GrapheneOS defends itself after an American gave their “duress” passcode to border patrol, wiping all data from his phone “GrapheneOS is completely legal,” later adding “laws attempting to make it illegal or require weakening the security would be unconstitutional”

i recommend anyone who travels to use grapheneos and set up a duress pin & pw (and rotate both before every trip). the chances of being forced to unlock your phone, whether at a border crossing or somewhere on the street, are only going up in this insane world. it's _your_ fucking phone, your data, and your private life. nobody except you has any right to access its contents. period.

Volkswagen has blocked its app from working on phones using GrapheneOS, a custom Android version built for stronger privacy and security. Users can no longer log in or control their cars via the app, yet it still runs fine on some old Android phones that no longer receive security updates. Volkswagen says the app relies on official Android features that custom versions lack, highlighting the challenges car companies face with different phone systems. Via:@IntCyberDigest

A U.S. traveler has been charged after his GrapheneOS phone wiped itself during a search at Atlanta airport. Prosecutors say he used GrapheneOS’s built-in duress password, which erases the phone instead of unlocking it. They claim that amounts to destroying evidence. His lawyers are challenging the charges, saying the search was unconstitutional.

I wanted a device I could load with open source software that could be my sovereignty + unplug device. Something for podcasts, music, signal (only when I have wifi) and no LTE. I was literally about to buy a google pixel and install grapheneOS… Then I realized the device I was looking for was sitting in front of me, on my desk, the whole time, my @FreedomFactory Ethereum Phone Just downloaded an episode of hardcore history, went for a walk and completely detached. It brought me so much joy and made me realize I need to work on my relationship with the internet The Ethereum Phone (no I will not be calling it the dgen) checks all the open source boxes I wanted. Really excited to use this thing more

Google has a new system called Cloud Fraud Defense, which is the next version of reCAPTCHA, and has started rolling out to users When the system detects risky web activity, it no longer shows the old picture puzzles where you pick out buses or traffic lights. Instead, it displays a QR code that you scan with your Android phone, but to pass the test your phone must have Google Play Services installed and running. This change has been active since October 2025 based on support pages and old web records, and it blocks users of privacy-focused Android phones such as GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, and /e/OS because these phones remove Google services on purpose to provide stronger privacy and security. The result is that millions of websites now treat these privacy phones as risky, so users must either add Google Play Services or stay locked out. This is similar to Google’s 2023 Web Environment Integrity idea that wanted websites to check if devices were trustworthy through Google software. That plan received heavy criticism from developers and privacy groups and was dropped, but the new QR code method does something very similar in a simpler way. Website owners who use this system are now blocking people who chose to remove Google from their phones for better privacy.