Pi in a brick case with a screen and a 4G modem.

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 month ago

I REALLY wanted to do a pi phone, and while it's very possible to make a working phone/tablet out of one, their power consumption is absolutely awful. Most of the linux capable SBC's can't do low power.

I want an 8" linux touch screen with 18h of moderate usage batter life, I'm even willing to carry around a separate 4g access point.

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[–] livingcoder@programming.dev 35 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I will never buy another Samsung phone or tablet. I was done the moment I started getting notification ads from the Samsung store that I cannot disable.

[–] TrumpetX@programming.dev 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is me. As I write to you from my Graphene Pixel 9. My first non Samsung phone since the S3. The S22 unwanted ads were just too much. (and apparently it's all worse now) You could disable them, but you had to re disable after every update. The second I found a good deal on a pixel I jumped.

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[–] zaki_ft@lemmings.world 35 points 1 month ago

This is Israeli spyware.

They own you.

[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Zionist Spyware

Funny how they never mention where this comes from... The bullshit propaganda is strong in this article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IronSource

[–] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 month ago

Its always the Zionists they see land, life, freedom, and people as something to be bought and sold.

[–] hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works 26 points 1 month ago

The software in question, AppCloud, developed by the mobile analytics firm IronSource, has been embedded in devices sold primarily in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

So if you're not in the Middle East. You're good. Still not going to buy any Samsung devices.

[–] sleen@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

With the past decades or so a phone has become a standard piece of equipment where it's virtually used everywhere, anytime. It is a complete disaster that those standards are not applied to what's deemed under the hood - all these companies are deemed to do anything they want to because nothing is standard.

Look where that got us - a duopoly where going against them is deemed "inescapable". It is disappointing how we even let this happen in the first place, the capitalists and fascists basically own us because of it.

All that got us is a standard thing tacked together by mystery tape and glue - hardware & software. Open source software and standards have barely any say here just because the fascists in rule decided so.

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[–] GaryGhost@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I hate galaxy phones, they're build quality is so shitty and the prices are higher than a google pixel. Now they come with Israeli spyware? What other phones have spyware that I should know about?

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[–] hiramfromthechi@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Hello from GrapheneOS 👋

Tech savvy Lemmings don't need SwapMyOS, but for more non-technical folk, it's there just in case by demand.

AMA.

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[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I have yet to purchase a Samsung mobile phone and I will do my best to keep it that way.

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[–] atmorous@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

We need new OEM's made. Seriously we can't keep going like this. Any other good alternatives?

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