Phone

I keep multiple phones around for different purposes. I don’t have all of them with me all the time and I limit my reachability to the absolute necessary. I try to be reachable for a handful of very close contacts, but apart from that I will get back only during designated times.

The phones I have serve designated purposes, therefor each has a different set of apps on them. In case either of them should break, I might temporarily move some apps to one of the other devices.

n4u7i1u5

n4u7i1u5 is a Google Pixel 8. It is my primary phone and it runs GrapheneOS, a custom de-Googled, Android-based ROM that is focused on security and privacy.

Unlike e.g. /e/OS, Graphene does not come with an alternative/proxy to the Google Services Framework (GSF) – like microG – by default and therefor isn’t able to run applications that depend on it. While it’s possible to sandbox the GSF, I haven’t done so and instead ditched every app that has a hard requirement on it.

I get most of the apps that I use from F-Droid and I check their source code repositories upfront for any obvious red flags. However, there are some apps I can’t get rid of, for which I use Aurora Store to download/update them.

Check my sort of review of GrapheneOS here and the update with the Google Pixel 8 here.

Apps

• α-Remote
• addy.io
• AntennaPod
• AnyType
• App Store (GrapheneOS)
• Audile
• Auditor (GrapheneOS)
• Aurora Store
• Authnkey
• Aves Libre
• Binary Eye
• Birday
• Bitwarden
• Bluesky
• Briar
• Breezy Weather
• BT Remote
• Cake Wallet
• Calculator (GrapheneOS)
• Camera (GrapheneOS)
• Conversations Cheogram, for my instant messaging service (join [the community channel][xmpp]!), for telephone calls, and for push notifications
• Clock (GrapheneOS)
• CoMaps
• Contacts (GrapheneOS)
• Cromite
• Currencies
• DAVx5
• Etar
• F-Droid
• Feeder
• Files (GrapheneOS)
• Finamp (beta)
• Flipper
• FossWallet
• Gallery (GrapheneOS)
• GeoShare
• GitNex
• Goguma, for idling on the IRC
• HeliBoard
• Hypatia
• Info (GrapheneOS)
• Keep Alive
• Launcher (GrapheneOS)
• Lawnchair (beta)
• LocalSend
• Markup (via GrapheneOS App Store)
• Material Files
• Meshtastic
• Messaging (GrapheneOS)
• Migraine Log
• Mullvad VPN
• NeoStumbler
• NewPipe
• Obtainium
• OpenKeychain
• PDF Viewer (GrapheneOS)
• Phone (GrapheneOS)
• Qalculate!
• Ripple
• Scrambled\Exif
• Seal
• Settings (GrapheneOS)
• SherpaTTS
• SIM Toolkit (GrapheneOS)
• StreetComplete
• Syncthing, for running my own decentralized Dropbox
• Table Habit
• Tasks
• Termux
• Thunderbird, for e-mail
• Tor Browser
• Trail Sense
• Vanadium (GrapheneOS)
• VLC
• Voice, for listening to audio books
• Voyager
• WikiReader
• Wireless emergency alerts (GrapheneOS)

Private Space

In addition, I’m using Android’s Private Space feature to separate spyware malware closed-source apps from my primary profile while still having them accessible if I should need them:

• Citymapper
• Garmin Connect
• NAVER Maps
• Papago
• Uber

Update: As with each and every one of Google’s garbage hardware devices that I ever owned, this device, too, started malfunctioning (after not even two years of use!). I’m still using the Pixel 8 as my primary phone, but boy I can’t wait for a (hopefully cheaper) GrapheneOS-compatible Motorola device, to finally throw this phone to the bottom of the ocean.

t3p3s

t3p3s (Apple iPhone Air) is my only iOS device and it runs every spyware malware apps that I need to run for the sake of participating in what we all collectively call modern society, which are primarily financial, business and government apps.

I don’t usually take this device with me anywhere and it spends most of its days off in a faraday bag. With the myth of Apple rEsPeCtInG uSeR PrIvAcY debunked long time ago, I only really take it with me when I know that I might need any of the apps that are running on it.

n3m0

n3m0 is a Google Pixel 6a. It was my primary phone until I got n4u7i1u5 and it used to run GrapheneOS, a custom de-Googled, Android-based ROM that is focused on security and privacy. However, when I replaced it with the Pixel 8, I flashed it back to Google’s stock firmware in order to be able to use it as a spyware phone for things like online banking and eCommerce apps, and other software that you wouldn’t want to (or can’t, due to the lack of Google Services) have on your primary device.

These days n3m0 is mostly a stay-home-phone that I only have with me when I anticipate needing any of the apps on there.

Update: As with each and every one of Google’s garbage hardware devices that I ever owned, this device, too, eventually started malfunctioning and hence had to go after only roughly four years of active use.

p4bl0

p4bl0 (iPhone 11 Pro Max) runs the iOS version of every spyware malware app that I run on n3m0, solely for redundancy reasons. iMessage on this device is off, but Apple keeps reminding me after every frikkin’ startup to turn it back on.

I don’t usually take this device with me anywhere and it spends most of its days off in a faraday bag. With the myth of Apple rEsPeCtInG uSeR PrIvAcY debunked long time ago, I prefer to take n3m0 with me whenever I do happen to need any of the spyware malware apps on-the-go, due to it being smaller in size and significantly lighter.

Update: After almost 7 years the battery, as well as overall device performance, especially with financial apps, became unbearable, hence I had to replace this device with a newer version.

j0l1y

j0l1y is my experimental phone, which I’m currently test-driving. It’s a Pine64 Pinephone Pro Explorer Edition and hence an actual Linux phone. I’m mostly using it for evaluation purpose.

Most of its software isn’t ready for prime time yet. While Plasma Mobile has most of the looks that you’d expect from a modern smartphone, it glitches in many areas and is generally quite sluggish on the Pinephone Pro, which is mostly due to the Pinephone’s bad hardware.

Phosh on the other hand is more lightweight, it is however a UI and UX disaster.

At this moment in time, the Pinephone is less stable and usable than a RockPi 4 (which happens to rock a similar 3399 chip). If you’re looking for a super portable Linux device with some battery runtime that you can connect to an external display/keyboard/mouse to fiddle around with, the Pinephone Pro is for you. If you’re only looking for an Android or iOS replacement, better look elsewhere.

I regularly switch systems on the Pinephone Pro and all of them have weird quirks and glitches, hence it’s hard to recommend what distro to use in general. What I can recommend though is staying as far away from Manjaro as possible, as it has been the only system that has been consistently awful on the Pinephone Pro, as well as on other RK3399 devices that I’ve been using. Its ability to break and make devices impossible to boot with every other system upgrade is unparalleled by any Linux distro I’ve used so far.

I’m currently running PostmarketOS on the Pinephone Pro.

Update: I gave up on the Pinephone Pro. It’s an awful piece of hardware that is unlikely to ever become even close to usable. See here for more info.

m0t0k0

m0t0k0 (Samsung Galaxy S10) was my now defunct daily-driver, running /e/OS. Back in Q3 2022, the camera module stopped working and shortly after, when I spilled water over the IP68 certified phone, it appeared to have given up completely. Only after n3m0 was delivered to my place and halfway set up, the Samsung magically turned on and – after a few days of random reboots – seems to have stabilized again.

I used the situation to pull every bit of data left on the device over to my new primary phone and have since only used the device as OpenWRT mwan fallback and Briar Mailbox.

Update: I had no more need for the Samsung and eventually gave it to someone that was happy to use it for a few more years, despite its hardware glitches.