So, this is just my opinion: Graphene and /e/ are for almost two different use cases.
Graphene is for âSupermax privacyâ - a Graphene phone, out of the box, doesnât support most of the Google Play APIs, in any form at all, and I donât believe itâs possible to add them. The device can run a handful of included apps, thereâs no bundled app installation service, andâŚthatâs about it. There really isnât a much more secure way to run a phone, but itâs also extremely limited.
The stock ROMs, as we know, are filled with all the Google-y spyware that phones everything home to the mothership, even if you didnât ask. Thereâs no simpler way to run an Android phone, and any app one would ever want to run, with no hiccups, but it costs pretty much anything that vaguely resembles privacy.
/e/OS is a middle ground between these extremes. /e/OS avoids the worst elements of the stock Google data exfiltration, while also providing much more mainstream functionality for those that want to run 90% of Android apps. If keeping in touch with contacts via Whatsapp is important (and in some parts of the world, Whatsapp is more prevalent than regular phone service), /e/ will do it; I donât believe Graphene will.
So, personally, I donât see the Graphene statements as meaningful, because theyâre two different use cases. Graphene does probably win on raw control and security, but I would assume that most of the /e/ crowd would give up some limited amount of security in exchange for the greatly enhanced functionality. Shifting the goalposts slightly, Graphene can throw stones about /e/Cloud if they want, be it the outage or the fact that the self-hosted iteration is several Nextcloud versions out of date, but Graphene doesnât offer the option at all, in any capacity, even for those who want it.
So, both projects have their niche, they have their adherents, and they have their areas of compromise (yes, the complete lack of a self-hosted cloud backup option is a compromise). If Graphene wants to sling mud In the Twitterverse (X/BlueSky/Threads, collectively), thatâs unfortunately what the Twitterverse has become, so the fact that such an exchange took place (without citations, might I add), is unfortunately par for the course, as far as Iâm concerned.
From what I can tell, it seems that Gael understands that there is room in this world for both projects and their respective philosophies, while Graphene seems much moreâŚprincipled.
Iâm not looking to formally convince anyone of which option is best for their particular use case, but I would submit for consideration that a Twitter feud may not be the best example of evidence to support either side.
