You can install on it a lot of custom ROMs, including GrapheneOS and CalyxOS.

Yeah. I thought it was weird, but the stock Pixel is very secure, and if you install Graphene OS, it is even more so. Additionally, Graphene OS sandboxes The Playstore Apps, and gives you much more control over what the Apps you install are allowed access to. You have to go way out of your way to make it less private than the stock OS, and you pretty much can't make it less secure than the stock OS.

You can get almost anything that works on the stock Pixel working on Graphene OS except for Google Wallet and the Android drive app. Banking Apps work, Google Apps work (but you might as well try to use alternatives).

I had an iphone for years, but after using Graphene OS for the past 3 months, I can honestly say I'll do everything I can to not go back.

GrapheneOS on a Pixel 7 is one of the best decisions I ever made. You can sandbox the shit out of all apps and granularly control the permissions in addition to outright cutting off network access to apps that would otherwise be doing background telemetry garbage all the time.

If you're terminally online and just can't imagine life without all the first party Google apps, you'll disagree with me. But otherwise it is a great decision. F-droid and Aurora Store are awesome. (You can still manually install and use stuff like the Google camera app, Maps and others. Just never sign in to first party G Apps, be careful with your permissions etc. and you'll retain 90% of the functionality while not having the privacy downsides.)

Yes, it is. I mean, GrapheneOS is the gold standard for privacy&security, but even stock Pixel is a good step up. Think of it like this: on stock Pixel, only Google is tracking you, not Google + Samsung, or Google + Xiaomi. Just Google. It's guaranteed to be a step up from all other Android phones, stock or not.

Install GrapheneOS on it and it will be. Remember, security and privacy are two different things. You can be very secure without being private, and you can be very private without being secure.

Google Pixels by default are pretty secure, but not private, at least not to Google.

I'd argue yes.

I see Google as a known unknown, where as various other Chinese phones are unknown unknowns.

I acknowledge I have western bias, but the propaganda, human rights violations and control of the CCP is well understood.

At the very least Pixel let's you flash an alternative OS.

Not the stock os. You need to flash something else and relock the bootloader to take advantage of the pixel

Google Pixel hardware is focused on providing a private relationship between the user (your data and behavioral patterns) and Google.

Depending on your threat model you can flash custom roms to enhance your privacy and security posture.

A lot of folks here seem to be of the "...just flash GrapheneOS and you're good..." crowd but it's not that simple and there are trade-offs that impact usability and user experience.

There are a lot of interesting projects out there to choose from. Best advice is to work-up your real world threat model and do your reasearch.

You may find Louis Rossman's experience with GrapheneOS relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4To-F6W1NT0&t=1

Here's a few links to help get you started - there are many android projects. I am not affiliated nor am I explicitly endorsing any of these projects.

CalyxOS https://calyxos.org/

LineageOS https://lineageos.org/

HavocOS https://havoc-os.com/

ResurrectionRemix https://resurrectionremix.com/

DerpFest https://derpfest.org/

PixelExperience https://wiki.pixelexperience.org/

GrapheneOS https://grapheneos.org/

It’s one of the better options.

For a start, even if you run it stock, it’s somewhat on par with the iPhone (depending who you ask). You’re trusting one company with your data, Google. You’re not trusting Google AND Samsung, or Google AND Huawai. It’s just Google. Plus Google does offer good security, so your data/device is pretty secure. In comparison to Samsungs Knox… while better than a lot of other Android security stuff, is kinda bad.

Though, the real privacy win for the Pixel, is it DOES allow you to modify it. You can remove Google’s version of Android, and change to Calyx or Graphine OS. Both of which are fantastic options, that allow you to really lock things down.

Google claims to do some processing on their own tensor chip locally so it might reduce some data being sent to Google, but it doesn't limit them from tracking you. With Pixel, you are only being tracked by Google and not Samsung or other manufacturer

A part of that is due to the fact that you now only have one company to worry about collecting data, rather than both the manufacturer(think Samsung) and then Google too.

They also play the best with options like Grapheneos or Calyxos

Just install GrapheneOS. The only things that don't work on it are Google Pay and Android Auto.

I sorely miss the hardware features from my previous phone, like a notification LED, MicroSD card slot and headphone jack, but I can't go back to a phone where I can't re-lock my bootloader after installing a custom ROM like CalyxOS or GrapheneOS.

MAC address randomisation is pretty neat too.

I LOVE GRAPHENEOS

Who the actual fuck said this to you? Google is one of the worst companies for privacy.

I mean i guess with a pixel, you're just being spied on by Google rather than Samsung + Google if you buy a samsung android, so in that sense, sorta? But saying a pixel is good for privacy in general is an absolutely ridiculous statement.

Google Pixel has the most support for security, which relates to privacy. It does "phone home," but likely only to Google. Removing all the Google software and installing GrapheneOS further hardens the security and vastly improves the privacy by stopping the "phoning home."

https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices

Who says the google pixel is good for privacy? Google?

pixels have the highest hardware security of all Android phones, which increases privacy potential. assuming you keep the stock os and default Google settings, though, it's about the same as any other.

Google also has good support for alternative OS'/Android forks, which is likely where that claim is leading to.