They are either defending themselves against personal attacks / harassment (which was also present in this thread before moderation intervention) or correcting unintentional misinformation about GrapheneOS features. That misinformation is often made by drawing a wrong comparison between GrapheneOS and other OSes. Correcting that isn’t harassment, just like defending yourself against personal attacks isn’t harassment.

GrapheneOS still intends to support all the supported devices until EOL. The sideloading change doesn’t affect them. It won’t apply to GrapheneOS. It only applies to certified OSes and GrapheneOS is not certified because it doesn’t license Google Mobile Services. As per the rip out of the device trees for Pixels, that just makes Pixels like other phones. GrapheneOS has been able to expand it’s automation to build that device support themselves. For new devices, making the support will take longer than it did in the past though, but they will still support those Pixels, as long as they meet the hardware requirements and still allow third-party OS support with all security features intact. Besides that GrapheneOS is actively talking with a major Android OEM right now in order to help them reach the security requirements for a subset of their future devices. They are very optimistic about that.

Android is Linux of course since the Android kernel is a Linux kernel. I’m aware you are probablly referring to using traditional Linux OSes that are typically used on desktops on mobile phones. That would, however, be a significant regression for security. Android and iOS are both modern mobile OSes with an in-depth security model which includes a mandatory app sandbox with a sane permission model. This is not present on traditional desktop OSes. This is not meant to diss on those OSes, they are just children of their time, they were created much earlier, security practices have evolved. I can see why it would be a fun experience though to tinker with, it would just not be a secure experience and it’s unlikely to get there because the improvements in traditional Linux distros go much slower than they go on Android and Android is already massively ahead.

They didn’t step away from GrapheneOS. They are the founder and were the lead developer. They only stepped away from the lead developer role because they couldn’t take the harassment anymore. They are now ex-lead developer but are still project member. They haven’t left the project and will not leave the project. They will not cave for harassers and bullies.

You can just read the requirements section on the FAQ page of their website. It explains the reasoning. It’s all based on technical reasons: https://grapheneos.org/faq#device-support

There is a lot of misinformation and harassment material circulating online about Daniel Micay. Notice that they are the victim of extensive online bullying which has spread all the way onto KiwiFarms. Would suggest not consuming that content because it won’t give you an accurate depiction at all.

I’m a community member of GrapheneOS and I’ve not had any bad experiences with the GrapheneOS team or Daniel Micay specifically. They maybe communicate a bit more directly than some other people do but they are not being toxic or aggressive at all. I’ve found them to be patient and understanding.

Note that the thing many people describe as “toxic behavior” refers to posts made by GrapheneOS social media accounts in response to harassment. Defending yourself against harassment is not toxic. It might not look good in isolation becuase the quality of those conversations often degrades very quickly, which will have an impact on the GrapheneOS responses, but you have to look at those messages in context.

GrapheneOS is not developed by a single individual. GrapheneOS has a team of around 10 full-time developers. They are not on bad terms with all other OSes, they say positive things about iOS regularly. They were also on positive terms with DivestOS before it was discontinued also mainly because it was being harassed by the same groups GrapheneOS is being harassed by.

The founder of GrapheneOS, to person you are referring to, is not mentally unstable. You are making this statement without any basis. You do not have access to their medical file. What you are saying is hugely inapprioriate and the behavior of a high school bully. Even if it were true (it isn’t), you are being an ableist, which just makes you a mean person.

GrapheneOS only runs on Google phones currently because only Pixels are able to meet the hardware requirmeents. The hardware requirements aren’t a very high bar, other OEMs just don’t prioritize security. GrapheneOS in active talks with a major Android OEM right now in order to help them meet the security requirements for a subset of their future devices. They are very optimistic about how that is going.