Drawbacks of Older Phones

Pencil_Enjoyer

Hello, I was looking to get GrapheneOS, and started comparing sizes of Pixel phones. It seems like the new ones are all too big for my liking. The most recent Pixel phone that is small enough that I would consider buying is the Pixel 5.
If I just want to use my phone for messaging and calling (Whatsapp). Would I shoot myself in the foot by buying a Pixel 5? As in, will GrapheneOS stop working on it? I don't know much about tech or how support works for these things.

Dumdum

Pencil_Enjoyer Would I shoot myself in the foot by buying a Pixel 5?

If Graphene no longer allows installations on Pixel 5's (which I'm not sure if they do), then yes you would.

As in, will GrapheneOS stop working on it?

It'll still work (if it can be installed), but won't receive any updates anymore, which in my opinion makes using GOS fairly worthless.

Mystified3527

Pencil_Enjoyer
Pixel 5s are currently on extended support, which is intended to allow users to transition to a newer phone. Since they will stop receiving updates soon, any vulnerabilies or bugs won't be fixed and some apps might not work of they require features from higher android updates.
You may want to read https://grapheneos.org/faq#legacy-devices and https://grapheneos.org/faq#recommended-devices

Mystified3527

Pencil_Enjoyer

If size is really important to you, there might be a recent iPhone of the right size (the Graphene OS devs have mentioned that up to date iphones are the best alternatives to graphene in terms of security). An up to date iPhone would likely be much better than an out of date Pixel even with GrapheneOS.

userofgos

Pencil_Enjoyer I actually prefer the size of the Pixel 4, but of course everyone wants bigger phones 🤷.

If your reasoning for installing GrapheneOS is to have a secure phone then you would be shooting yourself in the foot by buying a Pixel 5/5a or older.

The Pixel 5/5a only receive Legacy Extended Support (which won't last much longer) and should not be considered secure.

While the Pixel 6 and newer still receive new security updates and vulnerability patches.

Why are older devices no longer supported?

Which devices are recommended?

Which devices are supported?

See here for how well Pixel 6 and newer devices fair against Cellebrite: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/14344-cellebrite-premium-july-2024-documentation

Skorp

It is highly recommended that you do not invest money into something that is already EOL. That device does not receive any firmware updates and extremely minimal to no updates from GOS.