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by preisschild 1401 days ago
Even a non-popular Android isn't a choice for govmt e-id.

I use a hardened Android distro (GrapheneOS) on my phone. Even with a locked bootloader and no root my countries (austria) e-government app and my banking app blocks me due to a "integrity check" failing.

2 comments

I would guess it is because GrapheneOS does not pass the Google "SafteyNet" check. The Android distros that are more well known do not pass by default due to Google coming after them if they do. LineageOS has not passed it for the last few years.

There are pretty simple patches you can apply though to get it passing, assuming nothing else about the phone triggers it.

I don't even have the Google Services installed on my phone because I consider them a security and privacy risk.

For now I can use my computer, because they fortunately also have a website, but I could see in the near-future that you have to have this app installed.

Well that is the failure. If you don't give data to Google ( or Apple, or MS etc) you are considered by them as "a security and privacy risk.". Their privacy and security is at risk.
You can run google services in a sandbox on grapheneos for only select programs.
I would like to get a Pixel with GrapheneOS for my next phone but this is holding me back. Even if some of my banking apps are currently reported to work, there is no guarantee they won't break in future. It's too risky for me unfortunately, which is annoying.
I would love grapheneOS on some better hardware - I didn’t want to sacrifice on that, so I went with an iphone which have a similarly good security-story.