Hey guys, I have a Google Pixel 8a Smartphone. It is a Degoogled Pixel 8a, currently with Calyxos. Is this the best custom ROM for privacy + security?

I also need to try to make it an Hardened phone. Not a Spy phone…not a Surveillance phone. Basically trying to make it an safe phone, anonymity phone.

What VPN could I use for this phone, and is there any other guides or settings guides you can recommend me.for my phone?

The sim card is a kyc one but im stuck with it.

Thank you.

  • Ksk3829@lemmy.todayOP
    413·
    2 days ago

    What is the best thing to do with Calyxos smart phone for privacy, and anonymity. ? Like how to achieve this simply, and also, what VPN should I use if I stay with Calyxos in my Pixel 8A?

    • Vik@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      2 days ago

      As a calyxOS user, if your key concerns are security and device hardening, I’d recommend you just make a seedvault backup and switch to graphene.

      The two projects have somewhat different scopes and I don’t think you’ll achieve the same degree of sw security on calyx.

      • Ksk3829@lemmy.todayOP
        311·
        2 days ago

        I prefer Calyxos. over Grapheneos, hence, I’m seeking the most appropriate way to make my Pixel 8a Calyxos phone an Anonymity, a Safe phone.

        I want the advice, and want to know what my options are if I stick with calyxos.

        Also, recommend settings/configuration guides.

        • Vik@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          1 day ago

          I feel that, I just wanted to set your expectations. I prefer and will continue to use CalyxOS but I have no expectation that they will deliver the same level of protections/mitigations at the OS side as Graphene given their project scope is different.

          CalyxOS aims for a private, yet simple (attainable) Android experience, and I align more closely with their ideology on having a FOSS replacement for Google Play Services in MicroG.

          I suppose one thing you could levarage is work profiles on Calyx to “jail” apps you do not trust, though I’m not sure that meaningfully builds upon Android 15s own application sandboxing.

          Perhaps as a long term goal you could look into making a custom fork of CalyxOS for your device and incorporating parts of Graphene’s hardening but this will be a lot of work.

    • Dr_Vindaloo@lemmy.mlEnglish
      131·
      2 days ago

      There’s no shortcut you can use to achieve things simply, especially if you want actual anonymity (an extremely high bar). Installing GrapheneOS is the bare minimum (Calyx doesn’t even come close). Then you need to avoid services that ask for personally identifiable info, use VPN for everything (and use public wifi for initial setup), avoid a KYC SIM or SIM in general (also use airplane mode / wifi whenever you can).

      But really I’m guessing you don’t actually need proper anonymity (privacy in general is more reasonable).