There’s only one way out from the privacy invading operating systems like iOS, Google, Android and Windows, and that is to use a phone that has an open source operating system. But to the average person, this is all confusing. You hear about some phone alternatives being advertised and some of them are downright ultra expensive. Or some require technology to self install, or some think the answer is some flip phone which unfortunately is disappearing like the dinosaur because no one wants to make that hardware anymore. Fortunately, there are good alternatives and I will talk about those. I’m happy to promote alternatives that support privacy later.

I will also tell you about a neat, new, inexpensive solution that you can get soon and is so fairly priced you can afford it to get it even just to try it out. Before I discuss that though, I’m going to talk in general about open source phones and what difference they make. There’s a lot of disinformation out there too, because of course some people use this to sell you something. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because the issue is if the solution works and if it is worth it. What exactly can you do with these open source phones? Are they usable? What can you do and not do with them? Depending on the device, there are changes to behavior that you need to do and there will be inconveniences.

However, I’ve used these types of phones for many years and I’ve learned that it is so unimportant to get hyped up about some new feature on a new flagship phone. Usually it’s sold as some new photo capability. Now it’s AI to improve your photos, but really it’s AI to be the entity watching over your shoulder from here on. Remote control by big tech and the governments they contract to phones are the single most responsible device for our complete loss of privacy. I will tell you about alternative phones that are privacy respecting. If you’re interested, stay right there.

The main advantage of an open source phone is that because you do not provide a Google id to it, it really trips up the whole Google tracking infrastructure. Same with apple and the Apple ID. Google ids from standard Android phones or iPhones mean that every website you visit can record your Google id and allow Google to know what you’re doing anywhere. Regular phones also suffer from continuous telemetry from Apple and Google, with constant tracking of locations, contacts, behaviors, app views, sensors, and now AI that can even read what you’re doing on screen. Truly privacy invading, especially when the AI can be remote controlled by big tech.

Open source phones have none of these. They cannot report your location and put it in the Google sensor database. They cannot use your device for cross device tracking. They don’t know who’s using the phone. In general all of them are invisible phones to big tech now the carriers can still track you, but big tech does not have access to that information. The main problem with these types of phones is that they may not support all your apps. The best of these, the ones I will describe later as the Google phones, can run 90% of the apps just fine.

But theres a small subset of platforms that want to do more privacy invasion like Google apps and Uber for example which will be prevented from spying on you so they wont work. Seriously though, there are so few apps that dont work that it has not bothered me. For example, I personally use apps like Spotify, Kindle, Waze, Tesla bank apps and so on where I can’t use the app like Uber I can use a browser. The real inconvenience is lovely to me and that is that you cannot use any Google app. None. No YouTube, no gmail, no Google Docs, no Google photos, though you can still access those via the browser.

The other apps that will not work are paid apps because there’s no way to pay 90% compatibility is a pretty high number actually. Some of you think this is a disadvantage, but personally this kind of action is necessary to sever your life from the surveillance infrastructure. It’s not much of a sacrifice. In general, there are two categories of open source phones I would make a separation between Linux phones and what I call de googled phones. This is a confusing distinction because in the end all these phones really use a Linux kernel, but they are a different family of solutions.

Later I will give you some popular operating systems and products that do the job well for privacy. But stay tuned to the very end where I reveal another surprising new solution. Let me briefly talk about Linux phones for a moment. Unfortunately, I have to say that Linux phones are not really suitable for the north american market. Currently the hardware being sold will generally not run with USA carriers. Some of them are experimental products like the Pine phone from Pine 64 or the Librem five phone from purism. Neither of these can be daily drivers. Aside from the problems with us carriers, they have unusable battery life.

The most successful of these is the Ubuntu touch project. This is a not for profit foundation and they have a significant following in Europe. But their limitation is the choice of devices which hopefully will improve soon. One of the hardware options offered for Ubuntu Touch, for example, is the vo phone, which is again another european model, but this is not suitable in the US. By the way, I have all these Linux phones and oses. I have a Pine 64, a Librem five and Ubuntu touch. So I speak from experience here. If you’re a Linux computer user, the idea of a Linux phone is very enticing because you can connect to the phone like any Linux and control things in it.

This is very satisfying for the geeks, but generally the only way to run common popular apps would be to use web apps. These are more like using a Linux desktop, except it’s smaller. Hopefully this will all change as more people adopt them. But that’s the current state of this at the moment. And this is why I hardly talk about Linux phones anymore. Not because I don’t support them, it’s just because there’s nothing offered that can work well in the US. Currently the next category of phones, which are really the mainstream options in the market today are what I’ve been calling the Google phones.

To be specific, these phones are based off the Android open source project. This is really open source. In fact if you’re a programmer you can go to the site source dot Android.com and you can read the source code. Now this is a long story because of course Android open source project AOSP is actually run by Google. They’re not the only members, but they coordinate all the changes. So you would think, why would I recommend something made by Google? Well, that’s the thing. It is open source, as I said, and that means anyone can copy it and start a project which is called a fork.

And because it is made to be shared, there is not a single bit of proprietary Google code on it. There’s some occasional connection to Google and some parts, but being a project you can copy, you can change all that. What Google did here is to get the benefits of community development for new device drivers and new form factors with the open source, while their own team is dedicated to the user interface. But again, there is no Google spyware on AOSP. Lucky for us, this access to open source created a whole industry of options that are generally called custom roms for phones, all based off AOSP.

Just so you understand how Google works with oems like Samsung, LG or OnePlus for example. Google has agreements with these manufacturers. First, the oems contribute to the project by creating drivers for their devices. They test this using AOSP. So AOSP benefits from getting the latest drivers. Then when they are ready to ship a new model they then overlay another layer of Android programs from Google, which is referred to as Google Mobile services gms. Often this code will replace some code in the open source to proprietary versions. This will now include all the spyware code for telemetry, Google Play, store location tracking, notifications and other things that connect the device to Google.

GM’s is licensed by the manufacturer and allows them to say they are Android phones. But those who develop and modify AOSP based custom roms for phones can replace whatever the oem installed on a phone and restore AOSP to it, though some oems prevent this, notably Samsung. If you’re successful installing AOSP on a phone, then this is without Google GM’s code, so it now becomes the Googled. There are several companies that make Degoogle custom roms or AOSP based operating systems. The general advantage of using any of these, assuming they do not add the Google GM’s code, is that none of them have a Google id, so there’s nothing that actually identifies the phone to Google.

This is a huge advantage as it stops tracking in its tracks. None of these AOsphat, none of these options have any continuous connections with Google, though some occasional connection may occur for some of them. So in general the reason I dont state for you which one is the best is because they all do the basic job for privacy, but some are better than others. So let me give you my opinion on these. I will just mention the main players here. There are many projects, but im focusing on those that are useful to the privacy community. The most popular custom Rom is lineage OS.

This has been around a while previously under a different name. The big difference with lineage OS and the reason it’s the most popular is that it supports the most devices. There are more volunteers and they have a list of devices they support on the wiki in lineage.  I’ve been using lineage OS for a long time and have installed it on a lot of user devices. For others it really is often the only option on devices like Motorola’s Oneplus and so on. While other oss have good support for Google pixels, only lineage OS offers options for other manufacturers of phones.

Now I want to make this clear. Lineage OS is really made for supporting existing used phones and putting in a new operating system on it. Lineage OS is not for new phones, so it may take a year before a new model is supported. Linux OS is not specifically designed for privacy though, so although it does not have a Google id login, some parts of it are still communicating with Google, so there are better options. It has limitations like it doesn’t lock the bootloader and the updates are limited to minor version numbers. It is not possible to get updates to a new Android generation of AOSP.

However, it is possible to modify by the lineage OS install to be privacy friendly by putting in options like Microg, Aurora Store and F droid, for example. These are tools that make the phones very usable but still maintain privacy. We’ll be talking about these tools frequently. I’ve learned about Ioda only recently, and unlike some of these other oses, I’ve actually met the principles of Ioda and have an open communication channel with them. Ioda has the advantage of being one of the few OS makers that support a wider range of models, and the reason is that Ioda is based off lineage OS, but this is where they improve on lineage OS.

First they can lock the bootloader. Ioda can also do frequent updates over the air OTA and they do. They have actual staff in their business rather than just volunteers for privacy. They handle big issues like supple NLP and preinstall microg and f droid. These are technical terms I know, but to me this is the minimum required to actually be a privacy phone. If we install Linux OS on a phone, we modify it by adding these, which are standard on iode because they are clearly privacy focused based on how they construct their os. They have become my new favorite.

And the good thing is that Linux OS apps supply the features that ensure user friendliness. Believe it or not, we also make our own AOSP based os and this one is called Braxos. But this is a limited distribution because Braxos is only made for phones we make. The prior model we made was called Brax two and was sold out long ago. So anyone with a Brax two phone from us is running Braxos. The advantage of Braxos over lineage OS is that we consider this os a privacy osite. Thus we remove everything related to Google. Unfortunately, we remove more Google things than iotos, so lets things run.

Some apps encounter restrictions. Weve learned that there are things from Google you still have to add to make those apps work, but in general we are more restrictive. Our privacy solutions are more robust with our own internal handling of supple and NLP as well as presetting micro g in a more restrictive manner. Calyx OS is something I’ve used for a while too. Calix and another called Grapheneos I will mention later, are both Pixel focused custom roms. Their general focus is on supporting used Google Pixels, so that makes them narrower choices. Now I like Calyx OS generally, but I really have no contact with their community, so there’s no active communications channel with them.

There are things that are not handled, like Ioda or Braxos, like supple. However, I consider it a very good privacy phone, though some have not rated it as highly on the security front. The general plus for Calix OS has been the user friendliness of their setup. I know this from customer feedback. Phones we provide that have Calix OS. I know that as a privacy oriented user they will be generally happy with Calix Osdhenne. Now, I hardly ever mention grapheneos and let’s be clear, grapheneos is being marketed as a security oriented OS and not necessarily a privacy phone for normal people.

For this reason, the Grapheneos UI is a bit stark and unfriendly to a non geek, but that itself is not a problem. I do have a graphene phone here somewhere. It’s fine for privacy. The problem with this OS is that it has become the darkest, most negative community in all of the mobile phone options. It’s like a cult that attacks everyone, including those they temporarily made as a friend, like Louis Rossman on YouTube and many others. They are very well known for speaking negatively about many YouTube creators and they truly make things up, all because of the leadership of graphene.

So generally I will make this statement about graphene. It is not my first choice. Many of the supposed benefits touted by their leader has nothing to do with privacy, or actually of no particular security benefit. When discussed by other security experts, unusual concepts like Google sandboxing or whatever special features supposedly exist but are standard in AOSP. There’s not a single feature in grapheneos that drives me to it, in spite of their long standing claims. And believe me, I know programming. But stay away from this community. They will drive you nuts with this information just to make themselves look good.

You will find them heavily infesting Reddit and matrix. It’s okay to use it, of course, but I’d rather use something else. You won’t miss anything. Eos from Marina has been around a while, but almost has no presence in the USA, and that’s because they’ve pretty much limited their offerings to the european market. Their latest new phone offering will not work in the USA, by the way, since I have that exact phone here. Mostly in the past they’ve concentrated on used Samsung phones, international models that are not sold in the US. I personally have never tried an EOS flash phone, but I’ve talked to the head of Morena on X before I’m sure it will do the job for privacy, but an independent security researcher grades it lower on the security front, probably because of lots of active, unpatched security holes.

The problem with options I just gave, which is to take an existing phone with Google Android and then reflashing it with a new os like the ones I’ve discussed, is that you are doing it to an existing phone, and unless you can do the flashing of the custom rom yourself, which is not necessarily an easy thing, it can be costly. First the cost of the phone, then the cost of a service to flash the phone for you. My company offers this service, by the way, so we can flash any os on a supported phone model. So even to get a used phone like a used pixel, you’re typically going to spend over $400 and above to have a de Google phone.

The main problem with the standard de Googling method is that the phones will tend to be older and thus their batteries will not be fresh. And especially if you’re using an expensive pixel model, their new prices will compete with an iPhone or you have to buy a brand new pixel and spend over $800. There’s a new phone people have been asking me to review the unplugged phone. Frankly, there’s not enough information because it is not an open source phone. Therefore it does not fit into this discussion at all. This phone is priced at 989, which is ridiculous.

There’s also the European Fairphone, which is not for the US either, and I’ve never seen one. Maybe those in Europe can tell us what they think of it. I think it’s in the $650 range. We are about to release a new phone model, the latest Brax phone. This is internally known to us and the community as the Brax three phone. What’s different with this, versus, let’s say, installing iodos on a Google Pixel seven, is that this is a new phone. In fact, the motherboard is so new there are currently no phone models that use this motherboard yet.

The motherboard is a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 and this is a new design. And this phone will have eight GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage, SIM cards, ESIM support, 5G support, SD card, headphone jack, 5000 mAh battery which will easily last you a couple of days. This is a custom designed phone that will be in the 6.5 inch form factor. What is fantastic about this phone is that this is not a Google phone that is being adapted for the Google use. This phone will not have any Google drivers from the get go. Since this is not a pixel, so we are not dependent even on Google for security updates.

Pixels use Google drivers so they are dependent on Google for support. The phone is approved for use in the USA with T Mobile and at and T and will work internationally as well. It is not intended for Verizon. The main feature of course is that it will run Braxos which has zero connections with Google, but we expect that it may also support IoT OS and perhaps even Ubuntu touch. We are in contact with Ubuntu Touch and that they may give us a Linux option in this new phone. We will be happy to help any os maker to port it to this device since we can provide all the drivers needed for the port.

The phone is also bootloader locked by default. Now here is the main change in our approach. Previously, having a de Google phone requires spending more money. This time we are thinking less about profits and focused on mass adoption. This brand new phone will be on pre order for the starting price of 279 with an included hard case. This price is so fair that really it’s a low risk alternative even for someone willing to just try it. If you’re interested in dipping your foot in the privacy arena, we expect to be shipping this around January and the shipping will be of course in order of the pre order sequence.

There’s a limited quantity in the first shipment. We will be starting the pre order for this on October 15, but please check the website link I’ll include in the description so you can be ready for this. Before shipping, we intend to ask users which os they like on it. I don’t know which ones will be ready by the release time, but we can make sure there’s an auto installer for, let’s say iodos if that is not ready by shipping time. Those in my community stay up to date about what’s going on on the Bracksme platform. There are over 100,000 users there and you will find community discussions on all the different types of privacy and security topics.

We have a store there as well with other products that are used to support the privacy battle. We have the Brax virtual phone so you can have additional phone numbers for privacy. We have Braxmail so you can have identity and metadata, free email with unlimited aliases. We have bytes VPN to protect your ip address. We have the Google phones like pixels and services to flash eight the Google OS for your existing phones. Join us on Braxme. We’d love to have you as part of this community. The Brax three phone is supported on a different site, which is Braxtech net.

Thank you for watching and see you next time.
[tr:tra].

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