Current status of some "coming soon" features of GrapheneOS

moddel

The FAQ makes several mentions of "coming soon.." features. What is the current status of the following referenced features:

The OS has high availability fallback DNS servers to handle this case. A network can fail to provide DNS servers in order to fingerprint clients based on what they use as the fallback so it's important for it to be consistent across each install. GrapheneOS replaces Google Public DNS with Cloudflare DNS for the fallback DNS servers due to the superior privacy policy and widespread usage including as the fallback DNS servers in other Android-based operating systems. We're considering hosting our own servers and offering a toggle for using the standard (Google) servers to blend in with other devices similarly to how we handle the internet connectivity checks.
The ANDROID_ID string is a 64-bit random number, unique to each combination of profile and app signing key. The 64-bit limitation means it isn't particularly useful due to the possibility of collisions. It's tied to the lifetime of profiles and does not persist through profile deletion or a factory reset. This is comparable to an app targeting the legacy storage model storing a 64-bit random value in the app-specific external storage directory. In the future, GrapheneOS will likely change this to be tied to the lifetime of app installations rather than profiles. An app could still track the identity of the profile through data you give it access to or via data another app chooses to share with them.
All of these things vary at runtime and can be changed, but some are fairly unlikely to change in practice after the initial setup of the device such as the ones listed above. GrapheneOS will likely add further restrictions in this area and a couple toggles for certain cases like time zones to use a standard value instead.

Also, this page mentions many connections to google servers that have been to replaced with grapheneos: https://grapheneos.org/faq#default-connections.

This means that by running GrapheneOS you are reliant not just on on the OS but on the external server infrastructure. Does GrapheneOS publish a list of finances or funding levels needed to run these services and how they are periodically meeting these levels?

moddel

Here is another one:

"These toggles from LineageOS don't work correctly. DivestOS didn't include them. GrapheneOS won't be adding leaky features. Our Network toggle does not have leaks itself like these toggles. App communication allows apps to communicate within a profile which means you rely on apps enforcing the permission model. Our App Communication Scopes feature will provide the ability to control this within profiles rather than needing to split up apps via separate profiles."

I don't see App Communication Scope mentioned in the Features page:https://grapheneos.org/features.

Here I see Contact Scope and Storage Scope. Is App Communication Scope implemented already or another do to?

These features and discussions about them seem to be disorganized. Does GrapheneOS kept a developer log or a project status page which lists all the planned features and their development status?

Pavestone2734

Maybe check the issue trackers and PR logs on GitHub. The dev team is currently preparing or already working on the Android 16 ports, so that will likely take up most of the dev time.

moddel

Pavestone2734 Maybe check the issue trackers and PR logs on GitHub.

Is this the one: https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker

Pavestone2734

moddel ~~yes~~ although maybe not, I'm not sure if it serves as just to track issues or to record feature requests too. But someone maybe requested a feature that relates to your question. Idk.

soupslurpr

Pavestone2734 despite the confusing name, it's for bugs and feature requests.

soupslurpr

For questions, use this forum or the chat rooms.

Pavestone2734

I stand corrected then. Anyhow probably worth checking whether it has been answered.

moddel

So other than asking in this forum, there is not any central place where GrapheneOS tracks the status of the project development and or a feature list?

soupslurpr

moddel there is, it's where you said, https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker

spring-onion

We tend to not publish ETAs and similar notices. Things can and do move up and down the prioritization ladder. Some features may be sought after, but are also a monumental task to actually implement (securely) and maintain, e.g. app communication scopes. That part is easy to overlook, everything we add must be maintained and ported moving forward, with regard to the available resources.

moddel

More Coming Soon features from the documentation:

Vanadium was previously primarily focused on security hardening but we plan on adding assorted privacy and usability features. In the near future, we plan to add support for always incognito mode, improved state partitioning, backup/restore and many other features.

This is the first one that has a mention of an possible ETA "in the near future."

moddel

This statement in the documentation (https://grapheneos.org/usage#system-navigation) should be updated:

At the moment, the only browser with any semblance of privacy is the Tor Browser

as the Mullvad browser now exists which is based on the Tor browser but more practical and usable.

moddel

Another todo for the Camera app:

Stripping metadata for videos is planned but not supported yet.

moddel

This is a one that might have a big impact on mapping usability.

"GrapheneOS itself doesn't currently include a supplementary location service based on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning. These options impact whether apps such as sandboxed Google Play are able to use the functionality if you grant them the Location permission. GrapheneOS plans to eventually include an OS service based on local databases rather than a network-based service giving the user's location to a server whenever location is being used."

Pavestone2734

moddel This was recently added.

moddel

Pavestone2734
Has this feature been completely added, my understanding is that the current feature uses Apply location however GrapheneOS is also planning on its own service which is not yet implemented.

Have you used the current network location feature, how well does it work?

jackFang

One feature that I absolutely like and often use is network permission, such a small thing for some people but its the most common way for an application to extract data. Very powerful in my opinion

Slightly going into opposite direction of this thread, but with the amount of work that's being done in GrapheneOS space, it feels astounding what has been achieved. I just hope all is planned well, and there is no burnout. Folks deserve holiday and rest too.

Sometimes I think if it would be better to focus on customisation rather than features. For example, if you give someone "base" GrapheneOS and allow users to modify the system according to their needs. This thought comes from how you can setup Linux distribution on desktop computers, such as Arch with nothing but terminal or minimal desktop interface - yes, its working but its not secure, but of course you can harden it yourself should you require it. So less hand holding and more user trust. But then again you would need people to maintain every other aspect of customisation

other8026

moddel https://grapheneos.org/features#network-location

moddel how well does it work?

It works very well. My phone gets my location within seconds, and it's pretty accurate. It's better than the Google one and slightly more private, especially when using GrapheneOS's proxy.

moddel

other8026 It works very well. My phone gets my location within seconds, and it's pretty accurate. It's better than the Google one and slightly more private, especially when using GrapheneOS's proxy.

I really do not think the feature has been completely added. Doesn't the current feature simply use the apply database? If so then privacy wise that is almost the same as the google solution just shifted to Apple.

Here is a discussion from the GrapheneOS developer on the feature from the MLS github when Mozilla Location Services was shutdown last year:

https://github.com/mozilla/ichnaea/issues/2065

from @thestinger:

GrapheneOS Foundation has been planning to host a network location service for GrapheneOS and projects collaborating with us for a while now. We've received significant funding we can put to use for this to make a high quality, modern implementation on both the client and server side. A new unified app (cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth beacons) for gathering data to publish as fully open data could also be part of it. We also plan to make a SUPL implementation as part of the same service as an alternative to our Google SUPL proxy to replace it as the default in the long term.

Can you clarify, that all of this has been developed and is in place? If so can you please point out in the documentation where and how it was implemented?