THIS is the most private and secure phone on the planet – GrapheneOS review and how to install

Your phone is the single most important privacy asset of your digital life smartphones are useful and cool but the trade-off is your private data in the soul of your firstborn child as people are becoming more aware of surveillance and security threats corporations are adjusting their marketing tip heel to the shift in trends but this video is not a fanboy surveys to appeal to one team over the other the debate has already been settled if you want to get your hands in the most secure consumer grade phone on the planet its graphene OS this episode was brought to you by my patrons that’s not just a plug I was able to buy a pixel phone thanks to the generous donations from my patrons please support my channel patreon or by becoming a member it’s the most direct way you can help keep this work going thank you for your support recommended by Edward Snowden graphene OS is a privacy and security hardened mobile operating system based off Android open source project but this is not one of those security tools that only the top experts can use developed under the leadership of Daniel Mackay graphene OS is just a simple and intuitive as any other modern phone and the system can be installed by anyone without any prior knowledge of anything if you can operate a regular Android phone you can handle graphene OS this is the only system in the world where you can fully enjoy most of the nice features of the latest mobile technology without the omnipresent eye of Google and other tracking companies but wait he’s an Android lead owned and developed by Google isn’t graphene OS only compatible with Google pixel phones well yes it is but at its core Android is a fully free and open-source software Google basically gives away its entire operating system for free it can be copied used or modified by anyone without Google’s permission even you can take Android source code and build your own operating system Google is willing to give up Android in the hopes you’ll be using their sweet apps like the Play Store Google search or Google Play services and it’s using Google apps where you’ll get bombarded with ads and have your privacy violated by removing all Google Apps and api’s graphene OS essentially remakes Android in 2d googled and user empowering system you can run and install any Android app available and you can remove any in all apps on your phone there is no pre-installed corporate bald where that can’t be removed with graphene OS you are in full control of your device how is graphene OS more secure than the stock Android other custom roms or even the Apple iOS from the ground up graphene OS is build with maximum focus on usable privacy and security unlike other custom roms graphene OS retains all security features offered by Android with the ability to relock the bootloader after a flash the system which gives you a full verified boot on top of android security elements graphene OS has its own privacy and security enhancements and they are pretty significant and when many others it comes with a hardened memory allocator strengthening application sandbox stricter SEO linux policies and a hardened version of chromium and webview with the vanadium sub project some of graphene OS security enhancements contributed in the past were so significant they made their way in the de mainstream Android project making Android more secure for everyone the source code of graphene OS is licensed free in open source which makes the system more transparent and resistant to potential secret backdoor graphene OS shapes all software and security updates without having any remote access into your device or your phone identifier so the government can’t target a malicious updates to a specific user unlike Google and Apple who have access to your unique user account and device IDs you can’t create a graphene os account that would uniquely identify your device graphene away security is further propped up by its unique attestation service through the auditor amp this feature allows you to verify the authenticity and integrity of the software and firmware on your phone to make sure it wasn’t compromised during the installation graphene OS gives you more customization especially in the arena of permissions where you can revoke full network access to individual apps to limit their ability to track you or steal your data none of the security features increase complexity as graphene OS has been designed to have no too minimal impact on user experience so how does using graphene OS as a daily driver actually feel well it’s actually quite ordinary it’s just a normal phone there is nothing in it that will give you that sense you’re in some sort of a hacker mode this is the gold standard of what the text should be like good intuitive and not evil you shouldn’t have to trade off features or usability for freedom and respect of your rights and dignity and that’s what graphene OS is when you first boot it up it only comes with a narrow selection of apps provided by graphene itself but you’re free to expand it as much as you want the best option is to fire up vanadium head to f-droid org and download and install android apk after it is a repository of free and open source amps of all kinds of categories it’s our best chance of finding a replacement for any of the evil amps of our past digital life in hell this may vary from person to person but my most favorite amps are Ned guard poor browser new pipe VLC media player bromide and then a bunch of apps for my day-to-day tasks if you need apps that are only available on Google Play Store you can actually get them anonymously through the Aurora store some of the places where apps require Google Play services which is not present in graphene OS and that can lead to these amps malfunctioning this is where some of you may have a hard time finding replacements in this case I do recommend getting a pixel phone to flash graphene device on and keep your main phone four amps that can run on graphene OS if you are sold in graphene OS you are probably wondering how do I install these glorious tool of liberation lucky for you the process is a lot simpler than it may initially seem the first step would be to prepare your phone graphene OS is best supported on pixel three all the way through to pixel three a excel pixel to his legacy support and pixel four is still experimental as of making out this video if you’re getting a fresh new device make sure it is carrier unlocked I don’t buy it from Rison or AT&T if you have any data on your phone back it up as unlocking the bootloader will erase all the data on a new pixel phone you can actually escape the entire Google setup and just install the latest Android updates make sure to double check for new updates and reboot your phone so that all updates are fully installed for the installation prepare a functioning USB cable it’s best to use the one your phone shipped with don’t use dongles or USB hubs as this may result in a failed installation of graphing us before you do anything open up the settings scroll down to about phone and keep tapping on the build number rapidly until you see a message Papa saying you are now a developer in the system settings open advanced developer options in toggle om unlocking and USB debugging on your computer you’re going to download ADB command-line tool in graphene OS image don’t worry if you’ve never used a command-line tool before you don’t have to learn how it works just follow the easy steps before you do so however update your PCs operating system to the latest version as graphine OS is not supported on older software all the commands are included in the official graphene OS installation guide so that’s where you can copy them from first download the ADB tool directly from google the link for it is in graphene OS org ford slash install and it will be in the description of this video then head over to graphene OS dork Ford slash releases and download an image for your phone I recommend getting a stable channel as beta maybe too buggy for reliable daily usage also download a signature file if you want to verify the integrity of your graphene OS image later when you download ADB in graphene OS image it’s recommended to verify the integrity of your downloads for extra security your download is already protected by HTTPS encryption but in case you might be targeted eg as an activist or a journalist you want to follow the verification steps skip the verification if you don’t expect to be targeted in the terminal navigate to the folder where you downloaded a DB copy paste the echo command into the terminal and hit enter if you’re on Linux and can safely obtain a working version of signify it’s highly recommended to verify your graphene OS image on debian derivatives such as Ubuntu the package is actually called signify open BSD so install it by running sudo apt install signify – open – SB navigate your terminal into the folder where you downloaded your graphene OS image and copy paste the command for signify remember to replace the name of the signature file in the example command with the actual name of the signature file you just downloaded it on Debian or Bantu base distros replace signify with signify open vias you should see verified as the output if it’s anything but that burn your computer and run for your life after you have finished with verification unzip both with the folders and connect your phone to your PC via a USB type-c cable in your comand tool navigate to the adb folder which can be done by typing CD space and then copy the directory path to the terminal on Linux you may open the terminal in any directory straight from the graphical Explorer before you do anything test to see if adb is working with your PC as well as the connected phone with their terminal in the adb folder type adb devices and hit enter you should see your device listed and get a prompt under pixel to allow USB debugging everything should work fine from this point from here you can type ADB reboot bootloader and hit enter your device should reboot into the bootloader interface this is what a bootloader looks like you’re welcome on our computer type in fastboot flashing unlock and hit enter on your phone you’ll get a prompt do not unlock the bootloader with their phone’s volume keys switch to unlock the bootloader and then press start with the power button head back over to your pc and in your file explorer open up the folder with graphine OS image select everything then copy navigate back to the adb folder and paste all of the graphene OS files when this is done just double click on the flash old file to run a graphene OS installation from the adb tool this process will take care of everything on its own so just sit back and relax you know when it’s done with the command-line on your PC ends with press any key so just press any key and you are done but then close the terminal yet you need to relock the bootloader stay in the bootloader interface and on your computer type in the final command fastboot flashing lock confirm under pixel phone with the volume buttons start with the power button and enjoy the glory of your first graphene OS boot up you can go through the initial setup and let graphene OS install all the necessary updates and finish up the process there’s one final verification for your phone to go through to see if it wasn’t compromised from your computer you’re gonna need a secondary phone with the auditor app installed this app is available in Google Play Store your graphene OS pixel already has the auditor a bin the amped roller select which device will do the auditing and the other one to be audited and followed the remaining steps on the screen this is a hardware based verification that everyone should do it’s more secure to do this before you give graphene OS any network access if you’re wondering why on earth do I have to pixel phones here is your answer I need one for today and one last final step is a disable Oh II am unlocking so open your Settings app scroll down to system advanced in toggle oleum unlocking so that it’s disabled and reboot your phone let graphene OS take care of the final updates for a phone and reboot to apply those updates your phone will be receiving all the necessary security and OS updates automatically so sit back and enjoy customizing a fresh new install of graphene OS with the ABS and tweaks of your choice I want to encourage you to support graphene OS and Daniel McKay for giving us their work for free please donate to their project as much as you can so that it can expand and continue making our devices even more secure check out the links in the description if you have some spare donations you can also support my channel by becoming a member to get early access to these videos or become a patreon for my weekly commentaries give this video a thumbs up and post your comments below thank you for watching.