Is this normal

Warthog

Hi all just a quick question ?
I’m new to Graphene and have just installed Graphene OS onto my pixel 9a. The install went as it was supposed to and I think I did it correctly. Watched loads of YouTube and reading etc.

What I need to know ?

Every time I turn my phone on a message appears and tells me I am load a different operating system. It then show a G google symbol for before finishing and showing the Graphene symbol.

Is this suppose to happen and is it normal ?

Cheers
Warthog

nandohyphen1

Warthog Every time I turn my phone on a message appears and tells me I am load a different operating system. It then show a G google symbol for before finishing and showing the Graphene symbol.

Is this suppose to happen and is it normal ?

Welcome. Yes, this is completely normal. The yellow warning screen is just telling you you are running an "unofficial" (in Google's eyes) OS (which is GrapheneOS) so that is normal and fine. The Google logo is also normal. I'm assuming It still has to be there for one of two reasons;

Google wants its users to know they are using a Google product even if you have a custom OS (like GrapheneOS) installed or;

GrapheneOS has to let that logo be there on boot for maybe something like copyright reasons or stuff like that? So that it's still a "Google" phone even though your running GrapheneOS.

Those are just what I think, I'm not sure but that makes sense to me. Hopes this helps! :)

Murcielago

Warthog

Every time I turn my phone on a message appears and tells me I am load a different operating system. It then show a G google symbol for before finishing and showing the Graphene symbol.

Just to ad to what nandohyphen1 already pointed out:

That's the AOSP yellow boot state and expected behaviour for an alternative operating system taking advantage of the hardware's security features:

Show a YELLOW screen on every boot if the device is LOCKED, a custom root of trust has been set, and the image was signed with this custom root of trust.

source: https://source.android.com/docs/security/features/verifiedboot/boot-flow

You'll maybe also find these links helpful:

https://grapheneos.org/install/web#verifying-installation

https://grapheneos.org/install/web#verified-boot-key-hash

ejns

nandohyphen1 GrapheneOS has to let that logo be there on boot for maybe something like copyright reasons or stuff like that? So that it's still a "Google" phone even though your running GrapheneOS.

I can't find the post but I remember reading one of the dev's comments that the Google logo shows up because GOS pixels use the Google bootloader. I may not be remembering exactly right, but it's something like that.

nandohyphen1

ejns that would make sense. :)

AcclaimSublevel19

ejns Yes, GrapheneOS does not replace the bootloader with a custom version. It's the same on PCs where you'll see Dell or ASUS for a few seconds no matter if you don't Windows or another OS.

Murcielago

ejns

I can't find the post but I remember reading one of the dev's comments that the Google logo shows up because GOS pixels use the Google bootloader.

This discussion for example is about removing logo, yellow boot state and also touches mimicking being a non GrapheneOS device:

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/4335-remove-your-phone-is-loading-different-os-remove-google-logo-in-startup

aqua-ghostly

It would be pretty cool though (but probably out of scope) if the upcoming non pixel phone just went straight to the graphene logo.

AcclaimSublevel19

aqua-ghostly that would require changing the bootloader which would mean that Verified Boot guarantees disappear.

Warthog

Really appreciate your response as I wasn’t to sure and I hoped I hadn’t missed something.

I’m really looking forward to the security and privacy settings ? Hopefully I can master and stop big tech/Gov from knowing everything I do ? Well at least keep some of my anonymity.

Thanks again
Warthog

nandohyphen1

Warthog I’m really looking forward to the security and privacy settings ? Hopefully I can master and stop big tech/Gov from knowing everything I do ? Well at least keep some of my anonymity.

Your welcome. Some things to start would be to set a secure Password/PIN, set up the duress PIN (if you want), set up auto reboot, keep regular backups and you'll be off to a good start!