1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:06,720 Every time I so much as mention a phone, the comment section is filled with folks 2 00:00:04,319 --> 00:00:10,320 insisting that I should have used graphine OS. Don't want any 3 00:00:08,559 --> 00:00:15,040 pre-installed bloat on your Pixel? Graphine OS. Don't want anybody keeping 4 00:00:12,719 --> 00:00:19,520 an eye on whatever it is you're doing? Graphine OS. Stop your toe running from 5 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:25,960 the cops. Graphine OS. It doesn't seem to matter 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,960 what the problem is. Ow. 7 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:36,079 or if there even is a problem. The answer always seems to be get graphine 8 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:38,079 OS. So I did and it turns out that the 9 00:00:36,079 --> 00:00:43,120 things that make Graphine OS a great choice for narr also make it a pretty 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:46,800 great choice for anyone who cares deeply about [music] their privacy and their 11 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:51,039 security. If you're not already in the know, Graphine OS is based on the 12 00:00:48,879 --> 00:00:55,600 Android open source project and it has Android app compatibility, but it comes 13 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:58,960 without [music] the corporate spyware and the bloat that's baked into 14 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:03,039 mainstream Android thanks to its dedicated nonprofit open-source team. 15 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:06,479 And the best part is you don't need any weird hardware to run it. It can be 16 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:10,740 installed with minimal hassle on any recent generation Pixel. So, let's see 17 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:16,720 if Graphine OS can fit my admittedly [music] rather unique needs. Right after this 18 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:20,159 unique segue to our sponsors, >> War Thunder. Immerse yourself in a 19 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:24,400 virtual battlefield full of realistically modeled vehicles and 20 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:28,640 deafening sound effects for free. Get started today on PC, consoles, or even 21 00:01:26,799 --> 00:01:32,200 your mobile device by clicking our link in the video description. 22 00:01:34,976 --> 00:01:36,996 >> [music] 23 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:45,040 >> Graphine OS boasts a truly massive list of enhancements that help ensure that 24 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:49,280 you are the one who's in control of your device and you stay in control [music] 25 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:53,200 regardless of your carrier. Unlike other mobile operating systems, and yes, 26 00:01:51,351 --> 00:01:57,280 [music] that means even iOS, uncompromising privacy and security are 27 00:01:55,439 --> 00:02:02,159 baked right into its fabric to the point where Graphine literally won't even ask 28 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:05,520 a third party server for the time of day unless you change a setting to 29 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:09,440 explicitly allow it to. Some of our highlights include pin scrambling, which 30 00:02:07,759 --> 00:02:13,200 makes it harder to guess your PIN from looking over your shoulder or checking 31 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:17,280 for grease spots on your screen. The ability to use a second factor on top of 32 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:22,160 your fingerprint in order to unlock your phone. support for longer passwords, the 33 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:26,959 ability to schedule reboots to keep any unused data out of memory where it could 34 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:30,800 possibly be retrieved, and this last one's really cool. If you're ever in a 35 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:34,400 situation where the [music] data or the accounts on your phone could be used 36 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:38,959 against you, you can set it up with a duress pin or password that when entered 37 00:02:36,546 --> 00:02:44,000 [music] will irreversibly wipe both your device and any installed eims. Just uh 38 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:47,360 be careful with that last one, though. The OS assumes that if you enter a 39 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:50,720 duress code, [music] you really mean it. And that wipe cannot be stopped. Now, I 40 00:02:49,599 --> 00:02:56,640 could probably spend the rest of this video talking about more privacy and security innovations in graph OS. But if 41 00:02:54,959 --> 00:03:01,920 that's your jam, you'd actually probably be better off checking out their website, which we'll have linked down 42 00:02:58,959 --> 00:03:05,440 below. It's a fascinating read, even if you have no intention of installing it. 43 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,280 And [music] I'm not the only one who thinks so. There are a ton of features 44 00:03:07,599 --> 00:03:13,200 that they don't mention there anymore because while they may have originated 45 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:18,560 in graphine OS, they've since been adopted by mainline Android or AOSP. 46 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:22,640 Now, let's talk about using it. Beyond just being more secure and more private, 47 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:27,680 or maybe because of those priorities, Graphin OS starts up with a lot less 48 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:33,680 software running or even installed versus what shipped on this Pixel 9a. 49 00:03:30,239 --> 00:03:36,400 I'm talking 14 apps in the app drawer. 50 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:39,840 14. All directly from the good folks at Graphine OS themselves. These 51 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:43,920 pre-installed apps are meant to cover your basic smartphone functions. And 52 00:03:42,319 --> 00:03:49,120 through this experiment, I've learned that many security and privacy conscious 53 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:54,799 users prefer to use progressive web apps or PWAs or even just plain old websites 54 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:58,720 rather than the permissionhungry native apps that [music] get pushed on us. So 55 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:04,000 that's where Venadium comes in. It's Graphine's hardened version of Chromium. 56 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:08,480 But that's not to say that you can't run native apps. Graphine does come with an 57 00:04:06,319 --> 00:04:12,959 app store and that app store includes two additional app stores. Yes, that's 58 00:04:10,959 --> 00:04:17,359 right. A full quarter of the apps in the graphine OS app store are themselves app 59 00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:21,600 stores. [music] The first one is a Crescent, a privacy 60 00:04:19,919 --> 00:04:25,280 and security focused app store that is currently in [music] alpha. It's only 61 00:04:23,199 --> 00:04:29,199 got a few dozen apps so far and it could probably use a little UX love, but 62 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:33,520 clearly Graphine thinks it's got legs if they're including it as the only non- 63 00:04:31,199 --> 00:04:37,040 Googlele non-graph OS app in the built-in app store. And it was through a 64 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:40,720 Crescent that I found two of the coolest apps of this [music] whole experiment. 65 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:44,800 Transcribe Bro is an ondevice speechtoext keyboard that works 66 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:49,840 remarkably well, at least in English, completely offline. It uses the OpenAI 67 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:54,880 whisper family of [music] models and Cero VAD for voice activity detection. I 68 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:59,040 do [music] wish the record button would go red when it's listening, but I mean, 69 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:02,240 hey, it's open source, so that'll probably be fixed by the time you watch 70 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:08,080 this video. I also want to highlight organic maps, a no ad, no tracking, no 71 00:05:05,919 --> 00:05:12,160 data collection map app that works offline using open [music] street map 72 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:16,880 data. It comes with a basic map for the world. And then as you zoom in further, 73 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:20,479 I think it was around 10 km to 1 cm scale, you'll be prompted to download 74 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:23,840 additional details for that region. Once I figured out how to give it the right 75 00:05:21,759 --> 00:05:28,080 location permissions to get GPS working, it was almost the perfect mapping app. 76 00:05:26,479 --> 00:05:32,240 The only thing I missed was traffic overlay. And yes, I fully get why it 77 00:05:30,639 --> 00:05:37,600 doesn't have real-time traffic. You don't need to privacy split it to me. I 78 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:39,600 just like avoiding traffic. The second 79 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:44,800 included app store is good old-fashioned Google Play. Oh, thank goodness. Where 80 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:47,919 else would I get all the apps I need? Okay, I know there are other places to 81 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:52,720 get them, but we'll get to those later because first, Google Play Store gives 82 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:57,680 me a chance to talk about Graphine OS's compatibility layer that lets you 83 00:05:54,639 --> 00:06:00,720 install official releases of Google Play 84 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:03,280 into the standard app sandbox. This 85 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:07,520 forces Google Play and all of its supporting services to actually respect 86 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:11,280 your permission settings rather than getting special unfettered access to 87 00:06:09,919 --> 00:06:15,759 your device. [music] It also expands on the typical Android 88 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:20,720 permission system, adding controls for network and sensor access. And Graphine 89 00:06:18,639 --> 00:06:24,960 even lets you set limited scope access to storage and contacts, so you can keep 90 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:29,199 apps from snooping around where you don't want them to. And if that's not 91 00:06:27,199 --> 00:06:33,039 enough, you can install your app stores and your apps into different user 92 00:06:31,199 --> 00:06:37,440 profiles, which allows you to restrict their access to only what's in that 93 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:41,360 profile. Meaning that any apps in your Google profile can't talk to apps in 94 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:45,360 your Facebook profile. and vice versa. We found one example of someone using 95 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:51,360 eight separate profiles to segregate their various apps and data. Wow. But 96 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:55,840 I'm just a simple small time tech tuber. So if [music] the graphine OS usage 97 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:59,520 guide says it's simplest to run a single profile, 98 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:03,919 that's what I'm going to do. Sorry to disappoint the graphine OS hardcores, 99 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:08,639 but I'm three app stores deep and a dozen paragraphs into this video and I 100 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:12,240 can't even check my email yet. Okay, I could through my browser, but you guys 101 00:07:10,319 --> 00:07:17,520 know what I mean. So, my next step then was to install all my typical apps. And 102 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:22,880 not going to lie, it was kind of a hassle, but [music] with good 103 00:07:19,599 --> 00:07:25,360 intentions. Let me explain. See, I 104 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:29,520 switch phones a lot, and normally when I massinstall my app loadout, the store 105 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:33,840 just kind of gives me a couple catch-all permission prompts and then downloads 106 00:07:31,759 --> 00:07:40,000 all my junk in the name of expediency. Graphine OS, not so much. It asked me 107 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:45,039 about everything, which really made me conscious of how much permission I'm 108 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:49,680 giving away, even if it did make the process drag on for so long that I ended 109 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:53,280 up reaching out to the development team behind Graphine OS to make sure that I 110 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:56,560 hadn't broken something. They were a massive help, by the way, for the entire 111 00:07:54,800 --> 00:08:01,919 month of my experiment. So, uh, shout out Spring Onion, if that is your real 112 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:06,319 name. On the subject of apps, most of them 113 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:11,039 just plain worked. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that even my beloved 114 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:14,800 Pixel exclusive call screening worked immediately once I installed the Google 115 00:08:13,039 --> 00:08:19,840 dialer. And this should hold true for other exclusive Pixel apps and [music] 116 00:08:16,639 --> 00:08:22,560 features like the camera. Pretty cool. 117 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:26,319 But nothing's perfect, and that includes graphine OS. Check out this issue that I 118 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:30,879 had with Facebook while I was live on the WAN Show. And my new BFF, Spring 119 00:08:29,199 --> 00:08:36,240 Onion, had to jump in and save me from some other, let's call them, unintuitive 120 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:40,719 experiences as well. See, it turns out that some apps really need play services 121 00:08:38,959 --> 00:08:45,839 running in the background all the time. I hadn't enabled that, so I found some 122 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:50,080 pretty weird behavior. Oh, Swift Key. This one had me totally stumped. I 123 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:53,920 couldn't use dictation, and it kept telling me I needed this dependency app, 124 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:57,440 but then it wasn't the right one. No, see, I had to go get a separate speech 125 00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:02,560 recognition app, and then I had to give that app microphone access before I 126 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:04,880 could dictate. Oh, okay. Also, some apps 127 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:09,120 that use the Play Integrity API, it's mostly banking apps, just plain didn't 128 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:14,160 work. Maybe that's the issue we had with eBay. I'm not sure. That app just tells 129 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:18,399 me it's not available for my device. And as for screenshot editing, that required 130 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:22,480 a separate install of markup from the graphine OS app store. See, it's not in 131 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:27,360 Google Play for some reason and is also not part of the default install. 132 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:32,480 Finally, there's Android Auto. That was a special experience. See, there is a 133 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:35,600 sandbox version in the graphine store, which is great. [music] But even after 134 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:40,800 enabling all the permissions I could find, it was still struggling to 135 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:42,800 connect. I then discovered that, oh, of 136 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:47,680 course, the default behavior when you connect [music] a USB cable is charge 137 00:09:44,959 --> 00:09:53,440 only and there is no prompt to enable data transfer. Well, that is very 138 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:57,760 secure. It just means that in order to get around it, you need to know to go 139 00:09:55,680 --> 00:10:01,519 find the menu to enable data transfer, and you have to know that [music] that 140 00:09:59,279 --> 00:10:07,040 includes Android Auto. So, then I was all set, right? Wrong. Android Auto 141 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:11,777 continued to be a problem for a little while yet. It was mostly just dumb 142 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:16,320 little hiccups like slow navigation and [music] GPS position updates, uh, not 143 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:19,839 having access to my contacts, etc., etc. and I would dutifully go digging through 144 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:25,440 the permissions to figure out what I'd missed, but it was enough to be 145 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:27,519 annoying. Now, to address the herd of 146 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:32,320 elephants in the room, some folks will insist that installing Google Anything 147 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:37,279 on this means that I'm doing Graphion OS wrong. And if I'm honest, putting Google 148 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:42,000 Play on here did feel a little dirty. But the fact is, guys, I use products 149 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:47,519 and services from companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple every day to 150 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:51,040 do my job. And in most cases, they really do need most of the permissions 151 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:57,360 that they're asking for in order to function properly, which kind of bummed 152 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:59,120 me out. But my new pal, Pummer Alien, 153 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:02,720 had a really great perspective on this, pointing out that Graphine OS is 154 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:07,200 designed to improve the privacy and security of everyone, not just the 155 00:11:04,959 --> 00:11:11,279 hardcores and the obsessives. And their team totally understands that we're not 156 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:15,760 all able to ditch the apps that we need for work or for communicating with our 157 00:11:13,279 --> 00:11:20,399 kids. and they work hard to ensure that you'll still be much better off running 158 00:11:17,839 --> 00:11:24,500 those things in graphin OS than you are in a Google flavored version of Android 159 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:28,560 or a Xiai flavored version of Android. [music] With that said, if you're lucky enough 160 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:32,640 that you don't need to rely on things from our corporate overlords, maybe 161 00:11:30,377 --> 00:11:37,200 [music] you could get away without the official Play Store. Aurora is an option 162 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:40,399 that I saw mentioned a lot on the graph OS forums and on the [music] subreddit. 163 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:45,360 There are some disagreements as to whether it is technically an app store, 164 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:50,079 but its main purpose is to search for apps and download apps from the Play 165 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:54,320 Store anonymously, which seems close enough in my books. And it's pretty 166 00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:58,800 awesome for any apps that you don't need to log into. Foid would be another 167 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:02,320 option, and there's many other app stores with rabid fans that I'm sure I'm 168 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:06,399 angering right now by not providing an exhaustive list. So, um, sorry for that 169 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:10,320 in advance. Another option is to just download the APK files you need and 170 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:14,320 sideloadad your apps. [music] However, if you're going to take that approach, 171 00:12:12,079 --> 00:12:17,680 please do your due diligence. Make sure you can trust the source and always 172 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:23,920 check the hashes of anything you download before you install it on your phone. If what I said was confusing just 173 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:29,200 now, just use an app store until you get up to speed. Anyway, that was a lot and 174 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:34,560 I still haven't given a bottom line. Graphin OS reminded me a lot of my past 175 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:38,720 experiments daily driving Linux. And like the Linux crowd, many Graphine OS 176 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:44,800 users probably don't even notice the little side quests that crop up during 177 00:12:41,279 --> 00:12:47,200 regular use. But for others, these this 178 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:50,720 should just work moments can be very frustrating. And if you're wondering 179 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:54,399 which bucket you fall into, we came across a really great perspective on 180 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:57,839 this question on the graphine forums that I'm going to have to paraphrase 181 00:12:55,680 --> 00:13:01,600 because we lost a link. It all comes down to trade-offs. Are you willing to 182 00:12:59,839 --> 00:13:04,800 give up a little bit of convenience for more security and privacy? Or do you 183 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:10,160 prefer to give up a little bit of privacy for, say, live traffic data in 184 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:14,480 your mapping app? Do you prefer to tinker and tweak and have control over 185 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:20,160 your phone? Or do you want your OS to just fade into the background of your 186 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:22,639 life and just work? So, is Graphine OS 187 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:26,800 for you? Well, based on the questions that I just asked, you probably already 188 00:13:24,959 --> 00:13:30,399 have the answer in your mind. [music] If you're the sort of person that would try 189 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:34,880 a different OS on your phone, Graphine OS gives a ton of control in a package 190 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:38,000 that I would call polished enough for the kind of person that doesn't mind a 191 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:42,399 little bit of tinkering to keep things running smoothly. And if you're trying 192 00:13:39,839 --> 00:13:47,920 to deleg your life, it seems like a major piece of that puzzle. As for me, 193 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:51,600 at the moment with companies, kids, wife, not to mention other hobbies that 194 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:55,839 I just plain enjoy more than tinkering with OSS, Final Fantasy Tactics remaster 195 00:13:53,839 --> 00:14:00,639 just came out. I am loving it already. Maybe not today, [music] maybe not 196 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:04,320 tomorrow, but soon. And for the rest of my life. You know what else I'll do for 197 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:08,959 the rest of my life? Segue to our sponsor, War Thunder. Where can you see 198 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:13,120 1920s biplanes share the skies with modern-day fighter jets? On the vast 199 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:17,279 battlefields of War Thunder, of course. With over 2500 vehicles for you to 200 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:20,639 command, you're bound to have a unique experience every time you get behind the 201 00:14:19,279 --> 00:14:26,079 wheel. And you're not just driving around aimlessly. Immersive sound effects will envelop you as you try to 202 00:14:24,079 --> 00:14:30,320 take out your enemy. Adding to the realism is how each tank, ship, or plane 203 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:33,760 is modeled after their real life counterparts, right down to the 204 00:14:32,079 --> 00:14:37,600 individual components that can all sustain damage. Learning how each 205 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:42,160 vehicle works can give you a competitive advantage. But if all of that sounds a 206 00:14:39,839 --> 00:14:46,880 bit too hardcore for you, no worries. War Thunder has game modes fit for all 207 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:50,160 skill levels and intensity preferences. So click our link in the video 208 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:54,000 description to get started for free on PC, console, and even your mobile 209 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:57,040 devices. If you like this video, maybe check out the time that I had three 210 00:14:55,440 --> 00:15:00,639 Android users switch to [music] Apple for a month. It's a two-parter and 211 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:07,120 provides a lot of interesting insights on what it's like for a regular [music] 212 00:15:02,959 --> 00:15:07,120 but techsavvy user to make the