GrapheneOS might skip the Pixel 11 series over the lack of MTE hardware security support

GrapheneOS has issued a strong recommendation against purchasing the newly released Pixel 11 series after discovering that Google removed support for ARM hardware memory tagging (MTE), a critical security feature the privacy-focused operating system relies upon extensively. According to the project's official announcement on Mastodon, the lack of MTE support in software, firmware, and hardware makes completing a functional port impossible after a week of development efforts. “It appears Google cut an important security feature to save money”, the team wrote, marking a significant departure from their long-standing support for Google's Pixel line.

The missing MTE capability is central to GrapheneOS's security architecture, deployed across the entire base OS including the kernel and every standard process to protect against nearly all remote exploits and many local ones. While Apple's iPhone 17 successfully implements equivalent technology through its Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE) feature, and Android 16's Advanced Protection Mode enables it for select processes, neither platform encourages widespread adoption among user-installed applications, a capability GrapheneOS provides automatically with per-app toggles. The Pixel 11 does introduce some security improvements, including post-quantum secure verified boot using ML-DSA and enhanced protection against data extraction through Titan M3, but the team characterized the removal of MTE as having “cratered” security in the After First Unlock state.

In light of these developments, GrapheneOS has accelerated plans for a partnership with Motorola, citing that Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chips offer substantially better performance along with proper MTE implementation. The project indicated they may skip Pixel 11 devices entirely and redirect focus toward the upcoming Motorola devices expected to launch with GrapheneOS support. While reaffirming their commitment to continuing support for existing Pixel 8, 9, and 10 series devices, the team noted that Pixel support was removed from the Android Open Source Project with Android 16, complicating maintenance and making the diversification strategy increasingly necessary for the project's long-term sustainability.