Hello GrapheneOS community,
I recently discovered that the monocles project, which supposedly creates open source and privacy-friendly services, like email, search, cloud, etc., recently launched a store, in which they sell some "monocles phone", i.e. inflated Pixel 7 or 8 (but on the "Compatible phones" page they only list Pixel 4a, 6 and 6a). The OS they mount, they claim, is "Based on the world’s most secure Android OS"; moreover, on the phones' selling pages they say:

moculaOS is based on GrapheneOS which is an hardened Android with many security and privacy improvements and can be seen as it’s own operating system. Additionally GrapheneOS and moculaOS are often giving faster security updates. Compared to that other Android distributions such as /e/, CalyxOS or LineageOS are only based on standard Android.
Our fork of GrapheneOS gives the best solution for highest security and a good usability and compatibility.

Now, I would be interested to see what are those changes are, and to know if the monocles project is in any way involved in the GOS one, or viceversa.
Also, since GOS is free software, as per the law shouldn't all modifications and forks of free software be public? I couldn't find any source for the monoculaOS.

Thanks. Best regards

    ToffoliGate The first problem I see regularly is the price, they sell a Google Pixel 8 128GB for 1002 EUR when it normally costs 200 EUR less and you can get it at a better price with regular promotions on Amazon, GrapheneOS is not linked to any company and I don't know MonoclesOS or their intentions, if a company that doesn't do anything dodgy exists to fork GrapheneOS, I'd hope they'd reserve part of their profits for the project, but as a user, I wouldn't use a fork rather than the original project and I have much the same mindset with Linux distributions.

      I found this repo but couldn't find the OS within. They seem to try to distribue together different open source apps, probably in order to give a homogeneous "look and feel".

      ToffoliGate I'm unaware of them having any special relationship with GrapheneOS, and I don't get the feeling from quickly looking at their site that they're claiming to. As far as I can tell they're doing nothing wrong. GrapheneOS is very permissibly licensed. It's my understanding that anyone can do whatever they'd like with the code, including keeping it closed source.

      Of course GrapheneOS would appreciate if projects that use GrapheneOS's code would help the project via donations or improvements to the OS, but they're under no obligation to do so.

        I have seen some of these forks as well. A few come to mind with AbovePhone and NitroPhone.

        Like others have said that when companies sell inflated pixels using GOS they should help fund the project or at least donate to it.

        Don't know much about AbovePhone, but Nitro is a well known name in the privacy / security space

          Anyway I could consider all these forks good news for GrapheneOS since they demonstrate (is it the right word ?) its reputation and probably help spreading it.

          There is no relationship between "Monocles phone" and GrapheneOS. They may have an OS that they base off of GrapheneOS, which is fine, and allowed.

          They cannot claim to use GrapheneOS if they're modifying it, but they don't seem to say that. Rather, they say they're based on it.

          Audi123 I have seen some of these forks as well. A few come to mind with AbovePhone and NitroPhone.

          At least in the case of Nitrokey, they simply flash official GrapheneOS releases to Pixels and sell them. They don't modify the OS, so it's a different situation. Nitrokey can claim their "Nitrophones" come with GrapheneOS since they use official releases and don't modify them. That's allowed too. I'm not sure about Above Phone.

              matchboxbananasynergy Above Phone uses GOS and configures the phone with apps, wallpaper, etc. Above also sells a privacy suite which includes access to a Jabber (XMPP) server, VPN, email, and video conferencing. They also sell accessories like adapters, cases and screen protectors. I think their target market is less technically savvy customers, and their value proposition is the bundled services they offer.

                  redacted If they are installing official GrapheneOS and then installing those apps on top, then they can say it's GrapheneOS, though people should really factory reset before using it, which negates what they've installed

                  If they're modifying GrapheneOS to add these apps to the OS, then it's no longer GrapheneOS.

                      matchboxbananasynergy AFAIK, they're using stock, unmodified GOS, adding apps, and selling subscriptions to their privacy suite. It's not a bad solution for people who aren't comfortable installing and configuring GrapheneOS themselves.

                          redacted The only issue is that such businesses have an incentive to present installing GrapheneOS as harder than it is. People are very usually pleasantly surprised when they find out how simple it is, and that we also have a community willing to provide support for any difficulties.

                            [unknown] Have you looked at the Above Phone website? Above does not present installing GOS as difficult. Instead, they tout the positive aspects of privacy and freedom, curated, vetted apps pre-installed, and services. It's not for everyone, certainly not for me, and clearly not for you, but some people see value in Above's offering.

                            Above is offering a neatly packaged solution for people who want to switch from IOS or Google Android but feel intimidated by the unknowns and are reluctant to do it themselves. Personally, I wouldn't pay Above's premium; it has no value for me, but it doesn't follow that Above's product has no value in an absolute sense.

                            I think it's great that Above is helping people disconnect from Apple and Google, and if they make money doing it, good for them. Why are you so negative?