Tried getting a Librem phone, ended up getting partially hoaxed (it is an “investment” and you’re a “backer”. You’re not a customer.)
Thought of getting a pinephone instead but ended up getting a pixel and I can feel Google’s tentacles all over… But I accept them unti I can do better.
As someone who has been using Pixels (and Motos and Nexuses) for a while, I was getting them largely because they were pretty hassle free to crack the bootloader and sideload a ROM that lets me actually modify the interface (and other root-access shenanigans). That said, I recently learned about graphene and I intend to give it a try when I have the time to mess with things.
Consider looking into graphene-os. I haven’t used it yet, but it purports to force google’s apps back into the sandbox, and replace most of their methods with reverse engineered ones that don’t phone home.
GrapheneOS is basically stock Android for Pixel phones, but more privacy features baked in. If anything was to go wrong, you aren’t touching the recovery partition, so you can revert to stock easily.
Tried getting a Librem phone, ended up getting partially hoaxed (it is an “investment” and you’re a “backer”. You’re not a customer.)
Thought of getting a pinephone instead but ended up getting a pixel and I can feel Google’s tentacles all over… But I accept them unti I can do better.
I am surprised you didn’t install graphene on it? Seems to be the only reason to buy a pixel imo
As someone who has been using Pixels (and Motos and Nexuses) for a while, I was getting them largely because they were pretty hassle free to crack the bootloader and sideload a ROM that lets me actually modify the interface (and other root-access shenanigans). That said, I recently learned about graphene and I intend to give it a try when I have the time to mess with things.
Install Graphene, free yourself from the tentacles
Consider looking into graphene-os. I haven’t used it yet, but it purports to force google’s apps back into the sandbox, and replace most of their methods with reverse engineered ones that don’t phone home.
Since you have a Pixel you can install GrapheneOS on it which excludes all of the Google from Android.
Maybe down the line… Last time I fiddled with a Xiaomi Redmi note it ended up without IMEI , forcing me to get a new phone so I am weary.
GrapheneOS is basically stock Android for Pixel phones, but more privacy features baked in. If anything was to go wrong, you aren’t touching the recovery partition, so you can revert to stock easily.