GrapheneOS icon
GrapheneOS icon

GrapheneOS

GrapheneOS is a privacy and security focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility developed as a non-profit open source project. It's focused on the research and development of privacy and security technology including substantial improvements to sandboxing, exploit...

GrapheneOS screenshot 1

Cost / License

  • Free
  • Open Source (MIT)

Application types

Platforms

  • Android
  • Android Tablet
4.7
Excellent27 reviews
183likes
17comments

Features

Properties

  1.  Security-focused
  2.  Privacy focused
  3.  Lightweight

Features

  1.  Mobile OS
  2.  OTA Updates
  3.  No Tracking
  4.  Ad-free
  5.  No registration required
  6.  Dark Mode
  7.  Anti Tampering
  8.  Works Offline

GrapheneOS News & Activities

Highlights All activities

Recent News

Recent activities

  • Payonisher liked GrapheneOS
  • robertt-68 reviewed GrapheneOS  

    This OS is the best OS in the world of Android. The only OS you can truly say can save your digital life and actually let you own your phone, not be slaves to it.

    This OS is made for you as a human being, not as a product.

    When you have a GrapheneOS phone, you are safe again, secured and protected, and most importantly, you are in control of your phone and your apps. And I can confirm 100% that you will never ever find this in any other OS, even iOS or Linux-based phones.

    I've never felt so...

  • robertt-68 liked GrapheneOS
  • App icon
    fbdhvbdjv added GrapheneOS as alternative to VoltageOS and RestlessOS
  • Droidian icon
    3F1 added GrapheneOS as alternative to Droidian
  • Kupfer Linux icon
    3F1 added GrapheneOS as alternative to Kupfer Linux
  • openstreet-quickstep896, begenmedim, vbsrdbfsw and Dakota_Nomad liked GrapheneOS

Comments and Reviews

   
Comment summary: GrapheneOS receives high praise for its security and privacy features, essential for IT professionals and recommended for others seeking maximum data protection. The installation process is considered smooth, and the OS blends well into an Android environment with fast updates and enhancements. However, some criticize the community for being inhospitable and engaging in conflicts with other projects. Despite this, users continue to focus on GrapheneOS's strengths, appreciating its functionality and compatibility with apps.
Top Positive Comment
joltman
11

As an IT security and privacy expert for regulated industries, this is all I use personally and professionally and is always my top recommendation for others seeking maximum security and privacy of their data and identities.

robertt-68
0

This OS is the best OS in the world of Android. The only OS you can truly say can save your digital life and actually let you own your phone, not be slaves to it.

This OS is made for you as a human being, not as a product.

When you have a GrapheneOS phone, you are safe again, secured and protected, and most importantly, you are in control of your phone and your apps. And I can confirm 100% that you will never ever find this in any other OS, even iOS or Linux-based phones.

I've never felt so happy and so confident using a phone until I installed this OS. And how much my perspective changed from the moment I used it until now is huge.

You will never ever comprehend the amount of data tracking and bloat you're in, and how much you became a slave and just a source of money. You blindly use the default of whatever OS or app you find without even thinking one second about how much you lose as a human. It is a disaster for us as users of software.

And you won't see these points until you use GrapheneOS.

This project is beyond just another secure OS.

This is a cause that loses every day because of illiterate people.

It's a cause of “me as a user using software, not being a slave/product sold to advertising companies.”

This project is the GOAT.

It needs support because it stands for our side, not capitalism.

I won't talk about how easy it is to install it, or how stable, faster, cleaner, and better this OS is than even stock OS or any other phone company OS. The fellas already showed that.

Don't think of it as a custom ROM that needs care.

This is what an OS should be and what you should use.

There isn't a single issue in terms of using it.

It's better than the OS of huge companies.

I used it for years, and I used Xiaomi for years, and this OS is better and more stable than MIUI.

Forget about any glitches or app compatibility or that stupid banking apps issue. That's history.

You should change your perspective about it. Don't see it as a custom ROM, see it as a normal OS just like iOS, ColorOS, or HarmonyOS.

Just that it is made for you, not for them.

uk6ie
1

It feels more like "Vanilla Android" than even Google's PixelOS. It's highly private and doesn't have the incompatibility and security drawbacks of CustomROMs. It's honest, ethical and relatively simple. I've used it for years and it's my favorite OS. Even reliability is great, and that's coming from an alpha-tester. And all that while being completely open source and independent/donation-funded – GrapheneOS is almost too good to be true.

jamz
1

It is the most private and secure mobile OS at the moment, and it works well. It also has an option for having a sandboxed Google Play Services, if one needs it. Installation is super-easy too.

Waldemar Schmidt
1

Easy Setup, instructions are easy to follow, using it for years now with only a few disadvantages, but a big leap in terms of data protection. Love it.

RemovedUser
2

GrapheneOS is the only mobile operating system that really focuses on security and privacy; the security competitor is iOS.

GrapheneOS is general-purpose and entirely user-centric, the operating system strives to be as easy to use as possible, ideally, a user experience almost identical to that of the original operating system, updates are very fast, security and privacy enhancements, additions and features are done elegantly and without disrupting the user.

The highest-priority security and privacy enhancements are visible only via the code, and are not modifiable via a user interface.

Review by a new / low-activity user.
alternative-atonable413
2

Arguably the most secure OS out there and it is not hard to use and install. Even when you just use sandboxed google play to install apps it is way more secure and private then other any other OS you could run.

7 of 17 comments

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What is GrapheneOS?

GrapheneOS is a privacy and security focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility developed as a non-profit open source project. It's focused on the research and development of privacy and security technology including substantial improvements to sandboxing, exploit mitigations and the permission model. GrapheneOS also develops various apps and services with a focus on privacy and security. Vanadium is a hardened variant of the Chromium browser and WebView specifically built for GrapheneOS. GrapheneOS also includes our minimal security-focused PDF Viewer, our hardware-based Auditor app / attestation service providing local and remote verification of devices, and the externally developed Seedvault encrypted backup which was initially developed for inclusion in GrapheneOS.

GrapheneOS improves the privacy and security of the OS from the bottom up. It deploys technologies to mitigate whole classes of vulnerabilities and make exploiting the most common sources of vulnerabilities substantially more difficult. It improves the security of both the OS and the apps running on it. The app sandbox and other security boundaries are fortified. GrapheneOS tries to avoid impacting the user experience with the privacy and security features. Ideally, the features can be designed so that they're always enabled with no impact on the user experience and no additional complexity like configuration options. It's not always feasible, and GrapheneOS does add various toggles for features like the Network permission, Sensors permission, restrictions when the device is locked (USB peripherals, camera, quick tiles), etc. along with more complex user-facing privacy and security features with their own UX.

GrapheneOS will never include either Google Play services or another implementation of Google services like microG. Those are not included in the Android Open Source Project and are not required for baseline Android compatibility.

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Official Links

GrapheneOS information

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Our users have written 17 comments and reviews about GrapheneOS, and it has gotten 183 likes

GrapheneOS was added to AlternativeTo by hook54321a on and this page was last updated .