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  • biggest mistakes people do when installing GrapheneOS? need up to date guide

hi all,

so im finally planning on getting pixel 7a and trying to run it with graphene OS. was a stalker on reddit sub from time to time and i know that there is some chance to brick the phone if not flashed properly.

could anyone advise on most up to date comprehensive guide and perhaps share some knowledge on what are the most common mistakes/faults that one could do?

im not too techie smart but aint a newbie, can follow guides quite easily, however, my biggest fear to brick phone is experiencing something during setup that shouldnt happen / get stuck on one certain step with no idea how to proceed that guide doesnt cover...

thank you for your help

    The official GrapheneOS site should have the most updated step-by-step installation guides as well as FAQs and in-depth feature guides. I'm not very tech savvy and I only had slight hiccups with google play services post-installation, but those have been resolved as far as I can tell, and with the help of this forum!

      Makrus thanks for your response. what are biggest issues with google play? dont they sandbox it? or as alternative provide the use of aurora if the app could be found there?

          prisi My issues were specifically related to many map-utilizing apps that get necessary data from google play services. I had blank maps until I turned on network perms for Play Services. Which I then turned back off after maps started working. More on that can be found in one of my posts as well a later post made today about map issues. I haven't seemed to have any other issues with Graphene that weren't my fault, as far as I can tell. But I'm still fresh and setting things up.

          Important note: I'm talking about Google Play Services, not the Play Store. I have used Aurora since I started with Graphene and it works fine. A bit slow but not to the point of frustration.

            prisi If you use the web installer you have very little to worry about, I don't believe an improper flash will brick your device anyways since you can always access fastboot

                prisi could anyone advise on most up to date comprehensive guide

                Follow the installation guide on the GrapheneOS website and not something you'd find on YouTube.

                  prisi just follow the web installer word by word (maybe read it completely before starting). Don't worry if it takes a bit. Also be aware that your phone will reboot multiple times and look funny in between which you just ignore (unless you are told by the web installer to interact with it, e.g. unlocking the bootloader). Oh and last but not least: When I first installed GOS, I didn't realize when the flashing was done and I could go ahead with the next step, since not much changed visually. The button and progress bar just stayed the same while an unobtrusive text said that the flashing was successful. In case that's still how it works, just look closely what the text is telling you.

                  You've got this, and welcome to the community!

                      N1b

                      I concur with this advice. I have flashed other Android ROMs before, and the GOS web installer was by far the easiest to use.

                      • N1b likes this.

                        prisi could anyone [...] share some knowledge on what are the most common mistakes/faults that one could do?

                        Please don't celebrate the installation by disabling or removing permissions from pre-installed parts of the system (at least not before reading the relevant source code).

                          raccoondad thank you for your response. im still quite green in this area but never had any issues with hardware/software installations/replacements in the past by following guides thoroughly. my question would be - what do you mean by always accessing fastboot?

                          the only way i could "f*uck" it up would be if im not properly flashing device and locking the bootloader before everything is finished, right? or closing/restarting phone when installation is happening?

                          or you meant that even if something's wrong, fastboot will always allow me to restart and boot to get back to the same step i was at?

                              prisi "what do you mean by always accessing fastboot?"

                              Fastboot is the bootloader interface, you have to access it to flash GOS (you access it during the step where you turn off your device then press and hold the power and volume down button)

                              "and locking the bootloader before everything is finished", no, because OEM unlocking is still enabled. So you can always run fastboot unlock. If OEM unlocking became disabled, then yes there would be issues.

                              "or closing/restarting phone when installation is happening?", this would mess up the flash but you can still restart it. However it would have to restart the flashing process

                              "or you meant that even if something's wrong, fastboot will always allow me to restart and boot to get back to the same step i was at?", if something goes wrong (lets say your cable disconnects mid flash somehow) then while your phone will not boot it can still enter fastboot for a reflash

                              The process of locking/unlocking the bootloader only does two things really: toggles the ability to flash the OS and deletes any user data

                              Once you verify the operating system boots, you will be able to lock the bootloader with no concern, and you can always unlock it (while erasing all user data) anytime using fastboot commands on your computer. Assuming you don't disable OEM unlocking in the settings

                              You can also use fastboot to access recovery, if GOS becomes corrupted (rare), forgot your PIN/password, or is infected in some way, you can access recovery to either sideload an update (which would replace the corrupted OS with the update) or wipe all user data (clearing the infection/clearing your PIN/password...and all user data)

                              Recovery mode is very useful

                                  raccoondad thank you :) very interesting! im new with all tech stuff about phones and never had a chance to move to android either..very happy GOS exists!

                                  would you be kind to explain part where you mentioned that i could reinstall/update corrupted OS etc, well - after successful flash i have to lock bootloader and disable OEM, meaning if i got issues - the only way to access this would be enabling OEM again on my phone's settings and unlocking bootloader first, correct?

                                      prisi I wouldn't disable OEM unlocking, if you disable it then yes, the only way to unlock the bootloader is to enable OEM unlocking again

                                      However, the only way this would be a real issue if both recovery and your OS have been corrupted, not likely

                                      Repairing the operating system can be done in recovery mode, without unlocking the bootloader. You can access fastboot, enter recovery, open the recovery menu, select 'update over ABD' and use a computer to push the update to the phone (this also does NOT wipe user data since you don't have to unlock the bootloader)

                                      This is also how you update your phone if you can't use the updater, such as if your phone never has internet

                                      You can also use it to wipe your phone in case you forget your pin/password, the menu has an option to erase user data and doesn't require your pin to do so. Resets your phone to how it is when it was first flashed

                                        raccoondad the Cli installer just runs a script. You need the udev rules and packages on Linux, the driver on windows. When those are done (which is the same for both methods) the CLI install script works just as well.

                                        It has outputs which are essential when having failures, and you download the OS zip to a permanent location, also good if something fails

                                            missing-root You wouldn't use the CLI installer to repair the OS if it became corrupted, you would sideload an update (assuming recovery works)

                                            Regardless its incredibly rare for that to happen anyways and usually is a sign of something else (such as a failing motherboard)

                                            You would only need to use the CLI installer if recovery also didn't work

                                              Okay I agree on the statement "if you use the web installer you have little to worry about". Just wanted to stress that the flashing is not the problem either way, but the prerequisites

                                              5 months later

                                              prisi
                                              I followed this video on YouTube, and it was accurate.
                                              [https://youtu.be/ZAZlmYKrwfk](https://)

                                              The official Graphene instructions are just so-so in my opinion; for one thing it omits important information about which browsers don't work when doing the web installation.

                                              I've seen several posts on this forum confirming my experience, namely that only Google Chrome seems to work. The Brave browser, Firefox, Safari, do not work.