You may be wondering which degoogled operating system is right for you. In the past, GrapheneOS was the go-to recommendation for privacy purists; Someone who wanted a phone that was completely private, but that lacked the convenience of being able to use traditional apps. This is no longer true due to GrapheneOS’ Sandboxed Google Play Services.
CalyxOS promises privacy without impacting usability. In reality, CalyxOS provides sub-par privacy & limited app compatibility via MicroG.
GrapheneOS Benefits
- Zero connections to Google out of the box
- App Compatibility
- Faster Updates & Improved Hardening
Use all of your favorite apps on GrapheneOS
You can run 99% of android apps with GrapheneOS’ Sandboxed Google Play Services while maintianing improved privacy over a traditional phones.
Turn off Google Play Services when you do not need them
GrapheneOS allows you to create several users, called profiles, on your phone. This is a great way to seperate everyday apps from your private apps.
Profiles do not have access to any data in another profile. Each profile is essentially a different phone. All profiles can be turned off when you do not need them.
It is best to install Google Play Services on a secondary user on your phone. This gives you the ability to “Log out” & turn off any apps running in another profile.
For those who prefer a simpler experience similar to an iPhone or stock Android phone, like what you would get with CalyxOS, you can always install Google Play Services in the primary profile on your degoogled phone.
GrapheneOS User Profile Improvements vs CalyxOS
- Notification Sharing between users (app name & time of notification is all that’s shared)
- Disable App installation on specific profiles (great for kids, family, etc)
- Create up to 32 profiles vs 4
Security is actually a priority.
GrapheneOS puts in great effort to create the most secure android operating system in the market.
- Secure Exec Spawning: Forces apps to create fresh processes when they are started. This prevents apps from sharing information & secrets that they should not necessarily have access to .
- Hardened Webview: Further security for Webview (a browser service used by nearly all apps)
- Hardened Memory Allocator: Defense against common vulnerabilities
- Hardened Linux Kernel: Fixes Vulnerabilities in phones’ low level software
Why you may still consider CalyxOS
- OS Updates for a longer peroid (6 Months – 1 Year+ longer)
- Better performance on olders devices
- Automatically update apps in F-Droid (can be setup on GrapheneOS by using the Neo-Store F-Droid client)
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