EdTheDev2d ago

I know that Mastodon is a smaller community than most social media, and there are still very few PinePhone users in the world, overall.

So a theoretical random distribution would make my odds very poor of finding PinePhone community here.

But y'all are here, and y'all have been awesome. Thank you!

#pinephone #community #linux #mobile #arch

Show threadDM542d ago
@EdTheDev I mean I don't even know what pinephone is, but I'm happy to hear about any alts to andriod/google or Apple. Graphene os on my next phone was gonna be my first toe in water.
Show threadEdTheDev2d ago

@davidmaddock Cool!

For full disclosure, I should mention that I still run GrapheneOS as my daily driver phone.

My PinePhone journey is very early:

I am the current target audience for the PinePhone - a full time professional software developer.

And I am still deciding what packages I will need to hand compile and test, and hopefully contribute back to the community - to get to a dialy workflow that works for me.

There's so much great Linux software, but I suspect that very little of it has been tested on phone hardware.

But if you have questions about ny experiences with either GrapheneOS or PinePhone, feel free to ask!

#grapheneos #pinephone #linuxmobile #privacy #devops #floss

Show threadPaul Giulan
@EdTheDev How is the app store different from the one on iOS? What are the tradeoffs with switching to Graphene in terms of apps?
Jun 25 at 5:46amWeb
Show threadEdTheDev1d ago

@pgiulan For context, I last ran iOS in around 2010.

GrapheneOS has access to the Google Play Store, but Google Play Integrity Check feels targeted to make as many apps as possible fail to run on de-Googled GrapheneOS.

Keep in mind that fully Googled GrapheneOS is possible. I just don't see the point in it. Part of my purpose in moving to GrapheneOs was to not have any single for profit company control a huge portion of my digital identity, anymore.

That said, I use F-Droid, and I find the app ecosystem robust. In 2010, iOS and Google Play we're full of small free ad-free (open source) utility apps and games by passionate hobbyists.

In 2026, F-Droid is the only place I am able to find those apps. When I started using F-Droid, I was delighted to discover where all those small no nonsense productivity apps had gone off to, as I felt they had been missing on Google Play for at least a few years.

Pro-tip: F-Droid works on any Android phone, so you may be able to preview the app ecosystem.

The worst part of F-Droid is the same as Mastodon: there's no algorithm and search can be hit and miss. So I tend to rely on web searches or recommendations on Mastodon to find the best apps.

Show threadEdTheDev1d ago

@pgiulan I should also mention - GrapheneOS gets a bad reputation for compatibility, because apps that are spyware won't run, by default.

But many don't understand that it's entirely up to the owner of the phone.

GrapheneOS has a variety of settings to allow spyware behaviors from trusted apps, that can be set on a per-app basis.

So whatever I want to run, I can run.

I do often stop and find a more privacy respecting app, because I'm now fully aware of each privacy choice I'm making.