When the iPhone 15 came out, I felt the pressure to upgrade, so I bought the standard model with 128 GB. I’m now experiencing the limitations of their ecosystem, which closed as dolls ass. I’m looking to sell my iPhone 15 and buy two Android phones for myself and my wife. If I could get some extra cash out of it, that would be a nice bonus. I’m not concerned with the fancy cameras or features. I just want something I can manipulate to be private and also install whatever I want, use the common apps everyone uses with no issues, stream movies and TV shows. My main concern is that most phonew from well-known brands, their Android OS are almost as disappointing as Apple products. I think it would be better to get a phone with hardware that is well-suited to a custom Android OS that is well-maintained and known for being reliable, and with a focus on privacy and not bloated. Thank you in advance for your help.
If you are looking for a generic phone with good privacy and usability I would highly recommend a Pixel with Graphene OS. If you’ve never flashed a phone before, you can install Graphene within a web browser and never need to do any of the more complicated flashing stuff like most other setups require. It also allows you to optionally install Sandboxed Google Play Services (on the main profile or isolated on a second one), letting you access normal apps while still having some of the privacy and performance benefits of an otherwise de-Googled phone.
And from what I’ve seen, Pixels are probably the friendliest to other custom OSes as well.
But not friendliest on IO. No headphone jack. No microSD. No dual SIM.
Yes, absolutely. Having to use a dongle for my earbuds sucks :( SD is something I don’t really notice tho because 128 gigs is pretty much bottomless for a phone.
Thank you. Which Pixel models would you recommend considering cost, compatibility, and benefits? I estimate I could get around €700 from selling the iPhone 15 128GB.
Pixel 7a is pretty good. Cheap too now that they’re 2 generations old, around $330 new for an unlocked phone.
I’ve been considering this for a long time, but I can’t figure out if my banking apps will work.
As it’s a work phone, there are certain apps that I must have.Have you experienced any issues installing and using apps?
I’ve had no issues personally with my banking apps. Most require sandboxes gPlay to be installed but there was no need to be logged into google for them.
Not sure now up to date this list is now but check out this site: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/
Both my banks are missing, but I still feel like giving it a go.
I guess I could just go back if it doesn’t work for me…
Graphene OS
CalyxOS
Lineage OSThose are the big three players in alternative operating systems that I know of. I use Calyx because my threat model is corporate data collection more than absolute security. Ironically, the best phones to put these operating systems on are the Google Pixel line because you can unlock and lock the bootloader. I’m not sure if there are other phones that allow this but the websites of the OS should guide you to hardware.
Thank you. Which versions of pixel do you recommend? Cost - compatibility - benefit. I guess I would be able to get 700 € from the iPhone 15 128 .
My 6a is all the phone I need. Doesn’t lag. Camera isn’t great but I hear that there is better software available than stock(?)
A last-gen refurbished pixel + GrapheneOS has been my go-to for years now. Gives me all the polished featured of flagship hardware with regular security updates and privacy.
Bonus points, the google play compatibility shim means you can run 99% of apps that are on the play store.
Just test the refurbished phone thoroughly on the stock os in case you need to swap it out.
Can you run google maps without their location service? That’s the one thing I really miss and there’s no way to do it with Calyx that I know of
You sure can.
Thx, time for a reinstall then
I believe you can… I have google maps installed and disabled (frozen) by default in case I absolutely need to use it.
I don’t know if you can or not, although I can confirm you can use Google Maps in a web browser if you grant the google maps website location access, and it’s pretty one to one with the app I believe. It does require you burn through mobile data if you don’t have unlimited since you can’t download offline maps, but the web version has gotten me out of a jam when open source map apps fail and if you don’t worry about data it might be worth trying.
I think Firefox with maps.google uses Firefox location, because I’ve used it like you, to supplement the open source maps. I don’t have google location on my phone at all.
The thing I need is street addresses, which OSM doesn’t really have yet for a lot of streets.
I give DivestOS a mention - it’s a Lineage fork with some security changes (such as sandboxing MicroG if you decide to install it).
Additionally LineageOS for microG which rolls the microG stuff into the ROM which saves a lot of work/frustration when trying to unGoogle a device. Any device that is officially supported by LineageOS will have builds which can’t be said for many other ROMs.
As others have said, the Pixel line is the easiest if you want to have full control over the phone.
There are others, but it will take more effort to get there (I say this after flashing and rooting all my phones since 2010).
Take a look at lineageos.org/devices to see what devices they support, it’s a good approximation of which phones can be boot loader unlocked.
After lots of looking around, I decided to finally jump to Pixel, and I’m running DivestOS (a fork of Lineage with a little bit more tweaked, like sandboxing MicroG).
Once you decide to go down this road, I’d suggest downloading the factory rom image for your phone, and practice flashing it, before trying with a custom rom, just so you have some experience with a known-good image. Plus, sometimes you have to flash back to stock - I just did one the other day because I screwed up the custom rom flash.
Thank you. Which Pixel models would you suggest, factoring in cost, compatibility, and benefits? I expect to get about €700 for the iPhone 15 128GB.
I recently bought a Pixel 8 for 500€, they got cheaper since the Pixel 9 was just released. If you want to save some money you could probably just buy a Pixel 7a which will get updates until May 2028 (vs October 2030 for the Pixel 8). Supposedly the 7 has better battery life than the 8, but in the end it comes down to how long you want to use it.
When you say supported, does that only mean the original (Android) OS will be supported and updated? What does it mean for a different ROM?
Very much appreciated
Whatever you can afford for pixel 8 and above, if possible. Those will be supported for longer.
Thank you
If you’re just looking for the out-of-the-box experience, I’d say a Pixel is probably your best bet. It’ll run stock Android, get updates the fastest, and generally perform very well. My Pixel 6 Pro is still running smoothly today. I’ve never dived too deeply into it, but I believe Pixels will also run GrapheneOS, if you’re looking to really lock your device down and de-Google it.
