GrapheneOS issues porting Android 16

grayway2

Graphene OS did not find an Android OEM ready to share Android 16 sources with them. Google is of course not helping at all.

Can we just stay with Android 15 and receive full security patches over time until grapheneOS get access to Android 16 sources and is ready with the porting ? Or our pixels have to be on Android 16 if we want full security patch (once Google makes probably available Android 16 to pixels around June 5.)

other8026

grayway2 I don't believe so based on what the project account said here:

Android has a new stable release each month providing the full privacy and security patches. Once Android 16 is released, it will be required for full privacy and security patches with any device. Separately from that Pixel driver and firmware updates will only be for Android 16.

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ryrona

It is possible there are some partial security patches that can be backported, like in the early monthly releases GrapheneOS already does. And the kernel can be kept up-to-date as well. But really, due to the unfortunate situation, we might need to be prepared for the next full security release to be delayed by a month or two until reaching stable. It shouldn't be much worse than that. Still better that the vast majority of phone OEMs, even if clearly not ideal.

grayway2

ryrona The ongoing situation if problematic but GrapheneOS is not responsible for that. I do suggest porting to be delayed by 2 months so the devs have time to proprely port 2FA and others important features. We will miss full security updates (driver and firmware) but it's the price to pay.

grayway2

Dropping too much features might bring a lot of confusion among the people using GrapheneOS. Many people could wake up without understanding what's going on and be frustrated to have a lot of missing features. I do understand that the security is the first priority and it always should be but we have to make that sacrifice and not ship Android 16 until porting is close to be finished.

grayway2

If someone read my post and is in the capacity to give GrapheneOS an early access to Android 16 files then it's time to wake up and act. This project is not about money and if you care about your privacy and the security of your data, you need to help Graphene.

Be the miracle and help GrapheneOS.

GrapheneOS

We'll be dropping as many features as required in order to port to the new yearly release in a timely fashion so we can continue providing full security patches.

raccoondad

GrapheneOS are there any features already planned to be dropped?

Naudiz

GrapheneOS Oh boy, I hope it won't come to this. I'm really nervous about losing 2nd factor PIN again. This feature has given me so much peace of mind since it was introduced.

Watermelon

GrapheneOS This is very worrisome, though I appreciate your decision to ship security patches with dropped features.

Would there be any configuration loss from running a GrapheneOS release without the preexisting features as in previous releases? I.e. would there be any leftover side-effect from upgrading to a release based on Android 16 lacking features and then to a release with the dropped features added back?

Would you publish a list of all features that were dropped so users would know what to expect?

Would any features related to per-app exploit mitigations and added permissions (Network, Sensors) be dropped? This could severely break user expectations regarding the security or privacy of apps.

Thank you for all your work.

Watermelon

GrapheneOS Actually, would making a new OS as a side project that has minimal changes from AOSP other than branding, with a very ugly logo and weird long name to implicitly discourage people from using it, that integrates Google Play with invasive access preinstalled, be enough to grant you OEM partner early access to the source code?

ryrona

raccoondad are there any features already planned to be dropped?

I guess they won't know which features are easy or hard to port over, if any at all, until they have at least beta source code for the Android 16 release.

graphuser

Naudiz same same, if I had a vote, that's what I'd choose :-)

grayway2

Naudiz 2FA PIN will take time to be ported so it will be probably dropped then reintroduced later.

graphuser

The timing is not great for me as I'll particularly be needing features like duress pin and 2FA till July. It would be great to have an option to postpone the update if it comes "too early" for some?

Probably can use to only download on unmetered network and stay on data or perhaps better, only to download when charging and go offline before charging to achieve the same?

grayway2

graphuser not possible. We would miss full security patches. You can disable the system updater app in settings.

graphuser

grayway2 yes understood re security patches. I'm just thinking for my own use case I'd rather delay the update by 2-3 weeks and that it's not a big risk. Of course that may depend on the content of the security patch. Thanks did not think of deactivating the app!!

Eirikr70

grayway2 I don't see that setting. You can choose the type of network (unmetered, ...) and the release channel, but I can't find any way for deactivating auto-updates.

grayway2

Watermelon The devs are hoping that someone will bring them at least the beta 2. It's impossible for them to tell us what will be exactly dropped or not without having an access to Android 16 sources but be ready to lose temporarily a lot of features if the update is not delayed.

yore

Watermelon Would there be any configuration loss from running a GrapheneOS release without the preexisting features as in previous releases? I.e. would there be any leftover side-effect from upgrading to a release based on Android 16 lacking features and then to a release with the dropped features added back?

All user configurations will be kept according to the project's announcement:

For example, our 2-factor fingerprint unlock feature is going to be particularly hard to port due to massive changes to the lockscreen code in Android 16. We can drop it for the initial release and add it back later with user configuration being preserved so it works as before.

grayway2

Eirikr70 owner profile > settings > search settings > type system updater > disable

grayway2

Watermelon

From GrapheneOS account about asking partner access directly to Google "Their security team repeatedly tried to get us partner access and their partner management people blocked it from happening because we aren't an Android OEM licensing Google Mobile Services. They made it seem like it could theoretically happen if we obtained Compatibility Test Suite certification for GrapheneOS and signed an incredibly anti-competitive agreement massively limiting what we can do, but that's completely unacceptable and they only said it might be possible, not a real offer."

Eirikr70

grayway2 Thanks

ryrona

GrapheneOS We'll be dropping as many features as required in order to port to the new yearly release in a timely fashion so we can continue providing full security patches.

Okay, this is really worrying. I rather the release be a little bit delayed than features getting dropped. I understand that you might have to drop features that are not possible to maintain in the long-term anymore, ie features you think you cannot get ported over in the timeframe of a month or two, but it sounds like you might be really aggressive about dropping features.

What do you consider timely fashion?

Delaney

ryrona What do you consider timely fashion?

ASAP