GrapheneOS randomly changes the device language

Watermelon

DeletedUser202 The concept of the email address dedicated for logs is great because it reaches the entire team so anyone available could check it, and also isn't posted permanently in a public/archivable location. But the problem is that it'd still be stored in my mailbox and may not be transmitted securely between my email provider and their email server.

What's the kind of privacy and/or security risk that could be by publicly posting a system log with the highest verbosity level and all log buffers included? What kind of potentially identifying or sensitive information could be in it?

Has the GrapheneOS team considered adding a preinstalled app (or adding a feature to one of the existing apps, e.g. Info or Settings) to collect logs, encrypt them with a public key for the GrapheneOS team, and send it? Could also just open a Compose Mail activity with the encrypted logs attached and set to send to the logs address, but the logs would be encrypted throughout and unreadable by the email provider.

de0u

Watermelon What's the kind of privacy and/or security risk that could be by publicly posting a system log with the highest verbosity level and all log buffers included? What kind of potentially identifying or sensitive information could be in it?

Usernames and passwords would be bad and, unfortunately, not impossible. Not all app code is top-quality!

DeletedUser370

Watermelon

Logs can also be forwarded to a GrapheneOS moderator on Matrix, who can then forward them to the developers: contact info

Watermelon

de0u I understand what you're saying, but that sounds like an issue of (optional) third-party apps rather than the base OS.

Watermelon

DeletedUser370 I see that @akc3n liked your post, I assume it means he supports your idea, but it's him I mentioned when I said I privately pinged a mod about this.

@akc3n Does it suffice if I mention it here to remind you to check my messages? Or perhaps there's a different contact I can privately ping and send them system logs in Matrix who might be less busy?

de0u

Watermelon I understand what you're saying, but that sounds like an issue of (optional) third-party apps rather than the base OS.

True. But I understood the question to be about what sensitive information might be in a system log, and I think part of the answer is that the system log contains not just information about the activities of the base OS, but also information about the activities of third-party applications, some of which leak. Regardless of who might have put the sensitive information there, if it's there then it's there, and if the "base OS" were to encourage people to post the information, that could be problematic.

Watermelon

de0u It still needs to be distinct because third-party apps are optional and can be reset and uninstalled, but the base OS can't as easily be reset and there could be non-resettable identifiers in the system log.

Also, while exposing app passwords could allow compromise of the apps, exposing sensitive OS info might allow compromise of the OS, so the comparison isn't as useful and there needs to be a clear distinction when explaining the security and/or privacy risks in exposing the system log.

hakayova

I experienced a similar, if not the same issue. The way I worked around it was by leaving only English as the language, and no other languages. However, since I also type in Turkish sometimes, I added that to the keyboard (in my case Gboard) settings. Now all system messages, ebc. are in English, and Gboard can detect which language I am trying to type in.

Watermelon

Watermelon Happened to me again on build 2025012700 while I wasn't using my phone at all. No app was open behind the lockscreen (i.e. unlocking my phone brought me to the home screen rather than an app). The app I was using when it happened the previous time wasn't touched since the last reboot (and it's not an app that needs to run automatically on startup and I'm 99% sure it indeed doesn't request to start automatically on startup) and I don't remember using any app in fullscreen. I noticed that also the lockscreen, and the power menu from the physical power button (and the reboot animation), also switched to my secondary system language, in addition to the notifications drawer/shade, Quick Tiles, and the power menu from the Quick Tiles. Rebooting made the issue go away. I didn't save a system log this time as I felt this issue is prevalent enough and I already saved a system log at the previous time it happened and potentially much sooner after it had happened. That's all details I can think of for now.

Watermelon

Also @akc3n I've privately sent you some personal messages since January 20, 2025, please see them when you can. 🙏

Ham1255

it seems like i found a trigger? switching profiles causes this to happen for me from what i am seeing. I also noticed that stock android keyboard get enabled automatically for no reason after is disable after few hours? or a reboot, not sure if its related.
keyboard i use is https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard
os build number: 2025020500

Oggyo

Ham1255 I also noticed that stock android keyboard get enabled automatically for no reason after is disable after few hours? or a reboot, not sure if its related.

I bit off-topic, but there is a reason for that as you may end up with a 3rd-party keyboard that does not support direct-boot and so you are unable to type your password on the BFU screen. Don't disable the built-in keyboard :)

pxlkng

I can't report profile switching being the trigger for me.
I use multiple profiles and switch very regularly and often and it doesn't seem to be influenced by this.
I do use the stock keyboard though.

Watermelon

I might have found a way to reproduce what seems to be this bug.

Prerequisites: You must use the owner account. You must not have any guest account added. You must enable the preexisting "Sleeping" schedule for Do Not Disturb. You must be at the time range during which the schedule should be active. And you must have the Do Not Disturb Quick Tile added, which should display in the on state with the subtext "Sleeping".

Note: Some steps or prerequisites might not actually be necessary. Testing welcome.

Create a new guest account, do not switch to it yet, and reboot.
Switch to the guest account. (For me, the GrapheneOS setup wizard is, by default, set to my secondary language. Might also be because my phone model is physically regional (i.e. the default region was set in factory to the region where it'd be sold), or because of other regional settings I have.)
Choose English (United States) from the drop-down menu and complete the setup wizard. (Should also note that now the constant "you're in guest mode" notification is still in the language the setup wizard was initially set to.)
Open the power menu and tap End session.
Unlock the owner account and check the Do Not Disturb Quick Tile's subtext, see if it has "Sleeping" now translated to your secondary language.

DeletedUser370

Watermelon For me, the GrapheneOS setup wizard is, by default, set to my secondary language. Might also be because my phone model is physically regional (i.e. the default region was set in factory to the region where it'd be sold), or because of other regional settings I have.

Or the SIM country code.

DeletedUser370

Watermelon Create a new guest account, do not switch to it yet, and reboot.

Do you mean "user profiles"? Because when I create a new "guest", the "guest" is removed after a reboot.

And is it a prerequisite to have certain system languages enabled?

Watermelon

DeletedUser370 Do you mean "user profiles"? Because when I create a new "guest", the "guest" is removed after a reboot.

There's a setting to toggle on/off the automatic deletion of guest accounts. I didn't think it'd matter, but I had it switched off so you can try that.

DeletedUser370 And is it a prerequisite to have certain system languages enabled?

From what I understand, the users here have English as the primary system language and another language (doesn't matter which one?) as the secondary. My primary is English (United States). Aside from that, I don't know.

GrapheneOS

@Unknown-Phallus It's not related to Unicode updates.

Murcielago

I recently reinstalled my device and was also affected by the problems described here.

I had selected several languages under Settings> System>Languages>System Languages and always put English first. In my case, the bug always occurred after switching user profiles or after restarting. I did not use Guest Profiles. I use the preinstalled AOSP keyboard and i am on Build 2025032500.

Either the entire system language changed (usually to the country I live in) or sometimes the system language remained in English but the Quick Tiles language changed.

I have found a workaround (mainly because I had a misconception of Android language settings): I have always installed several system languages because I wrongly assumed that it would be a prerequisite to be able to switch individual apps to a different language and to get different keyboard languages.

However, system languages, app languages and keyboard layout seem to work independently.

Usecase:

I want English to be my OS/System language
I would like to have some apps in the language of the country I live in and some in my native language
I regularly write in other foreign languages and need the keyboard layout for this

Workaround:

delete all system languages except English (US) in Settings>System>Languages> System Languages
customize app languages in Settings>System> Languages> App Languages to switch dedicated apps to different languages
select languages needed for typing in Settings> System> Keyboard> On-screen keyboard> Languages.

I repeated this steps in all profiles where necessary and since then the error has no longer occurred.

Maybe i'm the only fool who didn't really understand how language settings work in Android, but perhaps my workaround will help others too.

DeletedUser370

Murcielago Settings>System> Languages> App Languages

Note that not all apps support this, such as Accrescent. Actually I find that there are few of the apps I use that do.

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