Hey, howdy, hallo,
I like to lurk on the GrapheneOS discussion forum and read the posts. I learn a ton, whether it’s from the moderators, the GrapheneOS team, or just random individuals sharing what they know.
But every so often I come across something about myself (Side Of Burritos) that’s just plain wrong.
Here’s the excerpt from the post:
"A YouTuber called "Side Of Burritos" advises not to use any big tech apps at all on GrapheneOS for privacy reasons. While his advice might be an ideal scenario, in my case some of these apps are absolutely necessary."
I’m not sure I made it clear enough where I stand on this topic in my videos, so I thought I would put it in writing instead.
There are a lot of individuals, creators, and bots out there that think if what you’re doing isn’t their idea of perfect, then it’s not worth doing at all. I absolutely despise this viewpoint. Unfortunately, this content usually surfaces first when someone is just getting started, and it deters them from even beginning. Individuals enter a state of analysis paralysis and they end up keeping the same habits. There isn’t a less ideal outcome I can think of.
Big tech does not have our best interests at heart. I don’t think there’s any debate about that. What I think is that if you need to use Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. to function in your daily life on your phone, then go for it. GrapheneOS put the effort into building and maintaining Sandboxed Google Play for this exact purpose.
You don’t need to complete your privacy journey in a day. Did Frodo get the ring to Mount Doom in a day? No, it took 3 movies to do that. The goal is to just get started.
If you need to continue using those apps on GrapheneOS indefinitely, that’s completely fine. Using them on GrapheneOS compared to stock Android or iOS is a VAST improvement.
I honestly think just using GrapheneOS gets you 80-90% of the way there. The last 10-20% is the tinkering and other things that end up taking the majority of the time.
So if there was any confusion, I hope this clears that up. Install GrapheneOS, download Google Play, install the apps you need, and migrate away from services you don’t want to use when you’re ready.
I hope you had a great April, and I’ll see you in May!
-Josh
A pretty fun puzzle game once you get the hang of it.
I had a great time on the Signal Jam podcast. Check it out if you’re looking for something tech/privacy related to listen to.
GrapheneOS/Android App Permissions Explained
How Android Is Becoming More Restricted
A few things I make and work on:
Membership Site — Bonus content, monthly livestream Q&A, and more.
Consulting — Personalized help for individuals and teams.
Yellowball — Podcast hosting. No BS, no tracking.
"Be curious, not judgmental."
— Ted Lasso (S01E08)