Recently got a pixel as a secondary work phone and was reminded that I actually kinda like android (my main is an iPhone). Problem is mostly that I don’t want an even higher level spyware device. Of course I could use graphene but I use Apple Pay, find my / AirTags regularly and I also would need to find good alternatives to iCloud, and photos which I honestly kind of like. I suppose I could possibly get a pixel watch and get around the pay limitations but maybe some users who have switches might have some general insight.
Edit: I guess my best option right now is to stick with my current plan of both devices and maybe see what oem graphene partners with and if that somehow changes anything
The reality is that security/privacy will always be a balancing act with convenience.
If you increase your security and privacy, you will lose convenience.
If you increase your convenience, you will lose security and privacy.
It’s always a tradeoff.
It’s up to you what things you’re willing to trade off, in the end. Everyone can give valuable input, but it will always be up to you to make the final decision on what level of tradeoff you’re willing to accept and what level fits your threat model.
For total security and privacy you would basically have to not use electronics at all and live in a cabin in the woods and have a good grasp of chemistry, scavenging and farming to take care of yourself. I think a guy named Ted did that once and it didn’t work out so great for him, but of course, he also didn’t actually just keep to himself in those woods.
And to be fair, these days even that’s not a guarantee of total privacy with satellite imagery, drones, etc.
This is why it’s important to sit down and write a document titled “my threat model, 2026”. OP should figure out what they’re really worried about, how important it is, and what are they willing to sacrifice. Once that’s done, it’s easy to start putting that philosophy into practice.
Yeah you make a good point. I saw an article recently that Apple is considering using ads in Apple Maps so maybe the companies are moving closer together and it doesn’t really matter that much anyway. How would a degoogled stock pixel phone compare to an iPhone do you think?
I think a Degoogled stock Pixel will be far more inconvenient than you want it to be because of the work you would have to put in for simple things like Push Notifications to work without Google services.
I use iPhone and I also tried a Pixel with Graphene OS.
Like the above commenter said it’s a trade off with convenience and for me it was too hard to do. Nothing wrong with the OS per se, but I just prefer the convenience of iPhone.
Another point is I’m a middle age software developer so not adverse to learning new things but I’ve got to the point that I want it easier. If I’m doing something I shouldn’t be doing then I’d have a device specific for that.
GrapheneOS?
Can’t use graphene unless my primary because android because of the Intune stuff
I didn’t see ads until I got an iPad and it was because I had been rooting before that with adaway on Android. I didn’t know talkings ads existed. Then when it came to buying apps it was hard finding ones that didn’t have subscriptions, and the apps didn’t have a clear label of whether it had ads or not before installing. Finding foss options was even harder.
So outside of official apple apps I found the app market trash on Apple with it not letting me know if an app had ads, subscriptions, and no easy F-droid type alternative to seek out for foss apps.
Might be more “private” than Android but i found Apple a more ad infested experience, and didn’t help that their third browsers are so gutted compared to Android options to make adblocking when browsing the web better.