I have come a long way from around 2010 when i fully switched to linux on my desktop, back then i was 16years old.
It was mostly for privacy reasons but also for dislike of windows and to see the possibilities.
This particular choice in combination with my previous phone, a nokia n800, led me to try getting rid of the windows mobile os on my htc HD2 and led my pathway into android custom roms.
I owned several smartphones (Samsung Galaxy S2P, S4mini, S5mini, htc one m8, xiaomi rn4x, poco f1, now on rn10pro) , that all had to be flashed to get that AOSP feeling and functionality, i wanted.
Sometimes communities already had what i was looking for other times it needed digging a bit deeper and getting involved in building and testing jobs. Which after years of dealing with linux was quite familiar.
Until i discovered microg and shortly after the back in the days very small project /e/ os. Which caught my attention, for tge same exact reasons as my switch over to linux back then except for google being the big corp this time.
I’m a Linux user. I’m an “ethical” buyer. I have rooted all my previous phone, because I don’t want all the apps preinstalled and I want to decide what my device do. For some time, I was interested of buying an Ubuntu phone but, early this year, my wife gave me a Fairphone 4. I like it, but I was not happy to see Google Android preinstalled. Fortunately, Fairphone let me install another OS, so I find eOS. For me is the better choice: now I have a daily phone, not rooted, where I can install the same app others people use to install; I can synchronize calendar and contacts; I have a cloud where to save some files. This is what I was searching for years.
I’ve been using Android for more than 10 years for now, and one of my friends helped me to install custom ROM on my first smartphone, then root. Since then I used custom ROMs always since those were more easy to personalize and delete the useless pre-installed apps. When I searched custom ROM for my mido, I already preferred to choose OS with privacy friendly features. And I have read about /e/ in an article mentioned as possible ROM for my phone. Then I got more interested and read this forum. I decided to install this and since then I’m happy with this OS because this was exactly what I expected, to avoid gooogle dependencies and also trackers from big tech companies. I use Linux on my desktop PC for the same reason. I also convinced my wife to use /e/ when I bought her a Redmi phone, and she likes it, too. One of my friends also got interested and I helped him to install /e/ on his phone, too. It’s good to share this and also to let other people know the reason why it’s better to get rid of big tech dependencies. Thank you for the team’s work!
Hi, I was interested in alternatives to big tech and surveillance in terms of soft-and hardware for a while when all of a sudden I had plenty of time for that “hobby” during longterm recovery from an illness in 2019. Coming from iOS I first found Ubuntu Touch (ubports) and gave it a try on an old nexus5 that I purchased for that purpose. I liked UT but at that time it lacked some functionality I needed for a daily driver (I think it was the CardDAV or CalDAV-support that was not working for me or would have required some workaround that I did not want to spend my time with). Whilst looking for alternatives I stumbled over /e/ and thought it might be worth the try. I had no experience with android whatsoever but decided to test it on the nexus because its battery life was already super bad and bricking the device would have been OK for me. But I was successful and eOS had pretty much all I needed out of the box. Due to the nexus´ battery life I then went for an S7 from the e-shop and I am still happy with that choice. By the way: we still use the old /e/-nexus5 for a sandboxed whatsapp-account (no SIM but based on a landline telephone number) because the ornithology group in my Lady´s homevillage is on whatsapp ever since and “to big to move” to e.g. signal as it seems… requires wifi but works fine even though the phone is wired to mains adapter almost 24/7 
Since a few months ago, I’ve taken the choice to slowly but surely start taking a path towards a FOSS life. Long before then, I’ve heard of /e/ OS and, while I’ve signed up for a Murena account back then, I never had any interest in actively using it because I was rather interested in getting a secondary device that could run a real Linux distribution, namely the PinePhone with PostMarketOS. However, being someone who lives in Chile, I took deep interest in getting the OS, especially by the time it reached version 1 with the Murena launch event, after realizing I had no better choice between that and the myriad of inviable choices for my socioeconomic context.
While it is still a goal of mine to get a device like the PinePhone Pro to aid with the development and massification of Linux distributions in the market, I have taken the decision to register my Poco X3 Pro on Xiaomi’s developer tools so as to wait until next week to unlock its bootloader and install /e/ OS V1.
Hi everyone,
I was an Apple user with iPod since 2006, iPhone since 2008/2009 (don’t remember) and Macbook Pro since 2011. So first thing I do, it’s to stop using Microsoft services. Then 3 years ago, I stop using Facebook services (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp) and 2 years ago, stop using Google services.
And this year, I wanted to stop using Amazon services and Apple products and services. So I sell my Macbook Pro to bought a Framework Latop DIY and I bought the components on French marketplace call Leboncoin (everything new) with Ubuntu. The most difficult part was the phone because to me, nothing it’s better than Apple ecosystem but I needed to go through with my idea and commitment, so I sell my iPhone and bought a Fairphone 4 on Leboncoin too. But living iOS for Android of Google no way, so I search something for more privacy like someone in this topic and found /e/OS and I have no regrets.
I would like to thanks the /e/OS team to make products and services like they do, because without them and others teams in technology, GAFAM would control everything, so big thanks 
My last Apple product I have it’s Apple TV because I don’t find an other product like this. If you have some ideas, I take with pleasure 
First of all I am very happy user of /e/os since 2018.
Before that, around 2015 I wanted to see how far I could get to ungglen, ggmail, ggApps etc, etc.
I was using CyanogenMod/LineageOS, on a moto -G & -E (2013 & 2015), which I still use, but was still kind of dependent on ggll stuff.
In 2018, /e/Os came across my path by searching again on Unggoogle my mobile.
Looking for new developments in that field. I got curious after seeing a /e/os promo video on devtube.
Since then /e/os has been running on the moto’s.
Big thanks for developing /e/os and keep my old mobiles alive.
Hi there 
Today it’s my third phone with /e/ OS !
I like it so much !
My first was Moto G G4
The second was Gigaset
And now Redmi note 9 pro. Today this one is the best quality i’ve got. And with V1 !
So i am very satisfied with /e/ OS.
Congratulations for the team. 
I think the next will be Teracube 2e 
I don’t want to derail this thread by veering off topic, but…
All of the available commercial alternatives (Roku, Chromecast, Firestick, etc.) are even more privacy-intrustive:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/privacy-of-streaming-apps-and-devices-watching-tv-that-watches-us
I suggest setting up a Raspberry Pi (model 3 or model 4) with Pi-hole installed, connected to your router. Then let it automatically block trackers from your AppleTV and every other device on your home network.
Or you could connect a computer to your TV, stream from the browser, and block trackers directly in the browser (via NoScript, uBlockOrigin, Privacy Badger add-ons).
If you want to discuss further, let’s create a new thread.
I’m coming over from Sailfish OS which is a great achievement on it’s own and in my eyes the most complete and stable and most linux smartphone OS you can have which is still usable without AOSP at all. But theres also a decent android app support available out of the box without play services and without microG. While being a great OS from the technical POV I increasingly missed some things over time what makes me searching an alternative for SFOS. So I started to give /e/os 0.23 a try, now I’m on 1.1 of course. Having flashed Sailfish and LOS many times on several different phones I had no problem at all with the flashing process of /e/os. I liked the /e/ package right away: AppLounge is simply there (no need to install fdroid, then aurora), sync with ecloud is simply there, the bliss launcher is pretty much the same as the Sailfish OS launcher… and there were much more benefits than regressions (performance, memory consumption, app compatibility) - so I completely switched.
Hello all,
I would also like to share my story of how I came to /e/OS.
I (46) have always been a device user who looked at the “behind”. In my early days I had my iMac and was excited about the simplicity of how Apple devices harmonize.
At some point I got into Linux and quickly came to the conclusion that I could find my workflow on an Ubuntu system as well. My knowledge increased, I now had a new hobby. For a long time I felt constricted in the Apple cosmos and Apple’s company policy with the fast release cycles made me angry at some point. Profit maximization before simplicity of the products. In the meantime the Open Source thought inspired me and still inspires me today.
I switched next to my Ubuntu system to an Android device. But now I always had in mind that I was freer to install apps, but also had to cope with Google’s privacy policy. Here I often had a lot of belly ache and tried to use as little google apps as possible.
In early 2021, I came across the eFoundation site by accident. At that time, I was still using a Huawei Mate 10 Pro.
Since I did not dare to flash a smartphone yet, I was very taken with the Easy Installer. I switched to a Gigaset GS290 with /e/.
I’ve been with it since V0.12 and my enthusiasm continues to this day. In the meantime, I have learned a lot about Nextcloud and have already been able to flash a few smartphones myself. I had a Nextcloud instance on a Rasberry Pi, all at home.
For security reasons and due to my insufficient server knowledge I decided to use an eCloud and I am very happy with it.
In the meantime I can’t imagine my digital life without /e/, even my tablet runs on /e/OS. Simple - fast - (almost always) without problems 
I also like the touchpoint on Gitlab with the developers, so I really identify with the OS. There you can report bugs, which are then fixed by the developers.
I have now introduced many of my friends and acquaintances to /e/OS and helped them flash and set up their smartphones. They are now as happy as I am.
Keep up the good work, a loyal /e/user
Stefan
I first heard about /e/ back in 2019. I’d been looking for an alternative to the ‘Apploid’ duopoly for quite a few years (I had been on BlackBerry for over a decade, but we know how that turned out…), and Zuboff’s book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism motivated me to finally find that alternative.
There were three that stood out:
- LineageOS;
- SalifishOS; and
- /e/OS
which I was intrigued about. Of course, there was also GrapheneOS, but I had a problem back then with the idea of using a Google Pixel for privacy & security I’m over it now, BTW, since I’ve come to understand the way that GOS operates. It’s still on my “possible” list, but users report difficulties with running many apps, so it is a backburner idea for now.
Looking for a phone that could run all of these led me to get the Sony Xperia XA2 (pioneer) in early 2019 as an experimental device, so I investigated the install instructions for all of these. It turns out that this was necessary, since it took a long time to finally put together the instructions from Sailfish and Lineage to get LOS onto it first, then eOS at last, in Mar 2020. The drivers were the problem on a Windows machine.
I’ve been using it ever since, and recently re-flashed to 1.1-r. The driver issue no longer applies since I am now on a Linux machine. I am very happy with the eOS philosophy and the whole ecosystem it has, but I am even more looking forward to the day when the backend eCloud moves to fully zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption. The lack of this is, at the moment, my main concern, especially given recent errors that have led to user data being accidentally exposed. Best to make such mistakes irrelevant entirely.
My backup phone is a Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish.
I also hesitated a lot because I read about other peoples struggle.
But it was easy. I used Mageia Linux, as i am a long time Linux user.
BTW: Mageia, former Mandriva, former Mandrake was founded by the same person as founded /e/
Been rooting Android phones for a LONG time and over the years, have formed by own way of “debloating” or “Hardening” a phone. From Cyanmod > LineageOS and one night found /e/OS. Havent looked back. /e/OS does everything that I normally do plus more.
Enjoying my new home
Hello, everyone,
I learned about /e/ OS through a post on mastodon where a user was undecided whether to install it or not. When from my research I learned that it was a degoogled android, I installed it immediately and haven’t abandoned it since. The first version I installed seems to me to have been 0.16 if I remember correctly.
Wow, it’s really cool to see that people are still engaging with this post even years after I made it. I really enjoy reading everyone’s stories and hope this post will continue growing well into the future!
I saw the ad for the new Murena 2 phone and it’s got me excited all over again. This is the 3rd phone I’ve seen with privacy dip switches, the other two being the Pinephone and the Librem 5. I think this new feature for /e/ is LEGEND and I hope it will become a standard for privacy smartphones going forward.
I randomly came across /e/OS as I was searching for a phone with a removable battery in the first place.
The phone I used also had a removable one, but I was very dissapointed with it as there was no custom ROM available for it. I de-bloated and de-googled it by myself and still, there was no guarantee that this phone was not sending any private information back home.
Long story short, I ended up searching phone models via GSM-Arena. They were not many phones with a removable battery and most which did, didn’t have support for custom or de-googled ROMs except the Fairphone!
Then I read that the Fairphones original ROM is shipped with Play Services installed. So I read further and came across Fairphones partnership with Murena and also support of other OS makers like Iode and CalyxOS.
I was so impressed by the visual look and functions and ethical principles of /e/ that I said to myself, this phone with this OS is exactly what I was searching for!
I donated (anonymously) to eloo in 2018 i think. at that time i was searching for ungoogled cloud for my PC and installed Nexcloud. I had an apple 5, and when i saw the kicstarter project I found it perfectly matching my needs for a new phone and environnement.
My brother offered me a MI8 for Christmas, on which he previously installed /e/OS as there weren’t no more phone in the store that would have been in his budget. I was very please with launcher after using IOS for years.
I don’t remember how I was aware of the project, but it was surely a chance.
I still donate to /e/ foundation monthly and I’m going to ask my brother to update my mi8 to dipper T.
Edit : /e/os 1.17-t is now installed on my phone. great changes for me, coming from beta.
kuddos to murena team !
As a developer, I truly value open-source and privacy. I think we’re part of a minority of people that are able to understand the technology that we use everyday and the implications of what it means to use a service / hardware or software.
It was a revelation when I started to install Linux on my computer and learn about how it worked under the hood. Seeing so many open-source alternatives to the major apps I used to use was so rewarding. Sharing code with others also brings people together and makes communities.
I had Linux on my computer(s) but it was never an issue on my phone because I found that flashing a ROM and changing the OS was quite complicated and not supported on older phones. I recently bought a new phone (previous one was 6 years old because old tech is still working) which is the FairPhone 4 (repairable, removable battery, transparency…) and installed e/OS/ was very straightforward and simple!
What a relieve to be able to install apps without Google services and tracking, owning your data is so valuable so thank you for making the tech world a better place 
I stumbled over the murena website while I was looking for information about the Fairphone. This was suggested to me by an acquaintance. My two months old android phone, a Samsung Galaxy A54, was giving me constantly issues to the point that once it froze while I was entering the pin to unblock the screen. When I restarted the device I discovered that I’d been locked out and couldn’t enter the pin for24 hours. I was very upset and asked around people for suggestions about smartphones.
I wasn’t looking for a privacy based phone because at that point I didn’t think I could find something like this. I’ve been looking to degoogle for a long time now, but I really don’t want to buy an iphone (it’s already enough that I have to use it for work) and I don’t think I could be without a smartphone. I’m very happy now with my murena Fairphone 
I think I’d like to contribute to the open source projects, I’m a developer