Alternative Operating Systems to Android
In this article I want to talk to you about the alternatives to the Google operating system for Android phones. Unfortunately today we know that Google is no longer what it used to be or perhaps it has never been “our friend” so it is necessary to think of something different to preserve data and privacy of people.
This is why it is necessary to change the operating system of our mobile phone to avoid profiling or worse, below is a list of alternative mobile phone operating systems.
1. FreeMobile
Libre Mobile is the operating system that I am currently using on my smartphone, although not very well known in my opinion it is an excellent replacement for DivestOs which unfortunately has ceased to exist and which was in second place in the ranking of the most secure systems after GrapheneOS which I will talk about later, Libre Mobile derives from LineageOS but has features that make it much more secure and also supports many smartphones, which is not the case for Graphene.
2. LineageOS
LineageOS is the precursor of the latest generation operating systems and is also a fork of another cyanogen system, Lineage also has the advantage of being able to be installed on many devices but unlike Libre Mobile for example, it uses many features of Android making it practically a copy without Google apps (which can be installed separately). Unfortunately if the premises were promising, those looking for Privacy with this operating system will have very little.
3. Iode
This operating system, although it guarantees greater security than Lineage, can only be installed on a few devices compared to the two previous systems or it is possible to buy a refurbished device with the system already installed.
Furthermore, the available free version seems to have few features, if we want more security we have to pay about 3.99 euros per month for the premium version or we can purchase the premium family package for 6.99 euros per month.
4. e/OS
The fourth operating system I want to talk about is e/OS, an operating system that introduces itself with this sentence:
“Over the past decade, technological evolution has transformed cell phones into our daily companions, always at hand. But it has also silently transformed them into surveillance devices, sharing our personal data with the highest bidder or with government apparatuses that want to predict and influence our actions.”
However, even in this case the system uses features that lead back to Google tracking and non-free software such as the Magic Earth cartography also used by Iodé. For these reasons I uninstalled it in favor of Libre Mobile.
5. GrapheneOS
Finally we have arrived at what is considered the top in terms of privacy and security, which does not use Android features, but which has a big flaw in my opinion: it is only available for Google Pixel phones from 4 to 9 at the moment, which means that it is not possible for ordinary mortals who do not have a Google phone (also due to the excessive costs) to install this operating system that is proposed as an alternative to Google Android but which in fact uses exclusively Google phones, a contradiction in my opinion given that the aim is to migrate smartphones to more secure and privacy systems.
Conclusions
While the commitment of the GrapheneOS team is to be appreciated, the choice of devices seems quite strange and ambiguous in my opinion, so if I have to choose to recommend at the moment the only system that has broad compatibility even if it is not at the level of Graphene in terms of privacy and security, it is Libre Mobile which up to now has not disappointed me even if with some customization on my part.
Finally, maybe someone noticed that I didn't mention Linux phones (which I follow with interest anyway), unfortunately the fact that they are not compatible with some banking apps for example cannot be accepted by the mass of non-experts so at the moment I don't think they are a good choice (not for functionality but for compatibility).
