GrapheneOS version 2025062700 released

GrapheneOS

GrapheneOS version 2025062700 released:

https://grapheneos.org/releases#2025062700

See the linked release notes for a summary of the improvements over the previous release.

Murcielago

Presumably because the release is currently in the Alpha Channel.

If you click on the link posted by GrapheneOS above and scroll down to devices, you can see which release is currently in which channel:

https://grapheneos.org/releases#devices

You can select the channel in the device under Settings> System> System updates> Release channel.

You can find more information about release channels and how they work here:

https://grapheneos.org/releases#about-the-releases

Edit: While I was writing, the question was apparently already (partially) answered in parallel by others.

IcyScroll

raise security patch level to 2025-07-01 since it's already provided without applying any additional patches

Woah, that's really interesting. How is this possible?
Does this mean that 2025-07-01 is the same as full 2025-06-05 Pixel security patch level this time?

Cyanide77

Are these staggered? I've clicked check for updates from my device and don't get prompted
Or do I need to manually flash it?

(Sorry newbie to graphene!)

phone-company

Cyanide77 just wait a few minutes, hours, days. It will come to alpha first.....

torben31

Cyanide77 Wait a little bit.

r134a

Cyanide77 When announced here, it will first enter alpha, then proceed to beta, and eventually reach stable if no reports come in of something breaking.

Usually from announcement (alpha) to stable it takes about 1-2 days if i'm not mistaken, given there are no issues reported in alpha or beta.

Edit: If u would receive the updates directly, in alpha, or a little later in beta, u can do so by changing your release channel to it. Keep in mind this may come with bugs and could be, well, less stable than stable. If u would choose to do that, as a form of contribution, u could follow alpha/beta channel on matrix/discord and report if u find something that's not working as expected, so it can be fixed before it reaches stable (production ready).

Cyanide77

phone-company thankyou! Yep am on stable.. Thankyou!

Cyanide77

torben31 ty!

Cyanide77

r134a thanks!!

Cyanide77

Murcielago thanks!!

n2gwtl

I was expecting this update to be A16....

ErnestThornhill

n2gwtl I'm not sure what led you to think that. GrapheneOS has been open and honest on their social media accounts about their progress with development in regards to Android 16. Give them a read.

n2gwtl

ErnestThornhill I think they mentioned before the July security bulletin which is just around the corner.

GrapheneOS

n2gwtl Android Security Bulletin is normally released on the first Monday of the month followed by the monthly OS release on the following day. That's 2025-07-07 and 2025-07-08. We're already done the Android Security Bulletin for July 2025.

lah23

Are both AOSP (software) and Pixel (hardware drivers, firmware) ported from Android 16 onto GOS Android 15 or just software? If both type of patches are ported onto GOS Android 15, then why even bother porting GOS to Android 16? What is the advantage/benefit?

Given how difficult Google made it to port to Android 16, wouldn't GOS Android 16 port likely to have major bugs and likely to be less secure than GOS Android 15?

GrapheneOS

lah23

Given how difficult Google made it to port to Android 16, wouldn't GOS Android 16 port likely to have major bugs and likely to be less secure than GOS Android 15?

Android 16 contains substantial privacy and security improvements beyond security patches. It also provides security patches without CVE assignments, which are only done for High and Critical severity issues for the Android Open Source Project itself. Pixels assign them for lower severity issues too but it doesn't mean they cover everything.

There is no reason that our port to Android 16 would be less secure than the previous Android 15 based GrapheneOS. As always, we're not going to release it before it's ready. This is a production quality OS and is going to remain one.

It's mandatory to move to Android 16 to continue providing Pixel driver/firmware security patches. With significant difficulty, we were able to backport all of the driver and firmware components with CVE assignments for vulnerability patches in June 2025. That doesn't mean it is a viable path going forward. We tried to backport more of the firmware and userspace driver libraries/services but rather into major issues. We would not be able to continue providing full Pixel security patches if we didn't move to Android 16.

Android 16 has been in public testing through Developer Previews and then Beta releases for a long time. It is the latest stable OS release. Quarterly releases of Android such as Android 15 QPR1 and Android 15 QPR2 are comparable to the yearly release of Android 16 in terms of how much was changed. There is not much more changed in Android 16 compared to Android 15 QPR2 alone. It's a misconception that there are only yearly OS releases. The reason it's taking so long to get released is because we need to reimplement device support due to it being dropped from AOSP. We normally would have had an experimental public Android 16 release on June 12 following the release on June 10. We completed our initial port in that time period and have been primarily working on device support since then. We've communicated all of this publicly.

We must port to each new stable release of the Android Open Source Project to continue the project. What you're proposing would fail to continue providing basic privacy, security and functionality. It would defeat the purpose of what we're doing.

jacksmith

@GrapheneOS

Given how difficult Google made it to port to Android 16, wouldn't GOS Android 16 port likely to have major bugs and likely to be less secure than GOS Android 15?

I think the question might've arised because, from an uneducated point of view like mine, it feels to me that the team had to resort to stiching things together due to the retracted device support. Such that it may follow that it's better to keep the OS base as is, were it not for the security and privacy features of Android 16 that are unavailable.

On a side note, may I ask if the upgraded native terminal will have all the same features as stock Android 16? Thank you for your work.

GrapheneOS

jacksmith

I think the question might've arised because, from an uneducated point of view like mine, it feels to me that the team had to resort to stiching things together due to the retracted device support. Such that it may follow that it's better to keep the OS base as is, were it not for the security and privacy features of Android 16 that are unavailable.

Backporting firmware and drivers to an older release is a complete hack leading to substantial issues. We were not able to backport as much as we wanted due to the issues it causes. We covered all of the CVE assigned vulnerabilities but that doesn't mean everything was backported. It doesn't mean that what we did backport can continue to be updated to future versions. Those components will increasingly require having the latest OS release. It is not a viable path to backport them. It is easier to move to the latest OS release than trying to hack together a way to run code built for the latest OS release on an older release.

Android Security Bulletins are not backports of every single privacy and security patch, only the High and Critical severity vulnerabilities with some extras bits included. Providing the full patches requires being on the latest OS release. Similarly, the current privacy and security features and other improvements require the latest OS release.

Being on an older OS release is incompatible with what GrapheneOS exists to provide. We consider the current situation unacceptable already, but it's being addressed and future updates won't be nearly as hard now that we've built a new approach to device support. It won't be nearly as hard to port to Android 16 QPR1, QPR2, etc. and then Android 17 because we'll have the new approach not depending on their device trees and we'll be automating more and more of it. It will be harder than before, but not as hard as this initial Android 16 port.

On a side note, may I ask if the upgraded native terminal will have all the same features as stock Android 16? Thank you for your work.

We provided most those improvements months ago. All of the standard improvements will be there in Android 16 but we backported most of those changes a long time ago.

greecetopher

Thanks for the update! Is it normal that after this update there were no “optimizing apps” notification? I noticed that some system updates trigger this notification while others don’t. What are the conditions that lead to the “optimizing apps” notification after a system update?

GrapheneOS

greecetopher It only has to redo app optimization when there are changes to frameworks/libraries impacting app compilation. Android checks for this and only does it when needed.