Comment by Andromxda
10 hours ago
Rooting is a very bad idea. https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/android.html#rootin... But GrapheneOS is fully open source and provides great build instructions, so you can always make your own build and add whatever features or privileged apps you like within the standard AOSP frameworks for privileged apps with system integration.
> Backing up all app data via Neo Backup
GrapheneOS includes Seedvault by default. https://grapheneos.org/features#encrypted-backups
> High-quality call recording via Call Recorder
Call recording is built into the Dialer app on GrapheneOS. https://grapheneos.org/features#encrypted-backups:~:text=Cal....
> DNS-based ad blocking is possible via apps like AdGuard
DNS-based blocking can also be accomplished by using Android's native Private DNS feature with a resolver that blocks ads. You could even host your own on a VPS if you are more comfortable running name resolution and DNS-level adblocking on infrastructure you control.
The RethinkDNS app also lets you use DNS-level adblocking and a VPN at the same time. https://grapheneos.org/faq#ad-blocking-apps
> I have no experience with GrapheneOS, so I'd be interested to hear if these features are possible on it without rooting.
I recommend giving https://grapheneos.org/features a read.
> If not, can I request these features somewhere?
Check out the issue tracker on GitHub: https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues
Rooting is only a bad idea if there is an alternative. Unfortunately I have to root my devices because there isn't an alternative method to provide me, the physical owner of the device with control over the device. I would much prefer not to generally have root on my phone but to be able to access root externally or via a hardware switch or some other scheme. ADB root is fine.
The alternative to "running as root" isn't "not having access to root".
>Rooting is only a bad idea if there is an alternative.
An alternative to accomplish what?
>to provide me, the physical owner of the device with control over the device
Control over what properties or behaviours of the device, exactly?
No offense, but these complaints feel more like aesthetic ("I want to log into a user named root") than practical ("I want to be able to do things that could only be done under root")
You're missing the point completely, of course there are more secure ways to do a lot of things, the problem is that if there isn't an alternative "secure" mechanism to accomplish what I want if I have root I can just get it done whatever way works for me. I do not want to run into a situation like I did prior to having root, where my voice memos unbeknownst to me end up in some sort of elevated privileged enclave and I can't copy them over to my computer.
There's a myriad of reasons to have root, like baseline I want to be able to watch my network traffic. I want to be able to spoof my location, I want to be able to sftp into my phone and mount it as a drive because it's convenient. I want to access sensors and log them in the background. I wanna just run normal linux daemons.
I don't need any of these reasons though, all I need is the desire to be the ultimate arbiter of what happens on my devices. I don't need to or want to control all aspects of what goes on my device, I'm fine giving up control, I'm not fine with it being taken away from me. Everything else is secondary, the person with final say on what happens on my device should be me.