GrapheneOS is an open-source, privacy- and security-hardened mobile operating system based on the Android Open Source Project, with official production builds only for Google Pixel devices. It is developed as a non-profit project founded by Daniel Micay in 2014 (formerly CopperheadOS), with donations handled since March 2023 by the GrapheneOS Foundation, which the project's own pages describe as a non-profit organization created in Canada. Its FAQ states the OS contains no analytics or telemetry, publishes an exhaustive list of the default network connections a fresh install makes (updates, network time, connectivity checks, GNSS almanacs, attestation-key and Widevine provisioning, SUPL), states these go to GrapheneOS-run servers by default with user toggles to switch to Google's servers or turn them off, and says the only information revealed to its servers is the generic device model and OS version. Google apps and services are not included; Google Play can be installed optionally as ordinary sandboxed apps. Caveats: several default services are GrapheneOS reverse proxies in front of Google-operated provisioning services, the hardware is Google-made, and no third-party named-firm audit or funded bug bounty was found — the FAQ itself argues for continuous external review over one-time audits — and no breach or regulatory action was found in this research.
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[2026-08-30] · NEW RECEIPTS
15 new sources on file for GrapheneOS.
GrapheneOS's file gained 15 new sourced claims since its last review.
The GrapheneOS home page states the OS will never include Google Play services or another implementation of Google services such as microG, and that Play services can only be installed by the user as fully sandboxed apps without special privileges.
GrapheneOS's FAQ states that by default the OS only makes remote connections to GrapheneOS services and the network-provided DNS resolvers, that there is no analytics or telemetry, and that the only information revealed to its servers is the generic device model and OS version needed to obtain updates; the same section publishes what it calls an exhaustive list of default connections (updater, app repository, Vanadium component updates, network time, connectivity checks, PSDS almanacs, attestation-key provisioning) and lists official production support only for Google Pixel devices.
The features page's 'Privacy by default' section states GrapheneOS does not include or use Google apps and services by default, and that GrapheneOS servers replace Google servers for connectivity checks, attestation key provisioning, GNSS almanac downloads (PSDS), SUPL, network time and Vanadium component updates, with a user toggle to switch back to Google's servers.
The history page states GrapheneOS was founded by Daniel Micay in late 2014, was known as CopperheadOS while sponsored by a company incorporated in 2015, split from that sponsor in 2018 amid a dispute the page describes in the project's own terms, and that the GrapheneOS Foundation was created as a non-profit organization in Canada in March 2023 to handle the intake and distribution of donations.
GrapheneOS's donate page states the project is supported by donations from individuals, companies and other organizations, used for paying developers, hardware, infrastructure and legal fees, and directs cryptocurrency, bank-transfer and PayPal donations to 'the non-profit GrapheneOS Foundation', named as account holder on bank accounts in Canada, the US, the EU, the UK and elsewhere.
The GrapheneOS GitHub organization, which hosts the OS source repositories, is domain-verified by GitHub as controlling grapheneos.org and lists its location as Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
GrapheneOS's FAQ states the project will remain a non-profit open source project and organization independent of any specific company, that it is entirely funded by donations, and that its code is copyright the GrapheneOS developers under OSI-approved open source licenses — upstream licenses inherited for AOSP modifications and MIT for its own standalone projects — with no copyright assignment.
GrapheneOS's sponsors page names its current organizational sponsors — Cherry Servers, IPInfo, Mullvad, Reliable Site, Xenyth and Zare — and states sponsorship supports development 'as a non-profit open source project'.
GrapheneOS's FAQ states that all of its public services follow the EFF's Do Not Track policy for every user, that its servers retain logs for at most 10 days (with a lower limit or no persistent logs for some services), and it lists the service domains covered; the same page discloses that attestation-key provisioning, Widevine provisioning and SUPL use GrapheneOS reverse proxies in front of Google-operated services by default, with settings to use Google directly or, for SUPL, to turn it off.
The privacy policy for the Auditor app and attestation.app service (bundled with GrapheneOS) states that only the opt-in 'Submit sample data' and 'Enable remote verification' features connect to the server, that remote verification submits hardware attestation certificate chains and supplementary security information to a user's own account at a configured rate, and that the app always requires user consent to make network connections or export any data.
The features page's 'Services' section states GrapheneOS services are hosted entirely on the project's own dedicated servers and virtual machines without any additional parties for CDNs, SaaS platforms, mirrors or other services, and that its websites include no third-party content and forbid it via strict Content Security Policy rules.
The usage guide states updates are checked roughly every six hours, installed in the background to a secondary slot with automatic rollback if the new version fails to boot, and that update zips are signed and verified by recovery and by the in-OS update client — a documented, verifiable release path rather than an audit artifact.
Asked 'Is GrapheneOS audited?', the FAQ states the code is reviewed by external security researchers, companies and organizations on a continuous basis, names France's ANSSI as having reported issues in hardened_malloc, and explicitly argues that a short one-time review by an unfamiliar group is overstated in marketing — i.e. no named-firm audit report or funded bug bounty is published; no breach or regulatory action involving GrapheneOS was found in this research.
The features page states GrapheneOS does not implement automated crash reporting, for privacy reasons, and instead provides a user-facing log viewer where users control what is captured and shared; it also documents a Network permission toggle, a Sensors permission toggle, Storage Scopes and Contact Scopes that let users deny apps network, sensor, file and contact access.
Privacy Guides lists GrapheneOS as its recommended alternative Android distribution, citing its hardened memory allocator, network and sensor permissions, signed builds with full verified boot, and sandboxed Google Play.