GrapheneOS first steps to degoogle your device

Premise

If you are aware that technology, with its bewitching, siren-like charm, has enchanted us and made us dependent on conveniences that are difficult to escape, and you have noticed how our critical thinking has progressively weakened in daily use among increasingly indispensable devices and applications, you are in the right place.

I have nothing to hide, click here to read.

• Don’t miss the GrapheneOS section, click here to read.
• Don’t miss the Digital Rebirth section, click here to read.

We are constantly monitored by trackers of various kinds. The time has come to effectively free ourselves from the first enemy: Google. The watchword is to degoogle oneself, that is, abandon or limit the use of Google services in favor of FOSS Free and Open Source Software solutions.

GrapheneOS

GrapheneOS is a privacy and security mobile operating system with Android app compatibility developed as a non-profit open source project. It focuses on research and development of privacy and security technologies, including substantial improvements to sandboxing, exploit mitigations, and the permission model.

Switching to GrapheneOS is a radical change in the daily use of computing devices. Do not forget that it is only a first step and that the approach to privacy is a long and challenging journey. The in-depth analysis does not end with a single article; in the GrapheneOS tag you will find all the articles aggregated by topic.

FAQ

1. Why should I change my operating system if I am happy with my phone? Remember that you are constantly monitored through sensors, applications and the operating system itself. Your d2. I have nothing to hide! Even if you have nothing to hide, your data is recorded, profiled and monitored. Your content, movements and other personal information are monitored. Remember that during World War II, the Germans were able to identify Jews living in Germany using public registers, synagogue membership lists, parish registers of converted Jews and other similar sources. ata flows into a unique trackable ID, which follows you everywhere, even if you change your phone or log in to your computer.
2. I have nothing to hide! Even if you have nothing to hide, your data is recorded, profiled and monitored. Your content, movements and other personal information are monitored. Remember that during World War II, the Germans were able to identify Jews living in Germany using public registers, synagogue membership lists, parish registers of converted Jews and other similar sources.
3. Which phones are supported to install GrapheneOS? The list you can find here is, at the moment, only Google phones of the Pixel series for which it is possible to install the new operating system. GrapheneOS will receive all security updates for the period declared by Google generally 7 years¹ from the date of marketing of the phone.
4. It seems like a contradiction to use a Google phone to degoogle yourself? Google phones have the requirements allowed by the manufacturer to unlock the bootloader², you can always go back to the company’s operating system, if you change your mind, without losing the warranty.
5. Is the installation complicated? You have full community support, well documented update process, you can update your phone with a USB cable from the GrapheneOS webpage, click here to read.

Future insights

How to manage profiles and which applications to install, how to best manage banking applications, android auto and how to improve privacy.

The freedom

GrapheneOS does not contain any Google apps or services, you can add services by installing the Google component which will be relegated and limited to sandboxed like other Android applications without having any higher privileges.

The image shows how GrapheneOS looks like when you first start it, you might be shocked, it’s minimal, it has nothing flashy, no integration with Google crap or evil intelligences, voice synthesizers etc. etc. The basic GrapheneOS applications are in black and white to distinguish them from the others that you will later install.

Now you can start building your real privacy system, welcome to the community!

Conclusion, between apparent paranoia and actual reality

I am posting a community post whose author DeGoogledOne has given me permission to public this post for you to think about³.

You make sure to stay away from Google services and the whole GAFAM company as much as possible⁴ Make sure you don’t associate a unique ID with everything you do with your phone. Don’t link your cell phone number to their services and two-factor authentication, use codes and hardware keys. Avoid keeping all the phone’s sensors always active for convenience, including the camera and microphone just because it’s a pain to have to enable them when needed. Don’t give useless permissions to applications that instead ask for them for no reason. Make sure that they don’t know what to do with the data (which they collect anyway) because it can’t be associated with anyone in particular… and you’ll already have a lot for your privacy and to make their life difficult. Block with a firewall all Internet connections to user and system applications that have no use in connecting to the Internet. Currently 6 system applications on my phone have access to the Internet on I don’t even know how many, but it’s a lot… and the phone still does everything it needs to do perfectly. Evaluate DNS different from the system ones, possibly encrypted. Look for alternative applications that possibly do not have tracers in them. You could also think about using a VPN to hide your IP and point who knows where in the world, but in the end you are always connected and tracked by one to three cell towers at the point where you are. Finally, when you leave the house, at the first intersection “stuck” on the lamppost, you will find two cameras, one that points to your license plate when you are in the car…, while when you go on foot it depends on your height…. One that points straight at your face. Later, continuing your excursion into the “outside world”, you will encounter the exact same structure, pole/cameras, when you will have to decide again which road to take along your entire route and this will happen all the time. Until you return home and that first camera will breathe a sigh of relief in seeing you return safe and sound. Provided that you have constantly smiled during your journey without making reckless gestures or behaving inappropriately with respect to the settings of the behavioral prediction software, because otherwise, the software will have alerted the police who will have intervened to preventatively block you as a probable subject dangerous to the safety of others, probably about to commit a crime. Artificial intelligence does not make mistakes. But you know, you were just walking nervously, with the dark liar, you were sweating and moving in an agitated way simply because your girlfriend left you. Now you are there, in front of a judge who does not sweat, does not reason even if they call him intelligent, whose heart does not beat and who does not have a soul to sell …, not even to the devil. Now you are there and he is judging you. You no longer think about Google spying on you through your cell phone, but you think about what will happen to you and whether you will finally be able to return home when the GAFAM AI has finished verifying your attitudes and behaviors by quickly comparing them with those of hundreds of thousands of other individuals scattered throughout the world and finally…, statistically judge you. Pre-Guilty, dangerous subject, suspect, or innocent but…, even if you are released, they will continue to follow you through your shiny and very expensive Google Phone or your iPhone. And yet that day, you had also forgotten your cell phone at home.