Stock Pixel, I do have Nextcloud and other stuff, but I usually don't want to risk bricking my phone and I'm okay with some of the tradeoffs of using Google things, not okay with being shackled to it though so I do have some alternatives setup ready to switch but for the most part I'm okay with the tradeoffs.
this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
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Samsung Galaxy Duos running iodéOS.
Stock Android on Samsung S23 because it was $400 at the time (JB-Hi-Fi had a steal of a deal), and current phone at the time was dead, so I needed something. Otherwise, I'm not sure where I would have gone, but definitely not Apple. All of my workplaces use iPhones and I hate it.
I'm a scrub using stock Android also. Well, technically stock Samsung, whatever flavor of Android they call that nowadays. In my defense, saying that I "use" my phone at all is generous. I avoid the digital ball-and-chain like the plague, only touch it when I have to (like when some foolish family member calls me). None of my important data, passwords, or accounts will ever touch it unless they give me literally no other choice.
GrapheneOS on Pixel 7.
Love GrapheneOS, not so impressed with the HW quality of the Pixel for the price I paid. I feel my previous Huawei P20 was more durable, and it was a good 200€ cheaper at time of purchase.
Stock Pixel 7 here.
Using a Vivo smartphone (the Chinese ROM) for its good cameras (once you disable all the AI "enhancements" to the zoom that makes it all look like a messy oil painting). The OS spin is, in a word, pretty garbage. There's unfortunately no LineageOS support for my device it seems like.
It's got some neat features, but there's a whitelist for SMS apps, meaning I was stuck with the stock one. Additionally, it pops up a security warning whenever you install any app that isn't verified by Vivo, but it doesn't hamper my ability to install apps from F-Droid and Obtainium too much.
Using NextDNS with a few blocklists shows that it phones home to Vivo constantly, Vivo-related links are far and above blocked by NextDNS over anything else on my devices. Not very good for privacy, like at all. It also tells me off for having private DNS and assumes that it's the problem whenever there's a change in the network connection.
I am currently using the Kvaesitso launcher (and I know many like Lawnchair, but I favour the more efficient search-based interface of Kvaesitso) and for a long while it randomly switched me back to the stock launcher. The swipe up gesture also sent me to the home launcher like Kvaesitso was running as an app. It turns out that there's a hidden option in settings to disable that, but it took a lot of looking around online to figure that out. With Kvaesitso, much of the oddities of OriginOS work out better (like the advertisements and Baidu results in the global search). I also disabled the "Origin Island" since it only worked for Spotify and nothing else I used, as well as a few other bits that I didn't really need.
If you want a neat phone that is good for user privacy and all that, Chinese ROM phones aren't the way to go, but dang the camera hardware run circles around anything Apple and Samsung can produce. If you want something that supports custom ROMs, there's of course Fairphones, which are super repairable and use fair materials and labour, but there's plenty of other devices that support LineageOS, iodeOS, e/OS, etc. If you really want to become independent of Google you could also try a phone that supports mobile Linux (like the OnePlus 6)
I do have photos backed up with Immich, and it works quite well!
I will say, even with the Chinese ROM, I feel like I can use so much more software and have better access to my device than my old iPhone. For one, I can connect the USB with my computer and share files quickly, and F-Droid has so many cool apps that work, and in many cases look, awesome! Being able to use different default apps, use a different launcher, and customise the icons easily with an icon pack (Apple's sorry excuse for icon theming isn't all that great, all you get is either a glassy colour or glassy glass)
But I must say, I am envious of those who are able to run LineageOS, mobile Linux, etc.
If I do ever switch to a new phone (which won't be for several years, since my phone is relatively new) I would probably go for a phone that I know is supported by LineageOS or perhaps iodeOS. This would probably be a Fairphone (likely a used model) given that I really want to support their mission for fairer materials and more repairable electronics.
I could also try going for a strange little Linux phone, just for fun.
Pixel 8 here, still running stock Android but rooted to enable a few apps i like and won't give up.
No plans to move to Graphene or Lineage
Pixel 8a because I'm poor, but I do like the camera support.
I like FOSS (etc), but I'm not rabid about it.
an older xiaomi with lineage. i have gapps due to compatibility issues.
Motorola G73 because I can't afford anything more expensive :(
I removed all the Google apps, but I can't install a custom ROM as none support this device
You should look for a used Pixel. New phones under $200 are all rip offs.
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Stock pixel 10a
Nothing phone 2a. I like the lights on the back :)
Phone? I largely use my tablet while I'm at home. Don't ask what phone I use when traveling, it's about a joke of a thing that barely works and probably isn't even worth $5 as is, working. But it makes and receives calls and text at least.
Anyways, my tablet is a Maxwest Astro 8R. Also not all that much to brag on, but it's powerful enough to emulate a PSP almost seamlessly. Camera sucks though and doesn't have all that many sensors, not even a compass sensor.
Its running stock Android 11 that came with it, but I've never signed into Google and ive disabled practically all Google apps, including specifically Google Play and related services. F-Droid and sideloaded apps for me, I don't even use the GBoard keyboard, Futo Keyboard for the win!
iPhone 15 pro max
iphone 17. never used android because i grew up with ios and i really am attached to the ui. im really not interested in switching to graphene or a pixel, at least until it gets better or until iphone is shown to seriously be unsafe. stock iphone is safer than stock android and i’ll stick by my opinion, but i know almost everyone in the privacy space disagrees with me.
Their lockdown mode is very good and I think you should be fine as long as you don't have all your data stored in Apple services like Apple Notes and Photos that you can't install on Android, though OS switching apps and the iCloud website mean it is possible to get your data out.
Fold 7, love it for blending OSRS and YouTube.
Agnostic, for development. iOS and Android.
Daily driver is iPhone, but I keep a Pixel with stock Android for staying uptodate with services and latest updates.
Used to keep a phone around to run stock AOSP, but nobody runs that.
Xiaomi 17 pro with Hyperos.
I have an iPhone Air after renewing my cell plan this year. Its alright
I also have a OnePlus 6T running PostmarketOS but I use it more for tinkering than as a daily driver right now
Stock? Nah.
I have something like a dozen tablets and phones stacked on my desk. I get new ones, but the old ones have enough life in them that I don't just count them as ewaste and wash my hands of them. Only two of those have current lineage available, and I can't be arsed to update what amounts to a picture frame that isn't connected to Wi-Fi. The rest get used as security cameras for very short term use.
Most of them still have the os they came with as, again, I can't be arsed to fiddle with the ones that I could dig up a rom for, or they couldn't be unlocked to do it in the first place. But none of them were ever stock Android. Since when I got them, I favored Samsung and LG tablets, the ui was highly altered from regular AOSP.
Now, my main phone? My absolutely amazing friend gifted me a pixel with graphene ready to go as soon s it reached me. But I do still use some play store apps on it, when I can't find something good enough that isn't (nothing touches poweramp, and I haven't had the budget to put towards a licence for it from the dev, yet. Higher priorities).
Never touched a pi unless it was a pie being shoved down my throat.
Ngl though, if I wasn't lazy as fuck, I'd likely swap to lineage on my older oneplus that's my backup phone. Just don't feel like dealing with the time it would take. So it's as stock as it was when I got it a few years ago. I doubt I'll ever do it unless I get a newer graphene device and it gets retired to the desk for infrequent uses. That's how I end up with a still working Galaxytab 2 lol. Barely still working tbh.
Remarkable! So you have been using graphene OS for a long-term? How would you rate it overall? Do you ever get frustrated by some of the limitations or jankiness that can come up with various apps?
No bullshit, I've yet to run into jank. My bank is a credit union that isn't a bunch of assholes, so their app works fine.
I don't need any authentication apps, so no worries there. Ifi ever do, there's some known to work with graphene.
I'm happier with graphene than I have been in years with android overall. Last time I was really happy with android, we were still in single digits. The ever increasing limitations Google was applying broke my joy of it s an enthusiast.
But graphene at least returns me being able to use my device without the layers of Google bullshit unless I just want to.
So no frustrations at all just easy to use handled computing.
I've had this phone since early last year. I think? Might have been june? Damned if I can remember without digging up old messages lol.
Whe I got it, my plan was to use the pixel for my second line in case I couldn't make the transition. I switched sims out two days later and haven't looked back since. If I could put graphene on my second phone, I would.
iPhone 16 Pro Max
GrapheneOS is a “someday” that will rely on degoogling ither aspects of my digital life and setting up self hosted solutions for others.
Not had it for long, but a fairphone 6 (the version thats sold in the US that comes with /e/OS instead of regular android).
How do you like it?
Its worked out fine for me thus far, but given that one of the selling points for how expensive it is is reparability, and I've only had it a few months, I don't think I can yet give a useful review beyond that it works as a phone, at least for the hardware.
A handful of quirks from the operating system (most annoying being that the option to paste stuff has a visual bug that makes the little popup button for it not appear, though it still works if I just tap where it should be), but nothing I've not been able to figure out with at most a quick internet search. Might not work out for everyone though as some apps (only a small handful of the ones ive tried, but still) dont fully work, so how viable the OS is will depend on if one absolutely needs one of the ones that doesn't or not.