Secure mobile operating system DivestOS ends after a decade of development
In a surprising turn of events, the maintainer of DivestOS, a private and secure mobile operating system, has announced the final update and the termination of the open-source project. In a note titled Anniversary and Final Update, it was revealed that after a decade of development and over 7,000 git commits, this month will mark the project's end. Consequently, DivestOS and its associated apps, such as the Firefox-based browser Mull, the Hypatia malware scanner, and the Carrion call blocker, will cease to receive updates.
The announcement clarified that non-mobile Divested projects like Brace, D-WRT, real-ucode, and DNS blocklists will continue to receive maintenance. However, most forum threads will be closed, and the DivestOS XMPP chat rooms will be shut down. Additionally, donations will no longer be accepted, and all recurring donations will be canceled.
This decision has left many users surprised and saddened, although the lack of funding and the fact that it was a one-person project provide some context for the shutdown. Users seeking alternatives to DivestOS can consider options such as GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, /e/, LineageOS, and others.
External links
- Anniversary and Final UpdateDivestOS • Official source
- The end of mobile Divested projectsPrivacy Guides
- The DivestOS project has endedTechlore
Comments
Really sad to see this amazing project stopping... DivestOS was bringing harden security feature to its degoogled LineageOS fork and that was an amazing thing. It wasn't the most compatible option (no microG or PlayServices), wasn't the most secure either but it was a great option to bring second life to old hardware, especially OnePlus's devices. And their apps were really really really good too. Will miss this piece of tech 🫡
I have been using Mull for a long time. Hopefully somebody steps up to maintain it...
I bought a degoogled phone a few months back, picked /e/ over DivestOS. This was quite surprising to see, as I was wondering if something other than /e/ would have been better. Maybe it's time I learned to flash my own phone LOL
Any of the other options for OSes other than GrapheneOS would be a downgrade to security and privacy.
One of the goals of DivestOS was to provide some security patches to older devices and additional mitigations for exploitable devices and Android versions. This harm reduction would be reversed by choosing LineageOS, CalyxOS, or /e/OS.
GrapheneOS is the only option there that would provide any (and substantial) hardening and privacy improvements.
Hopefully someone forks and continues the app projects the original author started. Mull has been a really good fork of Firefox. Wish the same for Hypatia, esp. since there's no real alternatives for it that aren't dead or freemium proprietary.