How good is /e/ privacy based LineageOS fork?

2 years ago by りん〜 to c/privacy

I'm looking to get a custom ROM that has good compatibility with my device. Would you recommend /e/? I couldn't find a tutorial on how to install it with Linux but I don't think it should be that hard to figure out.

Neptr 34 points 2 years ago

/e/os is often behind on Android monthly security patches (sometimes up to a month or more!) and the apps they fork I have heard also often lag behind upstream. It also doesnt do much to deblob the ROM if proprietary binary blobs.

Comparison table of Android ROMs: https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm

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GalacticGrapefruit 2 points 2 years ago

Came here literally to comment this. Hooooly fuck, I would not trust /e/ as far as I can throw a Fairphone. Good thing they're compostable, becauze that's the only up they have on a Graphene flash.

Until I can take a basic actionable step to ensuring my information is safe like LOCKING MY BOOTLOADER... I am good over here.

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LeTak 22 points 2 years ago

It’s pretty solid. I use it daily and don’t have any big problems. Install is simple. Just install adb and fastboot from your linux repository. This should cover the most of the installation requirements.

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shortwavesurfer 6 points 2 years ago

I don't know if installing from the repositories is such a fantastic idea. I've had instances where I've almost fucked up a device because I installed the ones from the repositories and they weren't new enough. I would recommend downloading the ones from Google directly.

Edit: the cli platform-tools

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azron 5 points 2 years ago

Sounds like either a terrible bug or user error. Which in both cases should be fixed.

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shortwavesurfer 4 points 2 years ago

Well, when I tried the one directly from the repository, my version of Android would not boot, but then I downloaded the one directly from Google and did the same commands. And it booted. So yeah, either it was a bug or something.

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TuxEnthusiast 5 points 2 years ago

Sounds pretty straight forward. What is compatibility like? Have you tried any banking apps?

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Pherenike 3 points 2 years ago

I have ING app, it works seamlessly through microG but I don't need it for basic use of the app. I don't use my phone to pay for stuff.

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LeTak 2 points 2 years ago

I have no banking apps on that phone, sorry. So I don’t know if they work.

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devtoi 2 points 2 years ago

Haven't had any major apps not work on it. Except one banking app for a while in the beginning, but works now

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Kory 19 points 2 years ago

Their easy installer is why many people I know installed it, but it only supports 21 devices and mine wasn't one of them, so I can't say much about usability or security. If yours is one of them, there's also a Linux guide on their website: https://doc.e.foundation/easy-installer

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TuxEnthusiast 3 points 2 years ago

Yeah. I love the idea of the easy installer. Mine isn't listed either.

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Luffy879 14 points 2 years ago

I love the idea of the easy installer.

looks at GrapheneOS installer.... Literally just 3 buttons on a Website you have to click, all of the steps easily written with clear instructions for Linux as well as windows

looks at /e/ installer

finds 5 Websites with installers for /e/, all of them apparantly official ones, decided to use https://e.foundation/installer/
Site dosent let you view this instructions without JavaScript.
enabled JS
Cant even use fcking Firefox to view this installer because a fcking pop-up Blocks my sight
goddamn privacy oriented Android Rom Website recommends using Microsoft edge or Opera (both of which are privacy nightmares, especially opera)
smashes pillow against the wall

I give up. If you call that bloated peace of dierrhea an „Easy installer”, you could just as well say that gentoo is easier to install than mint.

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TuxEnthusiast 14 points 2 years ago

I know that GrapheneOS is really easy to install. Problem is that I don't have a Pixel.

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Luffy879 7 points 2 years ago

My Problem is not that you dont have a Pixel, but that /e/ 's Website is literal dogpoop, and that already tells a lot about their OS. Like, they are in a literal conflict to support other, maybe even more privacy friendly backup for cloud systems because the already have their own

Does your phone support anything else? LOS, Calyx, etc

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Pherenike 15 points 2 years ago

I've used it for almost five years, flashed it myself on my FP3. I disabled microG and I'm very careful & strict about what I install on my phone, also their Advanced Privacy set of tools is pretty good. For my threat model is more than enough and I am very happy overall. Never had any serious issues, or even mildly serious ones tbh, despite people yelling about Android security updates arriving late. There was an outage in their cloud services in October that required a complete revamping of their server infrastructure and that took months but I don't use their cloud so I wasn't affected at all.

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scoobford 11 points 2 years ago

Here is a good comparison. As a reminder, there is no privacy without security, so if you live in the US (or anywhere that illegal searches happen regularly), I'd argue a less secure solution is by definition a less private solution.

https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm

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TuxEnthusiast 14 points 2 years ago

From the looks of it GrapheneOS still seems like the beer choice by far..

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scoobford 10 points 2 years ago

Basically, but not everyone has a pixel or can afford to buy a new device.

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hash 7 points 2 years ago

I recently picked up a pixel 7a on ebay. $200 for like new condition. Probably the current sweet spot for value and remaining years of support.

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GalacticGrapefruit 1 point 2 years ago

$150 for a refurb Unlocked Pixel 6 from eBay. That's both cheaper, more ecologically friendly, and better for your privacy than /e/ can ever hope for.

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sunzu2 5 points 2 years ago

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GalacticGrapefruit 2 points 2 years ago

GOS team are some elitist jerks, sure, but what they make works well. And I respect the fuck out of Calyx for being committed to making something like MicroG work.

GOS or Calyx, either is gonna be miles better than /e/. /e/ is running their 'native IP scrambler' on a two-year old commit of TOR. Fuck everything about that.

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Undertaker 8 points 2 years ago

/e/ has good but not perfect privacy. It still contains connections to Google and they added a tracking parameter to their update calls.

Their update cycles are very slow. You are usually one to two months behind monthly security updates. Full bulletins are a year behind and Webview is a problem as well. They ignore this point and do not realize, that Insuffizienz security is a privacy risk AS well.

So if you want good privacy with a convenient user experience and without thoughts about security, here you go.

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Nicro 7 points 2 years ago

Depends on how far you want to go. From what I've been able to tell, they pedel a lot of flashy metrics and still had a bunch of google calls. Some of which you can manually remove, same as LOS. I would avoid buying into their cloud and keeping an eye on things yourself, if you want to install it. I saw them rebrand a bunch of OSS tooling as their own products back then. Don't know if things changed since then, but I don't trust the marketing.

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Actionschnils 6 points 2 years ago

Im using it for a couple of years. I flashed my fairphone 3 by my self back then, before the easy installer. It was the first time i did something "advanced" with a phone, but it worked quite well. After my fairphone 3 died, I bought a Fairphone 4 via murena. So everything was already installed etc In total I am happy with the Os. Their goal, the release of privacy oriented OS for everyone (so f.e. even my parents could use them) is quite of a utopia I suppose. But still, the team and community are doing a good job.

Yeah I already heard about grapheneOS, but its not working well with fairphone right? So murena it is for me :) And I would recommend to people, who are aware of the downsides and are little enthusiastic :)

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TuxEnthusiast 1 point 2 years ago

After my fairphone 3 died, I bought a Fairphone 4 via murena.

wait you didn't buy a replacement battery? 🤨

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Actionschnils 3 points 2 years ago

It wasnt the battery, sadly. Some Fairphone3 have the issue, that their mainboard(?) is breaking down after a couple of years without any clear reason - and I was the lucky one. Its the only "unreplaceble" part and kind of phone breaker. Sure, you can replace this too, but it would somheow be like buying a new phone. At this point, the fairphone 4 was alreasy released, so I took the upgrade. Fairphone 4 and 5 have now a waranty of 5 instead of 2 years. So at least on this point ill be save for 3 years more :>

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TuxEnthusiast 1 point 2 years ago

Oh ok 👍

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JanUwU42 6 points 2 years ago

A couple of my coworkers use it they are pretty happy with it and it works good from what I’ve heard :)

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GalacticGrapefruit 1 point 2 years ago

On the surface. DivestedOS has a whole laundry list of bugs and defects that /e/ hasn't patched in yeeeeaarrs. Including how many holes their so-called 'IP scrambler' actually has.

Your coworkers would be safer with stock. Or Lineage. Or literally anything else.

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daytonah 6 points 2 years ago

What phone do you want to flash on? Is it in this list? https://doc.e.foundation/devices

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Fredselfish 2 points 2 years ago

Doesn't support Galaxy phones unfortunately.

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daytonah 2 points 2 years ago

I kinda took out my old phone (Sony) and flashed on that.... And running parallel while I degoogle myself.... Takes some time to change all email registrations from govt. And tax authorities to other external services like docs, banks and stuff....so doing dual phone for a fee weeks and then dropped main phone (fairphone5) to fully shift on e/os phone (sony).. And then will reset the ex-main phone (ff5) when degoogle is complete... I am too busy these days so it's taking very long. (Also clean up Google inboxes and then back up vs. Backup and then clean up old inboxes is a struggle for me). Once fully complete I will flash ex-mainphone FF5 with e/os as well and switch to it And then use the 2nd phone to shift my partner and kids slowly. And in a year or next upgrades I think I might buy my family older pixel phones and flash e/os on them.

Maybe you should also get a side phone to start the project.

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Fredselfish 2 points 2 years ago

Not bad idea.

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Lumiluz 2 points 2 years ago

I think it supports Galaxy S9

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abcdqfr 5 points 2 years ago

Personally I hear it had been a mixed bag. Hopefully time has refined this... Old stories about digging up old LOS images, bare minimal patches, and release under e branding with no consideration for security/hardening. Buuut that was info from a grapheneos vs eos forum, or something. Do your research, you know what sub you're in.

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dudenas 1 point 2 years ago

I used it for a few years on Oneplus Nord, and a few days ago switched to pixel7 with LineageOS. First impressions are that e/os was much more usable out of the box.

I surely have worse experience with banking: Revolut and SmartID app just refuse to work due to rooted phone (worked well on e/os). Other bank app is somewhat more broken - on e/os it didnt fully load but at least showed notificatioms on each transaction, now doesnt and is useless.
Could be due to newer android version on LineageOS though, I didnt investigate that.

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chemicalwonka -1 points 2 years ago

very very bad

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NudeNewt 5 points 2 years ago

very very bad

Care to elaborate?

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chemicalwonka 3 points 2 years ago

/e/ greatly reduces security vs. AOSP via added attack surface, weakened security model and slow patches.

https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm

https://privsec.dev/...

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NudeNewt 2 points 2 years ago

Damn. That's such a shame, I was considering the fairphone with /e/ os but it's looking less and less appealing. I guess flashing it with CalyxOS and removing/replacing microg might be the better option. Either that or bite the bullet and get a pixel n' flash GrapheneOS to it.

I deeply aplreciate your expansion on the matter :)

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chemicalwonka 2 points 2 years ago

GrapheneOS is the best option we have today.

Don't forget to donate to the project.

https://grapheneos.org/donate

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Imprint9816 -19 points 2 years ago

Hard truth: outside of GrapheneOS there is very little security and privacy gains from a custom Android OS over stock.

From best to worst:

Graphene OS

iOS

Stock Android / non rooted custom OS

Branded stock android

Rooted phones of any type

EOL phones

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asudox 28 points 2 years ago

iOS second? What a joke.

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Imprint9816 0 points 2 years ago

Sorry its true. The app sandboxing and private relay alone are better then anything stock or these lower tier custom android os provide.

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asudox 2 points 2 years ago

I'm pretty sure you implied that the ranking was based on security and privacy. I don't see the privacy benefits of using iOS over a custom privacy OS.

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Imprint9816 -1 points 2 years ago

Do your research then. I'm not here to hand hold you through this.

Privacyguides.org is a great place to start for beginners.

Their forum is also a much more informed community then what you will find here or god forbid r/privacy

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skarn 1 point 2 years ago

That seems like an overly black and white position over something that can be either quite valid or entirely nonsense depending on the situation and/or threat model.

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Imprint9816 2 points 2 years ago

Something's are just more secure and private then others. That's just a fact. For example, as of now GrapheneOS is the most secure and private consumer mobile OS. There is no gray area.

Now whether your threat model requires it, can be much less black and white.

But users here tend to gamify privacy and think they should get whatever the "best" one is. They tend to do whatever the most upvoted github list tells them to do.

Rarely do I see someone like yourself, who considers threat model.

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tritonium 1 point 2 years ago

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Imprint9816 -1 points 2 years ago

Good call deleting that trash comment.

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Psyhackological -2 points 2 years ago

Yeah I would put it #1.

Why?

When a mobile hardware is only from Apple.

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skarn 2 points 2 years ago

I have read this several times, and still have no clue what you're trying to say.

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Psyhackological 1 point 2 years ago

iOS should be number one when limiting hardware only made by Apple.

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SitD 3 points 2 years ago

root allows system-wide adblocking. thus more privacy, not less privacy

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Imprint9816 2 points 2 years ago

Root also adds massive attack surface which easily outweighs those benefits. Not to mention non rooted DNS solutions provide a similar benefit.

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Spider89 11 points 2 years ago

Security != Privacy

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Imprint9816 -3 points 2 years ago

That's idiotic. Your data being insecure is inherently not private.

They are two sides of the same coin.

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SitD 2 points 2 years ago

Windows is rooted by design, and that's completely fine by everyone and their dog

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Imprint9816 2 points 2 years ago

Lol nobody is calling windows secure or private. Nobody even mentioned it.

Companies literally pay thousands of dollars a year in hardware and enterprise software to make up for its deficiencies.

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Hiro8811 2 points 2 years ago

It's hard to compare the security of systems. Also how is IOS number2!? Theres a lot of research put into finding holes in hardware and software since they are so popular, also they have backdoors for the government baked in along their walled garden.

Speaking about privacy, there are alot of gains from passing from a closed source ROM to a open sourced one. Or even better to an open sourced phone running Linux(yes I know very few can daily drive them).

On security it's complicated and depends on many factors.

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privacy

@lemmy.ml

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

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privacy

@lemmy.ml

login for more options

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

go to feed...