How To DE-GOOGLE Your Phone!

[ssfc72]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIFBN390clQ

This YouTube video tutorial is about using a Pixel phone, to install the Graphene OS on the phone, instead of having Google Android running on it.  This tutorial only applies to a Pixel phone.
The video tutorial is nicely done and makes me want to buy a used Pixel phone, to try it out.
The YouTube video is about a year old.

[Jason]

intriguing, Bill. Thanks for the video. I subscribed to her channel. Her video notes Graphene can work on other devices but no idea how many.

I'm not certain I could give up the usability of Android. Maybe if Aurora functions as well as she indicates. Btw, check out the other privacy-related products she mentions in the links below.

F-Droid could be employed alone if you don't want or can't shift phones. If you're considering a new phone anyway, you might look at a Pine phone.

If it's mostly the location gathering that irks you, you can get a Chromebook. Like most laptops, they don't come with mobile access although you can tether them. However, I believe Google respects your location setting if you do it properly. The big fuss in the news was that people thought turning off location in the phone settings was adequate. You want to log in to your Google account to do it completely. Google didn't make that clear from the start.

[Jason]

Let up update my previous comment. They claim to support other devices BUT you have to use the source code and build the OS yourself if it's not a Pixel device. It doesn't look easy and I'm not sure how you'd know if it would. I'd be too scared of bricking my own phone to try it.

On the positive side, I've seen Pixel 6a phones online for $200 USD (used). Definitely not a budget phone but not as expensive as I thought. It's an older Pixel model but their website says they'll provide 5 years of updates for Graphene.