TL;DR

Linus spent a month running GrapheneOS—a hardened, open-source fork of Android—on a Pixel phone to see what “criminal-grade” privacy feels like. You get zero corporate spyware, stripped-down bloat, aggressive sandboxing and full control over your data, but you also lose the official Play Store, automatic updates can be finicky, and side-loading apps becomes routine.

By the end of the experiment, GrapheneOS proves itself as a privacy powerhouse for anyone willing to swap day-to-day convenience for next-level security. Casual users might struggle with its quirks, but if you’re the type to panic at the thought of Big Tech tracking your every tap, this might just be your dream phone.

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