Mastodawn

GrapheneOS Feb 4

@CedC There are multiple working tap-to-pay options for Europe including Curve Pay, PayPal and many banking apps. Only the subset of banking apps which moved to Google Pay won't allow using it. Google Pay works on a technical level but disallows a non-stock OS.

WearOS devices including Pixel Watches work well with GrapheneOS. If you want to use a Pixel Watch with full functionality then you need the Pixel Watch app which is fully compatible.

GrapheneOS isn't based in the US and never has been.

GrapheneOS

@CedC GrapheneOS was initially created in Toronto and it's where we have our infrastructure for builds and signing. GrapheneOS Foundation is incorporated as a federal non-profit in Canada and is officially based in Toronto.

It's Europe passing laws clamping down on end-to-end encryption and secure devices including Chat Control rather than the US or Canada. We recently moved servers out of France and off OVH after law enforcement and state/corporate media began a public campaign against us.

GrapheneOS Feb 4

@CedC France previously went after multiple companies selling supposedly private/secure phones in Europe. That included taking control of server infrastructure on OVH and arresting people involved with the companies. They're going after private messaging apps too.

France's national law enforcement is inaccurately conflating GrapheneOS with sketchy products based on portions of our open source code. Many inaccurate claims were widely propagated by French corporate and state media based on this.

@GrapheneOS
First and foremost, thank you so much for making grapheneOS ! And thanks for reaching out ; I did not expect the team to do so, but I am glad you did.

I should have double-check but I was positive Graphene lead dev was from the states, sorry for that, I’ll update my post to correct it.

I did mention Curve in my blog post (but I think it does not work without internet access ?!) I’ll look for compatible banks in the future as well.

1/3

@GrapheneOS
As for Pixel watch compatibility, I never got mine to connect with Graphene, even with the watch app installed in the private sandboxed space, and all authorisation. I got a notification saying nearby devices needs to be allowed, even though it is…

In any case I do agree that France has not been good with regard to privacy and tech in general.

I think there is a strong industrial culture that works a lot with enforcements and control rather than privacy and liberty.

2/3

@GrapheneOS
As for Android Auto (which was reported to work)
I could not get it to work either, although there are lots of people reporting it works.

I might do the wrong thing .
I have a notification saying to finalise the setup, but I fail to do so (following the official documentation) ; it might be outdated as there is no Settings ➔ Apps ➔ Sandboxed Google Play ➔ Android uto option.

I tried Settings→apps→all→private→android auto, but I do not see how to grant extra for wired service.

@CedC Android Auto requires sandboxed Google Play to be installed in the same profile. Both Android Auto and Sandboxed Google Play should be installed from our App Store. Play Store and Play services should have the Network permission granted so the services function properly. In order for Android Auto to work, special access needs to be granted via Settings > apps > Sandboxed Google Play which has multiple toggles including the most minimal one needed for wired Android Auto.

@GrapheneOS
I did install both Android Auto and google play from your store, authorized everything to try to get it working.

I guess the step I am stuck at is special access granted via Settings > apps > Sandboxed Google Play which has multiple toggles including the most minimal one needed for wired Android Auto.

I do not find the mentioned toogle or I am not enabling the right one.

@GrapheneOS like am i even looking at the right place ?

@CedC No, that's not the right place. It's Settings > Apps > Sandboxed Google Play (not the Play services app) > Android Auto. Also, you don't need to grant Call logs, Camera, Contacts, Location, etc. to Play services in general.

Cèd’ℂ Feb 7

@GrapheneOS OK i think i ended up finding the setting which is in a totally different place now (setting > security and privacy > private space > sandbox google play)

I'll update my post once I have better internet access.

Can I make a PR and or notify someone to change the official documentation?

(Still doesn't work on my end, crashes after 5sec, but that might be a cable or other issue)

GrapheneOS Feb 7

@CedC That's normal since you have it in the Private Space. We need to add that to the documentation. You could make a PR to the grapheneos.org repository if you want to help with that.

Cèd’ℂ Feb 8

@GrapheneOS
I just cloned the repo to add it to the documentation, but… it was done yesterday !
So fast !

Thanks for your support

@CedC

> I got a notification saying nearby devices needs to be allowed, even though it is…

Did you permit it for both Google Play services and the Pixel Watch app? It's likely needed for both, not only the Pixel Watch app.

@GrapheneOS Yes I did, the google play service mentioned “access in passed 24h”. Nothing is noted in the Watch app, but they both have access granted.

@CedC

> I should have double-check but I was positive Graphene lead dev was from the states, sorry for that, I’ll update my post to correct it.

The founder and original lead developer of GrapheneOS is Canadian. They're one of the 3 directors of the non-profit. The current lead developer is Ukrainian and is also one of the directors. The remaining director is Kazakhstani. We have one American developer who we hired last year. They're the first American we've hired but we'll be hiring more.

@CedC We didn't previously have enough money to hire people in Canada, western Europe or especially the US. We no longer have those budget constraints and expect to hire a large portion of Americans going forward because a large portion of experienced Android OS, Chromium and Linux kernel developers are Americans. It's a fully remote team so it makes sense to hire people with similar experience in lower cost regions but it's not a constraint anymore and was heavily limiting previously.

@GrapheneOS
Good to know the project is now well funded. I herd there might be an OEM releasing a phone with GOS running by default, that’s cool.

Who backs the project nowadays ?

@CedC GrapheneOS is entirely funded by donations. There's a mix of many small donations, a lot of medium sized ones and very large ones which go a long way themselves. We aren't receiving any grants or government funding. We don't want to have funding with strings attached but rather to continue getting funding from our users/supporters so we can don't have our hands tied and aren't dependent on reapplying for funding where not getting it would be a disaster.