Overview

GrapheneOS (Archived) (GOS) is my current mobile Operating System (OS) until a Linux solution becomes much more viable- but even then, GOS does what I need it to do.

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EDIT: 2025-09-20
I've been sitting on this, not putting it in my notes. But thanks to having to revisit my notes because of the Zettelkasten Method, I can add this in here after reviewing my past's comments.

This is a concern. Google is implementing authoritarian measures on an attack on Open Source technology. Google will only allow apps from verified developers to be installed on Android.

• Article
• Hacker News
  There have already been GOS implications due to this.
• GOS Tweet, More explanation
• Hacker News
  Google is attacking free software and walling off their garden. Furthering my need for Cyberdecks to be implemented to get a normal Linux distribution on a portable device. Linux "mobile" operating systems are not there yet, though Ubuntu Touch is releasing a 1.0 2025-09-25. Still, it's Ubuntu. A SteamOS-style operating system makes a lot of sense to me, paired with a flip phone for communications.

Back to the rest of the GOS programming

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After all, I am an enthusiast- not an expert, not a technical professional, and not formally educated or trained on the matter. It still meets a lot of criteria that I aim to achieve in mobile phones:

• Security
• Privacy

However, I've come to discover other benefits (and drawbacks) that I've incurred with it, such as:

• Battery life
• Limiting use
• Versatility
• Ecosystem

First, I'll get into my use case for phones.

Phone Use Case

Until Cyberdecks become common place, it's convenient for phones to do more than just call and text. It's great to commute with, it's convenient to share media with people, and so forth. The list goes on. But, most of that is very achievable with a cyberdeck or something similar- after the interface gets reworked.

So for now, I text, call, map, share, browse, and read- but mostly tinker. I don't really need or care for the bells and whistles that get bundled in with all of this and jack the price up. I don't need payments, Siri, gaming, dedicated apps for something I use once a month or year, and I could even justify not needing the camera- though convenient to not have to lug around another device. I'm paying so much extra for hardware I don't need. Well- I'm not sure what I'm paying for. Somehow, I managed to get a new (at the time) Pixel 9 Pro XL by re-committing to a contract with my provider. Just goes to show these expensive phones are datamining profit centers.

KDE Connect

Website
Extremely useful Open Source Linux ecosystem tool from KDE folks, though Mac and Windows can use it too. Allows connected devices to:

• Receive your phone notifications on your desktop computer and reply to messages
• Control music playing on your desktop from your phone
• Use your phone as a remote control for your desktop
• Run predefined commands on your PC from connected devices.
• Check your phone's battery level from the desktop
• Ring your phone to help find it
• Share files and links between devices
• Browse your phone from your desktop
• Control the desktop's volume using your phone
• Send SMS from your desktop

Only major limitation is LAN or Bluetooth requirement; so unless the user is spoofing, there's no remote connectivity.

Useful either way, still buggy though.

Works across:

• Desktop computers
• Mobile devices
• Portable gaming devices

KeePassDX

Website
Another Open Source KeePass flavor for Android. Installable from F-Droid. Comes with a keyboard and web features to inject username and password in appropriate fields. Historically kind of buggy because of the mobile environment - the way URLs work on mobile with apps and browsers is frustrating and sometimes it doesn't pick up.

Mullvad VPN

Website
F-Droid Link
Open Source (GPL 3) VPN Company. Pretty tested with government litigation. Seems to maintain trustworthiness. But as with any VPN, don't trust them, or any Privacy Tool for that matter--- don't trust 'em.

They make a browser I haven't really cared to try.

They make a search engine, Leta. Leta is an interesting search engine. It uses Brave and Google APIs, the user can select which results they want; for any countries, any languages, any time. Leta searches it's own cache first, then searches unique queries if that query is not in its cache. The cache is a rolling data pool, so the user's searches may, and very likely, not be current and up-to-date. I get around this by typoing my searches if I want current information. But it's really current enough, it just won't be live information. The caching helps anonymity the searches themselves, because the company queries the search engines, then the users just search inside of Mullvad's cache.

Mullvad teamed with Tailscale, which was incredibly smart, to provide a plugin through their admin console for split tunneling.

I use VPN and/or Leta across multiple devices:

• Desktop computers
• Mobile devices (installable on F-Droid)
• Self-hosted servers
• Travel routers

Tailscale

Website
F-Droid Link
Open Source (BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License- so... you know.) networking service. Skyrocketing commercialization of the product through recent, massive ($160M) series funding. Some concerns with scaling, but the company and its technology seem promisingly positive for ease-of-use and interfacing.

Tailscale is WireGuard made easy. So, it's a convenient Privacy Tool that's relatively beginner-friendly.

Tailscale lets me access my devices from anywhere - mobile devices (installable from F-Droid), desktop computers, self-hosted servers, and travel routers can all connect to each other securely.

There is a stupid limitation with devices not being able to be connected to two VPNs at a time, but Tailscale partnered with Mullvad VPN to offer a plugin through the Tailscale admin console but it's not perfect for mobile.

Tailscale on mobile kinda sucks for convenience because of that, since someone should always have a VPN running anyway.

DAVx5

Website
F-Droid Link
DAVx5 is an Open Source (GPLv3) CalDAV, CardDAV, WebDAV sync Privacy Tool installable on F-Droid. The service connects to a self-hosted Radicale server.

It's still a work in progress. The end goal is to have mobile devices perfectly synchronize calendars and contacts with all Thunderbird clients and other devices.

F-Droid

Website
Open Source catalog of FOSS applications for Android platform. The de-facto app store for privacy-focused Android users who want to avoid Google Play Store.

Glinet

The companion app for GL.iNet routers. Works with devices like the Beryl AX MT3000 for remote management and monitoring.

Magic Earth

Website
Google Maps alternative that claims privacy. Crowd-sourced traffic, downloadable maps for offline use, search features. I think I had to download the apk directly, or something.

Project itself is not Open Source I think, but the map database is OpenStreetMap itself.

It has interesting features, definitely not as accurate as Google Maps- but it works for the most part. Traffic isn't as good, for sure, but it's there.

A cool feature is the dashcam. When you get directions, it can turn your phone camera on and start recording for the duration of the trip. With a phone mount on your vehicle's dash, it provides a convenient dashcam solution.

Obsidian

Website
Proprietary code, that maintains an ecosystem that can be considered secure enough to be a Privacy Tool because it's local, on-device. Obsidian is a cross-platform note-taking application based on markdown.

It's pretty free, easy, and robust. It has core plugins as well as community plugins. Also has cool merch. But a core characteristic of Obsidian is to map thoughts together, making it easy for Map of Content and Zettelkasten Method implementations through accessible plugins and easy interfacing.

Users can pay for syncing services, and pay for publish-to-web services.

Community Plugins
Obsidian Digital Garden - Publish to web for free.

Obsidian works across multiple platforms:

• Desktop computers (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• Mobile devices (Android, iOS)
• Can be synced via Obsidian Sync (paid) or self-hosted solutions

Additional Obsidian Things

I don't feel like working on this right now

• TODO additional obsidian things needs work
  https://www.sharecanvas.io/
  Until obsidian supports native canvas in publish site

https://zettelkasten.de/introduction/
Luhmann method notetaking

https://johnnydecimal.com/
Decimal labeling system for notetaking and organizing your life and notes

LM Studio json to md. converts LM Studio chat files to markdown for obsidian
https://github.com/mike7seven/lmstudio-json-to-md

Shelter

F-Droid Link
Open Source (FOSS) app installable from F-Droid leveraging work profiles on Android phones. Useful for isolating apps you don't want running in the background or accessing your main profile data.

Symfonium

Website
Android-exclusive. Small development, one developer but the most feature-rich music player for 01 Notes/Navidrome instances. The developer found a way around the Google Apps requirement by offering a lifetime "Trial" version through direct payment on his Ko-Fi account.

Features

Symfonium allows for the most customization on any music player I've ever seen. It's not for the feint of heart, because without the customization it's fairly vanilla. Vanilla can let you just create playlists and do some "smart" playlist creation.

However, to get the most out of the customization, the music files need to have extensive metadata so the "smart" playlists can create based on similar files, ie bpm, tempo, etc. I use a hybrid super custom and vanilla--- I get by with tags, limited metadata, and self-created playlists because I don't really care about music. I mostly listen to podcasts and audiobooks.

The UI is super customizable, and offers community templates which is always appreciated because I plug-and-played a good looking one.

Symfonium also supports AutoEQ database so users can download and use ideal presets for most consumer audio devices; ie my Bose QC headphones are optimized.

The biggest feature is streaming lossless music from a self-hosted server, being able to cache songs locally, and being able to compress the stream as necessary depending on data availability. Spotify does not offer near lossless, but Symfonium allows compression from lossless down to lower bitrates as needed.

Termux

Website
F-Droid
Github
Android/Linux Open Source (GPL3 only) terminal application installable on F-Droid. Does things a terminal does and has plugins to help extend functionality.

Thunderbird

Website
F-Droid- Mobile version

Probably the most unappreciated app in existence. Powerful, Open Source email app recommended by many Privacy Tools. I use it on desktop computers, mobile devices, and portable gaming devices. It's like GMail or Outlook, which has its benefits and setbacks. Each client is its own client-side application. So email servers like Migadu don't sync read emails, presets, options, or anything like that between clients.

There probably is a way to sync across devices, I haven't cared. I've gotten my email to about where I want it, and Thunderbird supports what I need my email to do. There are a lot of features I have not fully utilized yet, like RSS. Thunderbird Mobile is a re-wrapped K9 Mail, which I used to use, but have now switched fully to Thunderbird because they are literally the same thing, different colors.

AntennaPod

F-Droid
Great Open Source podcast manager for mobile that supports the Podcast Index. Fully featured with excellent Android integration.

No longer used, traded for Miniflux.

FeedFlow

Github
F-Droid Link
A mobile Open Source RSS reader available on F-Droid. It's functional and does what's needed, though organizing feeds into categories can be a bit cumbersome.

CIFS Documents Provider

F-Droid Link
Open Source (MIT) mobile app on F-Droid for mapping network drives on Android. Since GrapheneOS does not support root, and normal root file explorers require root for network mapping, this bypasses that requirement. It lets the default file browser have CIFS "plugin" functionality to access files on network shares.

Works well with Tailscale for remote access to self-hosted file servers.