I’m a long-time follower and supporter of both Fairphone’s ethical tech initiatives and the privacy-centric approach of GrapheneOS. Today, I’d like to share an idea with you all and gather your thoughts.
The Proposal:
What if Fairphone and GrapheneOS joined forces? Imagine a smartphone that embodies the best of both worlds: Fairphone’s commitment to ethical and sustainable production, combined with the advanced privacy and security features of GrapheneOS. This could create a unique product that appeals to a wide audience, especially those who prioritize both ethical manufacturing and digital security.
Why This Makes Sense:
Extended Market Reach: A Fairphone with top-notch security features could be a game-changer, attracting a segment of the market that’s currently underserved.
Shared Values: Both organizations stand for empowering users and ethical practices, making this partnership a natural alliance.
Innovation in Tech: Merging Fairphone’s sustainable hardware with the security-focused software of GrapheneOS could lead to a pioneering product in the smartphone industry.
Challenges and Opportunities:
No doubt, this endeavor would have its challenges, including the technical aspects of integration and aligning the visions of both Fairphone and GrapheneOS. However, the potential to innovate and impact the market is immense.
Your Thoughts and My Role:
I’m keen to hear what this community thinks about this idea. Do you see this as a feasible and beneficial collaboration? And if such a venture were to proceed, what features or aspects would you consider crucial?
As for me, I’m here to help make this idea a reality in any capacity I can. I’m on board whether it’s spreading the word, contributing to discussions, or any other form of support.
Looking forward to an engaging discussion and hopefully, a positive step forward in the world of ethical and secure technology!
No doubt there are lots of technical challenges (FP creating a brand new device (FP5+?) with the correct security chips etc.)…
And social challenges (making it worthwhile for the Graphene devs to support a fairly niche/low volume device).
But of all manufacturers, Fairphone is a great match for GrapheneOS.
When picking a new phone a couple years ago, I really disliked having to choose between security and sustainability!
When the FP5 was announced I was hoping (but not expecting) it would be a collaboration with GrapheneOS. My biggest wish regarding future Fairphones is for GrapheneOS to be available for them, as I’ve expressed in the Fairphone 6 Ideas topic.
At the moment this seems rather unlikely though. Graphene has very high requirements that FP cannot meet at this moment. Some things hopefully improve (FP has expressed interest in releasing Android security updates faster for example), some hardware related things might be more difficult to solve (what kind of secure element is there available to FP to build into their phones other than the standard Arm Trustzone that apparantly isn’t capable enough?).
Apart from that, I doubt whether the market for ethical, sustainable phones that are also privacy friendly and secure is really that big. I’d love to be proven otherwise though, if someone has done market research on that.
Understandably security isn’t one of the main things Fairphone focusses on, and it’s possibly one of the hardest things to get right, but I definitely hope it will become a priority at some point. If that were to happen then a collaboration with GrapheneOS could be great indeed.
Hello,
there already exists a '“deGoogled” OS that is compatible with Fairphone called e/OS
But contrary to GrapheneOS it uses microG to get access to some Google services
May I ask a question : since both OS are open source, what prevent e/OS to reach the security standard of GrapheneOS ? Is it only because of microG ? are there hardware specific needs (that could be the reason of the demand of ianonymous3000) ?)
Best regards
GrapheneOS and eOS are two different operating systems. GrapheneOS is a secure and private OS that has undergone significant security improvements. You can find more information about GrapheneOS at this URL: https[://]grapheneos[.]org/features.
On the other hand, eOS is not a secure OS. It is unable to maintain security and often goes for months without standard patches being applied. Even recommended patches outside of the baseline Android security bulletin are not applied on time. If your phone does not have the most up-to-date OS version, it will be missing most of the recommended patches. If it is end-of-life, it will be missing around half of the mandatory ones.
In terms of compatibility with Android apps, GrapheneOS provides a sandboxed Google Play compatibility layer. This means that most Play Store apps can be run on GrapheneOS, but not with the problematic microG approach. You can find more information about this at this URL: https[://]grapheneos[.]org/usage#sandboxed-google-play.
If you want to compare different Android ROMs, you can check out this resource for a comprehensive comparison: Comparison of Android ROMs.
Might as well chip in here and suggest that if you’re looking for a compromise between security and sustainability, something between e/OS and the stock Fairphone experience, Fairphone also partners with iodéOS, who offer it pre-installed on the FP4 and (shortly) on the FP5, in addition to other branded devices. I have it self-installed on my FP3+.
Android updates arrive faster on iodé than either e/OS or Fairphone’s standard OS. The previously proprietary iodé built-in ad-blocker and privacy features are now open-sourced. Personally I dislike phones generally so don’t use mine for too much, just texts, photos, occasional browsing, maps and calls, one or two little things and virtually no additional apps, so I’m not the best person to ask about iodé’s performance or functionality. What I like is that it’s a clean, responsive deGoogled system that stays out of my way, gets regular updates and allows you to uninstall even standard pre-installed apps if you don’t want them.
Based on LineageOS, with iodé you don’t get e/OS’s suite of cloud-based apps and backup. Personally I don’t want any of that. I’m responsible for backing up my own data onto my PC and elsewhere, but it might be jarring to anybody who’s used to having that stuff available from the get-go.
I’m not a security expert, just a regular consumer with certain ethical bents.
If I look at the most recent monthly iodéOS updates, each one contains a line, ‘LineageOS synchronized with {current month} security patch included’, amongst other items.
I got my FP3+ just under two years ago and installed iodéOS 2.3 on it, based on Android 11 I believe. At that time it took several months for Fairphone’s OS to catch up, and then iodéOS moved onto Android 12, then 13, again months ahead of Fairphone OS and, I believe, e/OS. I’m not saying iodé is some beacon of industry-leading Android security, just that it’s perhaps better relatively from a security perspective than other current deGoogled offerings for Fairphone users.
I don’t even make proper use of some of iodéOS’s additional features and main selling points. They’ve now switched to a free / premium paid model but I use so few apps I’ve not got around to exploring the iodé app and its protections. My main interest is simply in having a phone OS and applications that don’t transmit everything about my lifestyle and whereabouts every moment of the day and night to Google and thousands of other organizations. Since I’m not a security geek iodéOS is just the offering that best seems to suit my needs at present. GrapheneOS sure sounds like the right way to go from what limited details I know of it, but if it requires a powerful and, hence, probably expensive phone it may be a few years away from my grasp and from others like me.
Just to add that, despite buying my FP3+ secondhand and not changing the battery, I can often get 5 days on a single charge, but I am a very light user!
The GrapheneOS ppl wanted to make a GrapheneOS phone for several years now. I always thought that fairphone would make a great partner. I really like the idea of an open and ethical secure and private phone.
Unfortunately, fairphone is just way too far behind the requirements for GrapheneOS. Their release windows of (important) security updates alone (at least 2 months behind) disqualifies them. But even if they got their softdev in line (which after years of failing I highly doubt they ever will, since they rather invest in marketing than improving their products…) there is the issue of missing hardware requirements - especially the hardware security module, or “secure element” as they call it. And here the only chip that ever fullfilled their requirements is googles titan m chip, regarding capabilities, specific timing requirements, entropy, and physical temper resistance. Thats why GrapheneOS is only available for pixels, and it’s quite unlikely that this will change.
So the only GrapheneOS phone I am aware of is nitrokeys NitroPhone, which basically is just a pixel flashed with GrapheneOS (think Murena FP with /e/).
TL;DR
Yes I would love a cooperation between FP and GOS and would be all over an FPGOS phone, but I doubt it will ever happen, because FP is unable and unwilling to meet even the minimun requirements for software security.
Thank you @noodlejetski
The main point for me is that I would have to install CalyxOS by myself, and I am not so confortable
Reading this chat, I have learnt also about IodeOS, that will support Fariphone 5 soon I hope
But like CalyxOS they use Aurora and MicroG, I have to read more about them
Thanks again