[HN Gopher] Daily Driving GrapheneOS
___________________________________________________________________
Daily Driving GrapheneOS
Author : zdw
Score : 128 points
Date : 2026-03-03 05:18 UTC (17 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.matthewbrunelle.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.matthewbrunelle.com)
| drnick1 wrote:
| 2027 will be the year of the Graphene phone.
| sankalpmukim wrote:
| good writeup. I've been meaning to set this up for myself too. I
| keep uninstalling apps from my phone every other day because if I
| use something very little, I am afraid the app is collecting data
| from my usage in some way or the other.
|
| I have a fairly new ish Pixel phone, do you think I'll be able to
| go back if I don't like it?
| vbezhenar wrote:
| Yes, it's super simple to install GrapheneOS and to revert to
| the factory OS on Google Pixels. It is done from Chrome browser
| with phone connected via USB cable, no need to install
| anything. Of course when you'll switch, you'll lose all data on
| your phone, basically like factory reset (but esims survive I
| think).
| razingeden wrote:
| eSIMs survive the grapheneOS install...
|
| Because when I had set it up, grapheneOS itself couldn't
| install or set one up unless it was previously installed
| under the old OS.
|
| So I had to set up my carrier and then install grapheneOS.
|
| It can install eSIMs on its own now so this doesn't matter
| other than confirming the eSIM carries over.
|
| I've never reverted to stock android and I'm never looking
| back so idk if the eSIM survives the round trip.
| microtonal wrote:
| _I have a fairly new ish Pixel phone, do you think I 'll be
| able to go back if I don't like it?_
|
| Yeah, it is very easy, it's described here:
|
| https://grapheneos.org/install/web#replacing-grapheneos-with...
|
| Similar to GrapheneOS, Google also has a web installer (linked
| from the above section). Just in case you didn't know - both
| installing GrapheneOS and recovering the stock OS will remove
| all data as well.
| n8cpdx wrote:
| Both install and reversion to stock OS are incredibly easy.
| Just back up first.
| hrmtst93837 wrote:
| You can switch back to the stock OS if GrapheneOS doesn't work
| out for you. Just be aware that the process might take some
| time and effort, so be ready to tinker a bit.
| skeptic_ai wrote:
| I've tried but: couldn't get my card to work on wallet. Can't
| verify.
|
| Uber couldn't verify payment so I couldn't take a ride when
| needed.
| rudhdb773b wrote:
| Contactless payments are often a problem, but adding a card for
| Uber (directly in the app) should work. I use it frequently,
| along with Grab, Bolt, Maxim, etc.
| foxes wrote:
| It's googles fault that cards can't work in graphene.
|
| Google needs to whitelist graphene basically to work in the
| wallet app.
|
| On that note, given that graphene is focused around security
| and privacy, perhaps not givng your payment data to google is
| probably a good thing
| skeptic_ai wrote:
| Can't use my phone to pay becomes kind of useless
| bestouff wrote:
| Strange, i'm using Uber regularly with GrapheneOS.
| riedel wrote:
| Wallet was one of the reasons I abandoned my well working
| lineageOS phone on a redmi note 10 as it was a cat and mouse
| game over month. I feel as long as a vendor does not support an
| os and Google is so hostile against modifications, it is not a
| good feeling that they can pull the rug at any time. I was
| multiple times in the situation when I wanted to pay with the
| phone and was in the end rejected. I think we need to take NFC
| wallets and esims away from phone/os vendors again. A seperate
| NFC enabled vendor independent trusted platform would be IMHO
| the way to go. Especially with ID wallets and universal bank
| wallets on the way in Europe. This that they cannot use
| security as a killer argument to keep us in their walled
| gardens. I know the solution is cards or a second phone, but
| affordance counts.
| prmoustache wrote:
| I think the second problem is unrelated to the smartphone OS.
| You can use Uber using only the website, a smartphone is not
| even needed to use it.
| skeptic_ai wrote:
| Well I'm a tech person and I'd never think of using the
| browser. But thanks
| prmoustache wrote:
| I am a tech person and I like to control the web traffic I
| send on the internet and which code or at least their
| source I execute on my computer.
|
| Mobile apps are mostly black boxes in that regard.
| vbezhenar wrote:
| TBH What I wanted from the world is AOSP distribution. Built
| similarly to GrapheneOS in terms of distribution, ease of
| install. But I just don't feel I need all these privacy
| enhancements and stuff, I'm perfectly fine with ordinary system
| compiled from Google sources with proper update schedule. Also I
| don't want to see anything installed out of the box, except maybe
| single app to install AOSP apps, F-Droid, Play Store, just APK
| from the given URL. So basically almost empty mobile OS which
| user fully customizes, no predefined choices, no custom patches.
| riedel wrote:
| So what is wrong with lineage in this case?
| vbezhenar wrote:
| I know very little about lineageos. Their website contains
| very few docs, so I don't really understand what's this
| project is about. They don't mention Pixel 10, so I guess
| it's not supported.
|
| GrapheneOS website in comparison contains a lot of things to
| read, so after a hour of thorough reading I had good
| impression what GrapheneOS is.
| omnimus wrote:
| Are the websites really that different? (i use iphone) I
| checked both homepages and impression I got is that Lineage
| is android that focuses on long term support (the name
| points that out) and Graphene is not android (ok?) and it's
| focused on security.
|
| Your Pixel 10 is not in Lineage devices so i would also
| assume it's not supported. (maybe it's too new?)
| kennywinker wrote:
| Yes, as I understand it lineageos is focused on
| supporting phones AFTER the mamufacturer stops supporting
| them - a pixel 10 is still supported afaik.
| alfiedotwtf wrote:
| LineageOS was one of the OG de-googled Android ROMs,
| renamed a few years after Android Jellybean IIRC.
|
| This new glass UI and the Face ID kind of not working
| anymore since upgrading my iPhone, I think I'll be going
| back to Android
| timschumi wrote:
| > LineageOS was one of the OG de-googled Android ROMs,
| renamed a few years after Android Jellybean IIRC.
|
| Existing since 2009 as CyanogenMod and since 2016 as
| LineageOS, that would have been around the time where
| Android 7 (Nougat) was current.
|
| PS: Not that we are in any way degoogled, other than what
| we are forced to by the license.
| alfiedotwtf wrote:
| Thanks Tim... my memory is fuzzy - that was a lot of
| phones ago.
|
| ... and thank you for your continued effort! I have very
| big love for CyanogenMod/LineageOS, and that's coming
| from a heavy pre-XDA user (I've had them all - PalmOS,
| Zaraus, XDA o2, Maemo, FirefoxOS, Ubuntu phone user).
| throawayonthe wrote:
| tbh it sounds like you do want grapheneos :p
|
| it's very minimal ootb and has a better update schedule than
| 95% of oems (alas)
|
| you can install google play store & services from the app
| store, and pretty much everything will just work as you might
| imagine
| microtonal wrote:
| _it 's very minimal ootb and has a better update schedule
| than 95% of oems (alas)_
|
| Any OEM right? Google is the fastest OEM with Pixel and
| GrapheneOS often rolls out patches earlier than Google (not
| bound by a monthly schedule + they do embargoed patches when
| you use the right branch).
| ryncewynd wrote:
| Same here. I've been trying to find a "plain Android" phone but
| everything seems heavily customised UI by the manufacturers
| now.
|
| I just found out today I can't call anymore due to 3G ending in
| my city
|
| I'm keen for a Motorola Graphene and then just install Google
| services anyway. For me the value is being freed from
| manufacturers UI and software
| ForHackernews wrote:
| You could try https://iode.tech/iodeos/ or
| https://e.foundation/e-os/ but neither is as minimalist as
| you'd like.
| cocoto wrote:
| Personally I would just love Apple to be forced by governments to
| open up their hardware by releasing complete documentation of
| their hardware and allowing to install another os or dual boot.
| iPhones hardware is really good and would love booting Linux on
| theses. And then force every services company to provide an API
| to their services so we have an alternative to their app. I guess
| Motorola partnering with GrapheneOS will not change anything in
| this space because contactless payments and some apps will not
| work and fundamentally because the sales will be way below
| mainstream brands like Apple/Samsung. Governments need to step up
| here.
| mastermage wrote:
| There is only one government that might be inclined to do that
| and thats the EU. But good luck lobbying this.
| fph wrote:
| Contactless payments work in Graphene OS. Not with Google Pay,
| but with other apps like Curve and Paypal.
| Rnonymous wrote:
| I wish i could switch but bank apps and contactless payments keep
| me on stock pixel.
| unethical_ban wrote:
| Is this a European thing? Why not use a credit card?
| oerdier wrote:
| I think it's healthy for a population to not have as part of
| day-to-day life to pay with credit, effectively paying with
| money you might not actually have, going into debt. How many
| US citizens are crippled by credit card debt, and the
| interest on it?
| n8cpdx wrote:
| You can pay with credit card as a convenience + fraud
| protection mechanism without ever paying interest by just
| paying your bill off every month.
|
| When chip and pin was first rolled out, Europeans were
| shocked by the low security of swipe cards in the US. The
| reason that wasn't an issue for Americans was (and still
| is) that credit cards have excellent fraud protections.
|
| If someone steals my credit card, it is the bank's problem,
| not mine.
|
| The risk of paying by debit card on a regular basis is
| unfathomable to me, even with fancy tech to try to make it
| secure.
| oerdier wrote:
| I wasn't suggesting individuals shouldn't be able to pay
| with credit. I have a credit card myself, which I use
| when I can't pay with debit. I was suggesting that for a
| population as a whole, having paying with credit being so
| commonplace leads to crippling debt issues, which as far
| as I can believe "the reports", is an issue in the US.
|
| Your comment on the risk of paying with debit cards
| surprised me. I've never considered it a risk at all. It
| made me realize that perhaps here (in the Netherlands) we
| have consumer protection systems in place, in addition to
| the payment systems, that prevent any issues.
| FireInsight wrote:
| You also get contactless payment on debit cards.
| franga2000 wrote:
| It's not about credit/debit, it's about phone/card.
| Americans tend to use "credit card" as a generic term for
| payment cards.
|
| And yes, phone NFC payment is one of those technically
| unnecessary conveniences that's really easy to get used to.
| You probably already have your phone out or at least
| accessible in like one second, paying with it instead of
| pulling out your wallet and finding a card or even cash is
| just sooo nice. I hate that I've gotten this used to it.
|
| That being said, you can still get NFC payment on a rooted
| or reflashed phone. Instead of Google Wallet, find a bank
| or card provider that has their own app. I use the Curve
| "proxy card" and it works fine.
| prmoustache wrote:
| In my case sliding my card out of my wallet is faster
| than unlocking my phone given the lack of consistency of
| the fingerprint reader of my google pixel when using my
| smartphone case (and I am too clumsy to use a smartphone
| without a case covering both sides, broke too many
| screenw already). Some people just leave the card on
| their smartphone case too.
|
| I also see a lot of people struggling because they need
| to pay while being on a call or because their smartphone
| is just way too big to be handled comfortably with one
| hand given the size of their hands.
| prmoustache wrote:
| Using debit or credit cards is unrelated to the UX. Both
| are available with google wallet or physically.
| subscribed wrote:
| Very different risks.
|
| Physical CC can be used by anyone holding it or actually
| just standing close.
|
| Contactless payment with phone only after the phone is
| unlocked( _).
|
| Physical card contactless payments have a limit (don't
| remember it) after which you have to use it with pin. At
| least all mine. Boring. Payments with apple/hoogle/Garmin
| have higher transaction limit.
|
| I could probably go on longer but these are for me.
|
| (_) I know it can be done without, but it also can be
| done with.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| In Europe? Debit cards. Hardly anyone uses a credit card in a
| supermarket.
|
| If I'm going out I'll have both a debit card and cash in my
| wallet. Given that large scale outages of payment networks
| are no longer theoretical but to be expected, not carrying
| cash is just silly. Since I have a wallet in any case, I see
| no point in using contactless payments on a smartphone -- I
| usually don't take it with me when getting groceries.
|
| I have no idea if I can even do contactless phone payments on
| GrapheneOS, but since everything else works (including my
| bank's app), I don't care.
| elric wrote:
| > In Europe? Debit cards. Hardly anyone uses a credit card
| in a supermarket.
|
| Such sweeping statements are impossible for "Europe". It's
| a big place. Plenty of people use credit cards in
| supermarkets. But it's orthogonal to the discussion. A
| creditcard can be contactless or on a phone. Or on a watch.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| Of course it is a big place. It is also a big place where
| credit cards just aren't a thing for most people:
|
| https://n26.com/en-eu/blog/taboo-of-credit
|
| That article lists some reasons why using a credit card
| doesn't make sense in most European countries. It's not a
| way to build up your credit score for one. As a Dutchman,
| the only way I can lower my credit score is by taking on
| debts (with the exception of a mortgage).
|
| The US is a big place too. I am fairly comfortable in
| making the sweeping statement that credit cards are a
| thing used by many people there.
| elric wrote:
| > It is also a big place where credit cards just aren't a
| thing for most people
|
| Nonsense. It's hard to find actual statistics on the
| number of credit cards, but it's obvious that the
| Netherlands are an outlier, with a paltry 0.02 credit
| cards per capita, vs Luxemburg's 3.98 (wtf). If I filter
| out the non-EU countries from the dataset below, I end up
| with 0.5 credit cards per capita. That's nowhere near
| "not a thing for most people". They're just "not a thing"
| in NL. Big difference.
|
| https://www.statista.com/statistics/1395502/credit-cards-
| in-...
| dns_snek wrote:
| If 25 people have 4 credit cards each and 75 people have
| none, then we have 1 card/capita, but only 25% of the
| population uses credit cards.
|
| The median seems to be 0.25 cards/capita. Your own source
| already ~agrees that they're "not a thing for most
| people" (if we're really pedantic we can start looking at
| populations of those countries), but to find a more
| realistic estimate for the percentage of the population
| who use credit cards we would have to divide this figure
| by the average number of credit cards among people who
| have at least one.
| chrizel wrote:
| In Europe contactless payment is nearly everywhere - nearly
| every store supports it. Even in Germany (which is
| historically very pro-cash), since Covid more and more people
| pay with card and many of whom pay contactless.
|
| In the EU we have some rules that even contactless payments
| with card sometimes, but not always, need to have some kind
| of additional authentication in the form of entering your
| PIN. Contactless payment methods via phone or watch don't
| have this need because they already have their own
| authentication methods. That's why so many people pay with
| their phone or watch. Its just more convenient and always
| contactless. (no PIN needed)
|
| How is it in the US? Are things like Apple Pay still limited
| to certain stores?
| Markoff wrote:
| I live in Europe, I experienced many people paying with the
| phone/watches, it was never faster than tapping the bank
| card. Anyway PIN is required only for purchases over 20EUR.
| Flameancer wrote:
| Not really. Outside of Walmart and maybe a smaller store
| ran by an older mom and pop shop, you can use NFC payments
| practically anywhere even at a drive thru. Only reason I
| still have my wallet is mainly for drivers license, but
| even that's on the horizon.
| bergheim wrote:
| so use a card? there is always something. breaking free is
| never going to be without ANY inconveniences, it's how they
| build their moat after all. okay so once those two work, one
| goes to the next thing on the list; "I wish I could switch but
| I can't use gboard on it and the swiping is 0.5% better than
| the stock keyboard so it's unusable to me"
|
| (you can use gboard, that was just an example - but it's always
| these small inconveniences, just like in the chrome vs firefox
| threads)
| dns_snek wrote:
| I use 5 different banking apps and 3 other financial/investment
| apps and they all work fine, you should check compatibility
| with yours [1]. And to be precise, contactless payments work
| but not through Google Pay - I've heard that Curve is a viable
| alternative, and some banks might have their own systems that
| aren't based on Google Pay (though most seem to be).
|
| [1] https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-
| compa...
| ZlibraryKO wrote:
| I've been using GrapheneOS for a couple of years now, and it's
| been perfect for me. Contactless payments used to work fine, but
| then my bank switched to Google Wallet. Since then, I've just
| kept a physical card tucked behind my phone case so I can use it
| when needed.
| tl2do wrote:
| I admire the de-Googled approach of GrapheneOS. As a lawyer,
| privacy concerns resonate with me too. I love the rebellious
| attitude of tech that presents an alternative choice in an overly
| duopolistic market.
|
| That said, I wouldn't last 8.4 months like the author. Even
| though he admits to some Google app usage, I'm in too deep -- I'd
| never be able to get out. But if I get the chance, I'd like to
| try it on a secondary phone. Those solid black icons are one
| reason. They look cool.
| throawayonthe wrote:
| you can use mostly google appsand still benefit (e.g. unlike
| google android, play services aren't privileged and are
| sandboxed like any other app)
| https://grapheneos.org/features#sandboxed-google-play
|
| also you can restrict some apps network permissions, for
| example i use the google camera app with the network disabled
| :p
| traxler wrote:
| Not wanting to discourage you from trying Graphene, but the
| icons are probably not a good reason. Can always install an
| alternative launcher and icon pack on stock android.
|
| Running Graphene for a long time now, everything works
| perfectly fine, but I don't do mobile banking.
| rcMgD2BwE72F wrote:
| I do mobile banking and use GrapheneOS daily (2 online banks
| + 2 trading platforms).
|
| I also work in mobile app/SDK publishing as a business dev
| and it's critical that I can install my clients' apps
| (thousand+) in private space.
|
| It works great for me.
| mastermage wrote:
| my take on this is to some advocates probably shocking. But I
| think you don't need to perfectly switch and never touch
| anything google again.
|
| I personally just encourage people to take a look at what you
| are using, and if you could gradually change some of it. Who
| knows sometimes alternatives even offer better services. I am
| not saying never use anything google ever again. Just question
| your tools regularly and peruse the alternatives.
| polairscience wrote:
| Graphene supports the 6a, which unlocked goes for ~$100 on
| ebay. I imagine you can swing that as a lawyer to play around.
|
| I'll also echo the ideas from everyone else here. You can just
| use it as a normal Android phone the way you do any other and
| there's still big benefits. There's also really big benefits in
| terms of carrier privacy that aren't often talked about, like
| vpn routing and hotspot usage.
| pjmlp wrote:
| While this is good news, the cynical in me is waiting for
| Motorola GrapheneOS, with the changes that make it actually
| relevant for normies, and then the whole idea goes the way of
| netbooks.
| microtonal wrote:
| GrapheneOS had an estimated 400,000 users three months ago
| (based on update downloads) and the user base seems to be
| growing quite fast. I think for Motorola, potentially a few
| million users buying flagships for GrapheneOS are a very
| attractive market. So, I'm not cynical.
| traxler wrote:
| For all the "My Banking Apps don't work", I'd raise one question:
|
| Do you really need access to banking apps on the go? I get that
| it can be handy and maybe you legit do, but I'd wager most people
| don't really do. If you can pay by phone you can pay by card and
| the card has less potentially to weirdly break.
|
| And if your bank demands a phone app to be used, you can always
| have a cheap stock android lying around at home. Can't get stolen
| or lost. Doesn't give big G any data on you, because that phone
| doesn't have anything but those apps.
|
| But I also understand "just have a second phone" is not a
| tempting idea for many people. I am not much of a phone person,
| so I'm not a good case study, but it works fine for me.
| pietro72ohboy wrote:
| I cannot speak for every country but in the Netherlands, your
| banking app also serves as a 2FA instrument if you place orders
| with your credit card. A pop-up notification will ask you to
| confirm if you have indeed placed the order. While I will admit
| that it is possible to predict such use cases and take your
| phone along, it is becoming a bit difficult to predict what
| part of some account or service's login flow will require a
| confirmation with your device.
| microtonal wrote:
| Luckily, all/most Dutch bank apps work on GrapheneOS.
|
| (Not saying that you claimed they didn't.)
| traxler wrote:
| Huh, interesting. I only have those 2FA popups for card
| payments online or in apps, never for payments in stores.
| vladvasiliu wrote:
| I'm pretty sure that's what your parent is describing.
|
| In my case, I often spend multiple days at my parents'
| house. Now, I mostly don't order online, but sometimes
| something comes up and in that kind of situation, most
| merchants will have me go through the verification.
|
| Since this doesn't happen frequently, I'm more likely than
| not to not have hauled my secondary phone, especially since
| I very much prefer traveling light. Now, could most of
| those occasional purchases not have waited for my return
| home? Eh... most probably could've. Doesn't make it less
| annoying, though, for no good reason.
| Valodim wrote:
| Mobile apps are how most people do banking these days, and it
| shows. In my experience banking apps are a lot more maintained
| and modern than classic online banking interfaces.
|
| So you're not just sacrificing "on the go" banking, you are
| likely sacrificing use of the best interface your bank offers.
| microtonal wrote:
| Also, most smartphones (especially GrapheneOS, iOS, Pixel,
| etc) are far more secure than desktops/laptops. So also from
| a security perspective it's better to do banking on a phone.
| learingsci wrote:
| And it's very hard to actually steal a cellphone since it's
| always with you, whereas houses get broken into all the
| time.
| iugtmkbdfil834 wrote:
| This has to be some fascinating regional difference,
| because my personal experiences suggest the opposite.
| Would you be willing to elaborate ( in general
| terms/locations if too sensitive )?
| vladvasiliu wrote:
| I wonder if phone theft specifically hasn't (somewhat)
| gone down now that most are encrypted and tied to some
| online account by default. Maybe criminals have heard
| about this, and they focus on other things.
|
| Where I live, people still carry cash (though not absurd
| amounts) and credit cards, and I understand that's what
| most pickpockets are after. Especially since, after
| covid, the limit for contactless payments has increased.
| microtonal wrote:
| Burglars recently broke into my parents' house and they
| left the MacBook and iPads. Most informed thieves
| probably know that they are bound to an account, can
| easily be blocked, and there is no use trying to sell
| them.
|
| I would assume its more and more the case with phones as
| well. ~10-15 years ago I heard often about smartphones
| getting stolen out of people's pockets, etc. Not so much
| anymore.
|
| Non-Apple laptops is probably a different game.
| akimbostrawman wrote:
| True but you can also argue the opposite since its a lot
| easier to loose it and more exposed to more people that
| could be thieves.
| fsflover wrote:
| Unless you use Qubes OS (which I do).
| microtonal wrote:
| Maybe, but this is irrelevant to 99.99% of bank users out
| there.
| fsflover wrote:
| It means that banks cannot say "desktop is insecure,
| therefore a mobile app is required for your security". I
| can manage my own security in a better way.
| traxler wrote:
| Sadly true, while not being a phone person, I have started
| using my home banking phone for tasks I used to do on my
| desktop. Still never leaves my office.
| vladvasiliu wrote:
| I don't have the same experience. My main bank is a huge
| European bank, and their app is laughably bad. You have to
| jump to an impressive number of screens to reach anything
| other than "last / upcoming transactions" lists. Many are
| actually just janky webviews, yet they _still_ somehow manage
| to work worse than their website. Bonus points for it being
| "temporarily under maintenance" seemingly every other day.
|
| I should note that the website is pretty janky itself, but at
| least it works fine (meaning "not worse") on Firefox on
| Linux, and it doesn't even pester me to change browsers or
| anything.
|
| I also have an account with one of those new "online" banks
| for when I travel, since they have better exchange rates,
| and, importantly, no conversion tax. Their app is somewhat
| better, but they have no website whatsoever, AFAIK. But, at
| least, they allow me to set up a proper password instead of
| clicking on 6 digits as the other bank.
| jbstack wrote:
| Is the UI really that important though? I assume most people
| use internet/app banking mainly to do two things: make
| payments, and look at transactions. I also assume most people
| don't do these things very often. Sure, a good UI is nice to
| have, but it isn't going to affect my life much if it's
| missing.
| sureglymop wrote:
| I've used GrapheneOS for years at this point and all my banking
| apps work fine. It's just definitely worth a try.
|
| I've had a government app not working once and one of the devs
| actually showed up on the GrapheneOS forums and now it does.
| dwedge wrote:
| I need my main one for paying friends back and for authorising
| payments online. Luckily it works without google. The only real
| app I miss is Uber
| yellowapple wrote:
| > Do you really need access to banking apps on the go?
|
| Not strictly, no, but it's useful to be able to relatively-
| quickly check my balances (and possibly shuffle funds around
| between checking/savings and my credit-union-issued credit
| card). I could use my credit union's website for that, but it's
| faster to open the app and scan my thumb.
|
| Thankfully, my credit union's app has no issues with
| GrapheneOS, aside from needing to enable "exploit protection
| compatibility mode" to keep it from crashing on startup.
| karlosvomacka wrote:
| yes. I pay with bank transfer on regular basis. Merchant
| generates a QR code, I scan it with my banking app and I pay
| him.
| AJRF wrote:
| Some info in case someone is on the fence about this, and are
| living in the UK. I use Monzo, and that works perfectly on
| GrapheneOS.
|
| If they ever stopped working, I would just CASS to another
| bank. A bank that has a posture that something like GrapheneOS
| is too insecure to use their app on is a bit of a red flag.
| wink wrote:
| Same here - all the German banks I know of the phone app is
| mostly for 2FA, but you can also use it for banking, if you
| like.
|
| In my case it's also the 2FA for credit card usage (as I have
| the visa/mc via my bank), not only bank transfers.
| npodbielski wrote:
| Some people will suffer some inconvenience for something that
| they think is worth it and some people will do everything to no
| do anything because it is too much trouble. Sometimes they are
| the same people but in regards to different areas. For example
| I would never grow my own carrots. What for? I can buy them.
| And my wife would never built self hosted media server. Why
| spend 5k$ on PC when you can just buy Netflix?
|
| And there is 3 kind of people that do one of the above and go
| around in real life and online and tries to convince everyone
| that THE THING that they are doing is THE ONLY, TRUE SOLUTION.
| Like vegans or cyclists.
|
| In reality none of this is true. If Graphene OS would tomorrow
| became, magically the only mobile OS in existence they would
| became next evil tech company in few years. Because power
| corrupts.
| traxler wrote:
| I have troubles discerning how this answer connects to my
| post.
|
| Are you putting me in the third kind of people?
| HunOL wrote:
| > Do you really need access to banking apps on the go?
|
| Yes, I do.
| mastermage wrote:
| Sorry but thats a statement thats just willfully ignorant. Yes
| people need to have access to their financials when under way.
| That can range for PushTans, CreditCard Confirmations, to
| checking their budgets, moving something from one account to
| another, topping up your Prepaid Card. Or just being able to
| Pay with a Card on your Phone when you forgot your Wallet.
|
| Sure you could say I do not go out and do not need that but
| realistically this is just how the world works now.
| traxler wrote:
| I very purposefully added both the "and maybe you legit do"
| and the fact that I'm a bad case study.
| mastermage wrote:
| Sorry if i may have formulated this a bit harshly. I may
| have replied to your comment becaause it was far up and its
| a common argument. Often made in bad faith.
| amelius wrote:
| But you can do all those things via a browser.
| ranguna wrote:
| You can pay with a card on your phone? I mean, sure, if you
| are buying something online. Not with contactless I think
| amelius wrote:
| You can do all things with a browser and a card, yes.
|
| I'm assuming that most people will carry the card with
| them anyway.
| subscribed wrote:
| That's demonstrably false.
|
| You don't get TANs in the browser, can't tap "approve" on
| the application-only notification, can't pay with the
| banking app (for those banks which offer it) without the
| banking app.
|
| ...and willfully ignorant given that some banks are mobile
| (app) only.
| drnick1 wrote:
| How about using cash for all of this? This has the added
| benefit of not enabling tracking by financial institutions in
| addition to tracking by Google, the phone OEM, and possibly
| other third parties.
| lawn wrote:
| In Sweden you use BankID to authenticate to websites and it's
| almost a requirement nowadays.
|
| Luckily it works well on GrapheneOS though.
| elric wrote:
| I've never used a banking app on my phone, and I have no desire
| to. It's the least secure device I own (in spite of running
| Graphene). It's the most likely device to get lost or stolen.
|
| I currently have accounts with 3 different banks in Belgium.
| They all offer an app which I ignore. Online banking works just
| fine, heck, better than fine, it's excellent. One bank uses
| auth derived from my debit card (which I have to insert into a
| card reader to sign transactions). The other two use hardware
| tokens. The hardware token for my business account has a built
| in camera which scans QR codes displayed by the website. When
| signing a payment, I scan the code and the token asks "Confirm
| payment of 123eur to XYZ?".
|
| It's plenty convenient for my needs.
| jbstack wrote:
| That's fine when you're lucky enough to be able to avoid a
| banking app, but for many banks its essentially compulsory. I
| can't login to internet banking without entering a 2FA code
| from the app. I'm even forced to have my Android settings a
| certain way, otherwise the app detects that my phone is
| "insecure" and refuses to run.
| drnick1 wrote:
| > for many banks its essentially compulsory.
|
| I would look for a new bank.
| dbdr wrote:
| Based on this resource, it seems there's very extensive testing
| of banking apps on grapheneOS, and the large majority works.
|
| https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa...
| lapinot wrote:
| Indeed, and based non-extensive, one sample approximate
| average testing, my own bank works like a charm on GOS.
| anal_reactor wrote:
| > If you can pay by phone you can pay by card and the card has
| less potentially to weirdly break.
|
| Paying by card in 2026 is akin to sending physical letters.
| traxler wrote:
| Really? I guess my neck of the woods is more backwater than I
| thought. While paying by phone is by no means rare, paying by
| card is very common.
| dachris wrote:
| I'm considering using a second phone for increased security. As
| you say, only put banking apps on them, leave it at home.
|
| The larger population is getting pushed towards banking on the
| phone, and on top of that, many people don't own a PC/Laptop
| anymore.
| barnabee wrote:
| In the UK at least, banking apps are how you give people cash
| when you owe them for dinner, drinks, whatever. It's also
| needed to authorise online payments. And for travel, location
| services is often used by the better banks as an alternative to
| immediately blocking your card every time you go anywhere. Then
| there are account perks[0] like airport lounges, co-working
| spaces, exercise classes, etc. that all use the app for access.
|
| It'd be more than just a bit inconvenient to lose all of these
| things...
|
| Luckily, all of my personal and business banking apps work fine
| on Graphene. Even the apps for the crusty old "bricks and
| mortar" banks that I still have backup accounts with.
|
| [0] As an aside, Revolut Ultra in the UK costs less than the FT
| Digital subscription it includes so if you're an FT subscriber,
| all the other stuff that comes with the account is cheaper than
| free.
| drnick1 wrote:
| > And for travel, location services is often used by the
| better banks as an alternative to immediately blocking your
| card every time you go anywhere.
|
| I routinely use my (U.S.) credit card abroad and never had
| issues. I don't have any banking app on my phone, which runs
| Graphene, because I do not need access to banking on the go.
| Things such as airport lounges, co-working spaces, exercise
| classes, may be valuable, but none of these things is more
| important than my freedom. I do not tolerate the thought that
| some company may track which services I use and where I go
| without my consent. I therefore do not use proprietary apps
| on my phone. If something does not work in the browser
| (Vanadium), I will do without it.
| slumberlust wrote:
| USAA works. They detect there is not attestation and warn you,
| but give you the option to continue.
| barcodehorse wrote:
| I run a degoogled Samsung, keep all my banking apps in a work
| profile. Ive been seeing a lot of people have issues with
| Graphene and banking apps, but wouldn't the work profile function
| on there too? Could you install the Google Play Services on the
| work profile and run it separately to your main phone?
| iugtmkbdfil834 wrote:
| I personally would not put work profile on a phone intended for
| privacy. In other words, you likely can, but the question
| quickly becomes: why would you want to? It undermines its
| purpose.
| ibotty wrote:
| The problem is the device attestation. See
| https://grapheneos.org/articles/attestation-compatibility-gu...
| for details.
| fmajid wrote:
| I am coming to GrapheneOS from iOS, as recounted in
| https://blog.majid.info/quit-apple/
|
| My experience with seedvault is not as positive as the OP, it
| fails for about half my apps. I guess I have another year to fix
| this when the GrapheneOS enabled Motorola flagship comes out.
|
| I carry both my iPhone 16 Plus and my Pixel 8 Pro, but limit my
| iPhone use to mobile banking, Apple Pay and Find My.
| subscribed wrote:
| Seedvault is godawful and I'm saying it as a someone using GOS
| as a daily driver. Utterly awful.
|
| Two backup runs can give different results (failing in
| different places or failing to restore everything), and I
| haven't heard of the one person it works for every time.
|
| I wish I could just run Titanium Backup :(
| dahateb wrote:
| I have been using GrapheneOS now for 8 month and its been quite a
| smooth ride. The biggest worry I had was flashing it onto a brand
| new Pixel phone I had just bought. Everything else works fine
| though. Currently using 3 (german) banking apps and I haven't had
| a single issue. Also still using Google apps like camera and
| maps. Also Gboard as the default GrapheneOS keyboard is a bit
| uncomfortable. Really nice that you can just remove the network
| permissions and it works like a charm
| akimbostrawman wrote:
| GrapheneOS OOTB experience and feature set make any other phone
| feel cheap even iphones.
|
| 0 ads, 0 bloat, 0 unknown connections with maximum security.
| milan777love wrote:
| I wanted GrapheneOS to deliver on its promises so bad, it sounds
| so good on paper. And I should be the ideal user, a technical guy
| whose quality of life is directly impacted by a lack of
| privacy/security, highly motivated to use it correctly. But the
| reality is that you can't have your cake and eat it too. Just
| leave your phone at home, this is a toy for privacy enthusiasts.
| A well intentioned but fruitless hobby.
| microtonal wrote:
| You made an account just to attack GrapheneOS without even
| providing any arguments why it is supposedly a toy?
| milan777love wrote:
| I used it for a few months after buying a Nitrophone but it
| was pwned with the same ease as regular Android, in days. So
| I just use it as a regular Pixel 8a now. Wish I went for
| Qubes instead maybe then I would've had more luck.
| haskman wrote:
| PSA: For folks looking for a swipe enabled keyboard on GrapheneOS
| without using Google's gboard, try Heliboard -
| https://f-droid.org/packages/helium314.keyboard/. It's 100% FOSS,
| but can also use the binary blob from google's gesture typing
| library "swypelibs" to provide swipe typing. Since helium can't
| access the internet, I am okay with that.
| noman-land wrote:
| How does this compare to FlorisBoard?
| haskman wrote:
| Florisboard does not have swipe gesture typing which is
| basically a deal breaker for me
| r0l1 wrote:
| Also try the Urik Keyboard APP from f-droid
| backscratches wrote:
| I think they recently finished reimplementing the swipe library
| so now it no longer requires blobs.
| yepguy wrote:
| There's also FUTO Keyboard (https://keyboard.futo.org/).
| Nothing against Heliboard (I actually don't even remember why I
| chose it over Heliboard). Just another good option.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2026-03-03 23:02 UTC)