PINE64
Curious about privacy - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Curious about privacy (/showthread.php?tid=10922)

Curious about privacy - JBibby - 07-31-2020

Hello all, my husband mentioned this phone as an alternative to Android.  I am curious as to the root/adminstration capabilities as well as encryption.  I read the information on the hardware specs, but didn't see anything about the software abilities.  Any links to said information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

RE: Curious about privacy - User 18618 - 08-01-2020

  • Excluding UBports, I believe most operating systems on the PinePhone grant you unfettered access to the root filesystem, with superuser privileges.
  • You can see the list of Operating Systems on the Wiki and the Software forum.
  • I believe only postmarketOS supports full disk encryption.
The PinePhone is progressing rapidly thanks to all of the community members contributing to its development. It is not yet daily driver ready, and won't receive Android's ubiquitous level of support in the foreseeable future - don't jump in expecting a drop-in replacement for Android.

RE: Curious about privacy - JBibby - 08-01-2020

Thank you for the information.  I understand this is an open source grassroots kind of effort, which is awesome.  I appreciate your feedback regarding the fact that it isn't quite a daily phone as of yet.  I appreciate the clarification on the encryption.  I am debating between the pinephone and flashing the phone I have.  I know it is a new situation so I was not expecting it to rival Android...yet!  I will keep watching, but I am pretty sure my husband wants one, he is a programmer and would probably jump in and try to help out.  Have a blessed day!

RE: Curious about privacy - User 18618 - 08-01-2020

You're welcome Smile

For $150, I don't think you can go wrong - if nothing else, the PinePhone is a portable and well equipped single board computer. Purchasing one demonstrates to PINE64 that consumers are chomping at the bit for a smartphone they can truly own.

It's a good time for regular users to begin adopting the PinePhone, as the v1.2a hardware revision solves issues observed in v1.1 (Braveheart) and v1.2 (UBports Community Edition).

I'm currently using a Braveheart as my primary phone for making calls and texting, only waiting for better battery life so I can finally dump my seldom used Android phone.

RE: Curious about privacy - Boern - 08-02-2020

The reason that you can't find any information on the software is that Pine64 (the company behind the phone) is not involved in creating the software. The software is entirely community driven. They only sell certain operating systems as default and donate a portion of the earnings to the respective projects.

RE: Curious about privacy - Luke - 08-02-2020

(08-01-2020, 04:09 AM)jed Wrote:
  • Excluding UBports, I believe most operating systems on the PinePhone grant you unfettered access to the root filesystem, with superuser privileges.
  • You can see the list of Operating Systems on the Wiki and the Software forum.
  • I believe only postmarketOS supports full disk encryption.
The PinePhone is progressing rapidly thanks to all of the community members contributing to its development. It is not yet daily driver ready, and won't receive Android's ubiquitous level of support in the foreseeable future - don't jump in expecting a drop-in replacement for Android.

postmarketOS supports encryption too. See attached video.



RE: Curious about privacy - User 18618 - 08-03-2020

Thanks for the embedding the video @Luke, but I did mention that Wink

RE: Curious about privacy - bcnaz - 08-03-2020

(08-03-2020, 03:22 AM)jed Wrote: Thanks for the embedding the video @Luke, but I did mention that Wink

There are 3 main components to consider when discussing privacy.

1)  Hardware
                       1a) firmware
2)  Software

3) the person using the device

   Even a perfect device is no better than the person operating the device.

RE: Curious about privacy - bcnaz - 08-20-2020

(08-02-2020, 04:15 PM)Luke Wrote:
(08-01-2020, 04:09 AM)jed Wrote:
  • Excluding UBports, I believe most operating systems on the PinePhone grant you unfettered access to the root filesystem, with superuser privileges.
  • You can see the list of Operating Systems on the Wiki and the Software forum.
  • I believe only postmarketOS supports full disk encryption.
The PinePhone is progressing rapidly thanks to all of the community members contributing to its development. It is not yet daily driver ready, and won't receive Android's ubiquitous level of support in the foreseeable future - don't jump in expecting a drop-in replacement for Android.

postmarketOS supports encryption too. See attached video.


Will the PMOS Community Edition Pine phone ship with encryption on the the pre-installed operating system ?

RE: Curious about privacy - Veraendert - 08-21-2020

No, but but it encrypts on first boot using the pw that you chose: https://postmarketos.org/blog/2020/06/15/pinephone-postmarketos-community-edition/