Item — HN Reader

> posts that slander GraphenOS.

FWIW, as someone who is not in the phone OS development world at all but has been reviewing phones with alternative OSes for about the last 4 years...

My impression is that everyone else in the phone-OS and deGoogled-Android world hates the GrapheneOS folks, and it's mutual. They seem to be borderline impossible to work with, very arrogant and protectionist, and the project's own support lifetime is "when Google no longer supports your phone, we don't either."

Personally, I'd choose something else. Anything else, in fact.

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My impression is that everyone else in the phone-OS and deGoogled-Android world hates the GrapheneOS folks, and it's mutual.

I don't think that is true. Team members regularly speak positively of iPhone security. E.g.:

https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/113874795519341571

They also do not post much on LineageOS and when they do it usually articulates the difference between both (with LineageOS focusing more on customizability, while being much less secure).

I think the strongest disagreement is with /e/OS, which is not surprising, because their founder goes around to various widely-viewed/read media insinuating that security hardening/GrapheneOS is only for pedophiles and spies.

They seem to be borderline impossible to work with, very arrogant and protectionist,

As a user, they seem to be responsive to bug reports and actively helping out people in their forums. Not sure what else I need.

and the project's own support lifetime is "when Google no longer supports your phone, we don't either."

But that makes sense, right? One of the main foci of GrapheneOS is security. If Google stops supporting a Pixel model, there will be no more updates of firmware bundles, etc. Most firmware has monthly CVEs, pretending that it doesn't would go counter one of the main goals of GrapheneOS. If you want to maintain such a phone as an insecure device after Google's update period, there are other options you could switch to.

I am also not sure how much this matters. Even Pixel budget devices (a-series) have 7 years of security updates now. It's not only one of the longest in the industry, it's probably beyond how long 95% of the population uses a phone.