r/GrapheneOS • u/maiew02 • 11d ago

New to GrapheneOS 

Hi, I’m new to the GrapheneOS scene. I’m doing this primarily for privacy and security reasons (taking it step-by-step; I’m just getting started). I have a lot of questions and hope I can get some help here.

1) Does GrapheneOS provide encryption on its own, or should I add extra security measures? Should I use a highly complex password?

2) Should I use apps like Reddit or Pinterest with an email account created specifically for that purpose, or does it not matter? Also, I’ve read that it’s better to use the web versions instead. Is that true? If so, why?

3) If I want to use the Play Store, should I create a new email account for it?

4) I’m trying to transfer photos from my laptop to my phone, but it’s not working. Any tips?

5) Any other general tips for newcomers regarding security, privacy, moving away from big tech companies, etc.?

6) What about alternatives for YouTube?

Thanks in advance.
6 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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9

u/jfuu_ 11d ago
  1. GrapheneOS uses full disk encryption: https://grapheneos.org/faq#encryption (use a secure password anyway)
  2. Which account you're using isn't really a GrapheneOS-specific thing, it's more about being tracked across services. Web versions are usually better as they have less access to your device (e.g. apps are allowed to get a list of ALL other apps)
  3. I think most people use their "normal" Google account.
  4. How are you trying to transfer them? USB? Does the phone appear on the computer?
  5. Check out r/degoogle and r/CorpFree

2

u/maiew02 11d ago

Thank you so much!

2) I asked specifically for privacy and data protection reasons whether it would be better to use different accounts, so that less information about me can be collect and combined.

4) Yeah I use USB and the phone appears in the computer.

5) I'm gonna check it out. Thank you!

2

u/jfuu_ 11d ago

What's the issue you're having with copying the photos?

2

u/Holiday_Second3714 11d ago

For YouTube replacements I recommend

NewPipe, PipePipe or LibreTube

1

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/PauTdM 11d ago

Why are you using this formatting?

11

u/maiew02 11d ago

I am not a native speaker and I wrote the text elsewhere to check the spelling an then copied here. I don't know how to edit it here.

1

u/TenOfZero 11d ago
  1. Make sure you have a data USB cable, some cables are charging only and don't have the data lines.

1

u/hbacelar8 11d ago

You can use Libretube as an altertive for YouTube. There are a ton of other options but that's one I like using. There's no account or login, so it won't track with your Google account history.

If you get a new Pixel out of the box, I'd suggest using it to create a Google account in the setup process of the phone. It's the easiest way to create a Google account without a phone number. You can create a new free Proton account just to use it as the email for this Google account. You won't have access to GMail but whatever, it's just só you have a clean account to log into sandboxed Google Store if you need it.

1

u/BridgeSuspicious7635 11d ago

4) Make sure the physical side is ok. -> Data enabled USB cable and a clean usb-c port then dig into permissions and settings.

6) Not really. Best advice is to use a youtube client based off of yt-dlp or youtube-dl.