Ask HN: How to have a secure smart phone in 2022

[throwaway54313]

My understanding is that if I want a safe, secure, and private smart phone (no personal data being siphoned off to google or apple etc) I have 2 choices in 2022:

1. Don't have a smart phone 2. Spend around $600 on a pixel 6 and replace the stock android OS with GrapheneOS.

Am I wrong? I would love to be proven wrong!

[ev1]

A Pixel 4a or 5a is $200-400 and works fine with Graphene. Don't get anything below 4a in terms of age if that is your plan.

Also, they have back hardware fingerprint reader instead of in-screen with the 6/6 Pro which has been orders of magnitude more responsive, at least for me. I routinely have issues with the in-screen readers.

[throwaway54313]

My concern with getting a pixel less than 6 is that the phone would only be supported for a year or two by google which means I'd have to get a new phone or have firmware that is not receiving security patches.

[ev1]

Wait, is that not what Graphene is for?

[throwaway54313]

My limited understanding is that smart phones also have firmware that is distributed by the manufacturer that also requires security updates. So grapheneos takes care of the operating system, but google would need to provide the firmware updates. I think this is one of the reasons why the graphene docs recommend a pixel 6/6a, as they have an unusually (for android) long support life from google - 5 years or so.

[MerelyMortal]

Apparently the Librem 5 has been making a lot of progress on being usable, but there's still a long delay between placing an order and getting it.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30760883

[throwaway54313]

I'd love to get a linux phone but the librem wait time seems to be at least a year (that blogger said he'd been waiting since 2018) and the librem5 is $1200. I can't really justify spending that much on a phone.

[MerelyMortal]

There appears to be an inverse relationship between cost and delivery delay. I paid around $650, but I had to wait four years :-) It's worth it though. If you can afford it, I recommend ordering now to get your place in line. The software will be better then at least.

[throwawayHN378]

Also you need to buy the Pixel directly from Google. If you buy from carrier you can opt too the Pixel

[throwaway54313]

What does "If you buy from carrier you can opt too the Pixel" mean? Sorry if I am being dense.

[ev1]

You can not root [I assume autocorrect]/bootloader unlock the Pixel if you buy a carrier phone in the US. The carrier or network unlock status does not matter. They will not let you bootloader unlock it to put your own OS on. It does not matter if you pay 100% of it, not financed, etc. If it's sold by them it's disabled.

Examples: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/unlocking-pixel-5-for-ver...

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/156939637/pixel...

https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/bmdtlu/tmobile...