Remove your phone is loading different os + remove google logo in startup

The1BOSS

Hi,

How to replace the Your phone is loading a different os with only saying it when the is booting the stock os and replace the Google logo on startup with a custom jpg/png/svg - just what it supports.

de0u

The1BOSS The boot loader is written by Google. They want to warn people when their OS has been replaced (plus advertise briefly). I don't believe those behaviors can be changed.

matchboxbananasynergy

This is not possible. The screen that tells you you're using a different OS is part of verified boot. It being there with the proper yellow screen is a good thing, it tells you that everything is working as intended. It's not possible to remove the Google logo either.

[deleted]

matchboxbananasynergy I would like a feature to hide GrapheneOS boot animation... You know its one of the few optical things giving away what os youre on.

other8026

[deleted] I'm just a moderator, not a decision maker for the project, so don't take what I say as a final word, but I'm pretty sure I recall something like this has been requested/discussed before.

The issue is just removing the logo won't do much if someone who knows what they're doing really takes a look at the phone. Before booting, a hash is displayed and it's not hard to determine the OS is GrapheneOS. If they get into recovery, the name "GrapheneOS" shows up instead of generic "Android" (I haven't checked, but saw it was rebranded on GitHub, so I think I should be right about this part). If someone either gets the phone while it's unlocked, or can unlock it somehow, figuring out the OS is very simple because of preinstalled apps, features, etc.

I don't know this for sure, but I think it probably isn't possible to give users the option to change the boot logo in AOSP. Maybe GrapheneOS developers could add that functionality, but considering someone with access to the phone can figure it out anyway, I'm unsure what benefit it would have.

[deleted]

other8026 Don't get me wrong, this is not a sophisticated defense. I know auto reboot was accessible without authentification because of the same arguments.

Its a superficial "defense" and don't hate me i don't know but i would say a setting for disabling boot animation isn't difficult to implement.

Since sometimes when i take my phone out of my pocket my phone is in the middle of a auto reboot the flashing and not really overseeable boot animation gives away immediatly that i am using GrapheneOS. I don't like that.

qp5235

Hi,

Was forwarded here from the other "Replacing GOS boot animation with vanilla AOSP boot animation" thread.

Regarding:

other8026
Before booting, a hash is displayed and it's not hard to determine the OS is GrapheneOS.

Can someone clarify how it would be not hard (aka trivial) to determine that a device is using GOS just from looking at that 8 digit/character hex-number?

How would it be determined in the first place? And:

other8026
If they get into recovery, the name "GrapheneOS" shows up instead of generic "Android" (I haven't checked, but saw it was rebranded on GitHub, so I think I should be right about this part).

Which GitHub commit states this?

Just checked and neither the Recovery mode nor the Fastboot mode show any GOS branding, at least not on a pre-Tensor device.

GrapheneOS
It's not possible to hide this because the key fingerprint will still be shown at boot.

That fingerprint is not the same as the boot animation, i.e. the boot animation could still be changed.

As already suggested on the other "Replacing GOS boot animation with vanilla AOSP boot animation" thread, can the @GrapheneOS team consider to replace the GOS boot animation with the vanilla AOSP boot animation with the next GOS release(s)?

Otherwise it would continue to be immediately obvious that a device is using GOS when it boots.

Regarding:

GrapheneOS
They could also simply read the OS images from the SSD which show it's using GrapheneOS. The OS data partition has all blocks encrypted but the OS images are publicly available so there's no point hiding parts of them, and it's what implements the encryption so it can't be hidden that it's GrapheneOS installed on the SSD.

Can someone clarify how it would be "simple" to access any unencrypted contents of a device flash storage when the flash storage is soldered onto the device's mainboard and when the device has its bootloader locked?

[deleted]

You could put on a privacy screen so no one nearby can see the display but you.

mmmm

[deleted] I mean, you can control when it auto reboots. Do it in the early hours of the morning whilst you sleep. How much of a slim chance is it that you happen to take out your phone just whilst the GrapheneOS logo us showing, whilst having someone who is watching, and that same someone is someone who will do you some kind of harm for having Graphene in the first place?

If this is all within the realms of reality for you and your threat model, and you have an extremely regular auto boot, then a more prudent option would be to mind when you take out your phone in the first place.

Xtreix

[deleted] Explain your threat model and why you want to hide the fact that you're using GrapheneOS (it's not possible to hide it) autostart is set to 18h by default, it should never automatically restart in a normal situation where you use your phone at least 2 times a day for even 30 seconds. As written above, privacy should be normalized, not stigmatized.

matchboxbananasynergy

I'm not only against this due to it being trivial for someone to see you're using GrapheneOS (e.g. via the boot hash while booting), but I also think it's extremely important to ensure GrapheneOS is not stigmatized, and not being something people have to hide using. It's an open source privacy and security project. Because it works, people in all walks of life are going to be using it, same as something like the Tor Browser.

I mention Tor, because it has, and still has a bunch of stigma associated with its use, exactly because people assume that if you're using it, you must be doing so for nefarious purposes. The "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" crowd would love for projects like Tor and GrapheneOS to start trying to mask themselves, as it furthers the narrative that only sketchy people would want to use them.

I understand you might not like this response, or your unique situation might not permit this, but I encourage everyone to be loud and proud about using things like GrapheneOS and Tor. Privacy and security for everyone should be normalized, not something people hide.

qp5235

de0u

no other OS will display that.

Can someone link to the source for that statement?

de0u

Modern Pixel devices display the full hash of the signing key. The key is unique to GrapheneOS on each device type (see list). [...] A simple web search for the string shows it's a GrapheneOS signing key hash.

Having to manually read a 64 character string displayed in tiny font on a smallish display and then having to manually type that into a search engine on a separate device and then having to manually analyze the search results would still be much harder (and would probably require physical access) and would be much less obvious than simply looking at the large branded boot animation (which would not necessarily require physical access but would essentially only require being in the proximity of a device while it boots).

Which means this should not be used as an argument for not replacing the GOS boot animation with the vanilla AOSP boot animation.

And while @matchboxbananasynergy made somewhat valid (but theoretical) arguments here for why it shouldn't be needed to replace the GOS boot animation, those arguments would only apply to a theoretical ideal world, a world in which GOS essentially would not be needed in the first place, i.e. they do not really apply to the actual practical r
eal world. Which is why these arguments also should not be used for not replacing the GOS boot animation with the vanilla AOSP boot animation. And:

matchboxbananasynergy

I encourage everyone to be loud and proud about using things like GrapheneOS

Replacing the GOS boot animation with the vanilla AOSP boot animation would not prevent anyone from still doing that.

Therefore:

Can someone clarify the remaining open questions and can the @GrapheneOS team consider to replace the GOS boot animation with the vanilla AOSP boot animation with the next GOS release(s)?

And:

de0u

Recovery identifies itself as "GrapheneOS Recovery" (just checked on a 6a running GrapheneOS).

Can this be fixed?

[deleted]

[deleted] I have a privacy screen and idk what privacy screen you are using but saying "nobody besides u can see your screen" is false statement!!

Famous

Like the above user said a privacy screen would work, however I know where you're coming from and you want it removed when loading up, realistically though it won't do much good as there are other ways to identify that it is using GrapheneOS like the Moderator had said.

[deleted]

Famous A privacy screen makes it difficult to see your screen from a certain angle in certain light. Thats is far away from a proper solution.

[deleted]

Famous Read my reply to the moderator...

[deleted]

mmmm Youre right, i should't take even more precautions. Its not a must have feature no.

[deleted]

Xtreix My auto reboot time isn't anyones buisness. I can say it's not set 18h (default). Anyone telling me that i cannot hide the fact i am using GrapheneOS is right. But why give it away for spying eyes and cameras?

Xtreix

[deleted] But why give it away for spying eyes and cameras?

Which eyes and which spy cameras? If you think that using GrapheneOS can harm you then there's a much more serious problem to consider here, the only advice I can give you is to use a VPN and then use Google's standard servers for connection checks so that your device appears as a regular Android device and blends in with the billions of other Android devices.

[deleted]

Xtreix Using it won't harm me in that way, but it would open up directed targeted exploitation and cause suspection. Also that arey current settings youve mentioned.

Xtreix

[deleted] but it would open up directed targeted exploitation and cause suspection.

You're not basing your opinion on facts, and GrapheneOS protects itself very well against physical and remote exploitation.

It seems that you should first study what a threat model is :

https://www.privacyguides.org/en/basics/threat-modeling/
https://ssd.eff.org/module/your-security-plan
https://privsec.dev/posts/knowledge/threat-modeling/

[deleted]

Xtreix If someone knows i am using GrapheneOS they can make attacks based on that knowledge. Using a secure operating system is causing suspection. What have u missed? Straight facts.