Hi,

What does Extended Support cover?

Will the O/S get any updates during this period, and if so the which type of updates are provided?

Is this codified anywhere?

Many thanks.
S

    • akc3n

    • Post #2

    shbsssn Extended Support Releases (ESR) are typically for 1 year past a devices end-of-life (EOL); a stopgap for users to transition to the far more secure current generation devices.

    This may include kernel updates (not provided by the vendor), partial security updates - only half the Android security updates are provided by AOSP (the patch level is not up-to-date for end-of-life devices). i.e., there will be no security updates for the firmware, no ongoing support for any of the platform drivers, driver libraries. no more support for the code from the vendor. Full security updates are not possible.

    We explain it in the second part of this section as well: https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices

      Extended support exists for harm reduction and should not be used. Near end-of-life devices can be returned for credit as part of buying a new device or a similar approach. The last 2 generations of supported devices have 7 years of support rather than 3 years, so this is largely a solved problem already. Few people will use it as a primary device for 7 years if they buy it near launch.

      Thanks for the explanion.

      I will stick with my Pixel5: The new phones are too large. I think these new phones are made by large men for large men.

        shbsssn why not the a series? Regardless your pixel 5 will be out of life and receive no updates eventually...

            shbsssn Pixel 5 has been end-of-life since November 2023 and should not be used anymore. Our legacy extended support releases won't continue indefinitely. This past end-of-life support is really not intended for people who can afford to get a new device and are choosing not to do it with that kind of reasoning. It's strange to use GrapheneOS but not care about getting security patches or current GrapheneOS features.

              raccoondad It already receives no driver or firmware updates. It also doesn't get regular GrapheneOS releases anymore after around 1 year of extended support providing the regular releases without driver and firmware updates. People still using it need to move to a supported device.