DeGoogle Yourself

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A community for those that would like to get away from Google.

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My internal fight over what device to buy (lemmy.kde.social)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by tubbadu@lemmy.kde.social to c/degoogle@lemmy.ml

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Hello there! This is my problem: I'm going to buy a new smartphone, and I'd really like to degoogle myself as much as possible. The idea would be to buy a device compatible with LineageOS, but... Supported devices are usually older models, and often there are newer devices with better specs for the same price, that does not support lineageOS. Is seems a shame to buy a device with lower specs than another one just because of software compatibility. So the alternative would be to buy an unsupported device, unlock the bootloader and debloat it as much as possible, flash privileged fdroid and aurora store on it, install microg, etc... What do you suggest me to do? Is the second alternative a viable option? What other steps should I do if I decide to go that way?

Thanks in advance folks!

Edit:
Thanks to anyone for the great answers! I finally decided to buy a pixel 6 (or 6 pro if I find a good deal) and install a custom ROM on it! GrapheneOS will support it for "only" 3 more years, while other roms like lineageos or divestos will have longer support. What do you suggest? Graphene OS and when support ends switch to another one? O directly use the other one?

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[–] guyrocket@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (10 children)

I'm in pretty much the same boat as OP.

I'm seeing that buying a Pixel and then degoogle-ing it with Graphene OS is the way to go. Before I pull the trigger on that, can anyone point me to a good guide on how and when to load Graphene OS? Do I load it after activation with a carrier? Ok to do this before carrier activation?

And what functionality do I have with Graphene OS? Only Fdroid as a store? Can I sideload apps?

I'd really like to hear from some people that have actually done this about what to do and what their experience is with grapheneos. I'm leery of spending hundreds of dollars on a phone that may or may not work as I want.

I am seriously considering doing this but I'll buy an iphone if I can't really understand the pixel/graphene path well enough before dropping the $$.

Any YT vids about someone doing this?

[–] myrmidex 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

The stores I have on my GrapheneOS pixel 7a: F-Droid + droidify, Aurora store, and the Google Play store as well for some official apps I cannot do without. Between these, there isn't an app that I couldn't find or install.

I bought my pixel second hand, to not put more money in Google's pocket, and to avoid any carrier locking. Not sure how that will impact the installation, but it might. Best to investigate that matter.

I have to mention: I still cannot believe how easy that installation was. I rooted my previous phone and put lineageOS on it, which was such a tedious procedure back in the day, I really dreaded installing GrapheneOS. But that web interface, detecting everything and guiding me along was pure heaven. I hope that'll become the default for any custom installs.

[–] guyrocket@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Interesting. Thanks for this info.

Google Play? So you degoogled and regoogled?

[–] myrmidex 2 points 1 year ago

At least it's sandboxed now ;)

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