That sounds like a good solution. Privacy, security and usability. I am very tempted to get one of the supported phones to try Calyx on.
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Yeah itās a good compromise between the two extremes IMO.
On one hand you have stock android, with all of its Google services running in the background, eating about 50% extra battery life over and above the likes of Graphene where none of them are installed or running.
Then on the other is ofc Graphene, which claims to be the most hardened and secure version of Android on the planet. Which uses google as the default search engine and doesnāt block adsā¦ u wot?
So Iāll be re-installing CalyxOS tonight after work.
The only caveat with Calyx is the installation process. Itās much better done from Linux than in Windows, because the Windows app is written in Golang, which Windows virus checkers instantly flag as a virus and auto-deletes the installer on download 
Running the flasher from the terminal is a pretty easy process in Linux, and the whole process takes about 5 minutes.
The only things you canāt do in Calyx are stream to a Chromecast device (my X2 Pro will take care of that), nor use Google Pay (which youād accept as given, with the lack of native Google Services running). Everything else uses microG, which allows the likes of banking apps etc to run ok. No Play store, obvs, but the Aurora store can be installed from F-Droid, and it works fine 
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Id love to hear your feedback after you have used it for a couple days.I heard about the OS CalyxOS but did not do any research. There is not much info out there on it, it seems to be a more niche OS compared to the others.
Perhaps you have already been to their website but I put it here anyways: https://calyxos.org/
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Iāve used it before on this Pixel 5, but decided to try ProtonAOSP to see what it was like.
Battery life was average on ProtonAOSP, and I could do everything I wanted with it, mainly because it uses all the normal google services.
But back on Calyx now, and using the X2 Pro as my āmainā phone.
Calyx is a great rom tbh. While not as hardened as Graphene, itās at least usable for most people on a day to day basis.
And a big benefit is the battery life is amazing again, due to the lack of Google services burning battery in the background. 5% battery per hour of screen on time is pretty amazing, and I can realistically go for 3-4 days without having to recharge (and have done with my previous Calyx installation), 5 if Iām frugal
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There is a new phone - the Librem 5 - which was released a few months ago. It runs a linux OS that is completely independent of Android/Google. As it is based on the freeware philosophy the company behind it canāt monetize their customers in perpetuity, but that means the retail price is Ā£800 to keep the project viable.
You could just grab a mid or low price android and root it to wipe the OS, install a custom rom without Gapps - thatās what I do.
Apologies - realised Iāve not really answered your question, but I think whatever you choose itās essential to avoid Google.
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Isnāt this āoptionalā? I did install /e/ os using TWRP on a non-rooted Galaxy S8.
Yes it is possible on some devices to install a custom OS without full root access and if thatās your preference then all power to you. I prefer full root and total eredication of Google apps and services because I genuinely consider Google to be, perhaps unintentionally, the biggest problem in todayās tech world. Plus, with google removed from an android device and some time spent configuring the sysdtem the device becomes extremly powerful for certain utilities as well as highly efficient from a power consumption point of view.
I guess Iām harping on about my preference with a phone, but the difference once rooted is genuinely profound.
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Yeah, I get your point. Yours is a power-user perspective. But I guess for a normal user, rooting a device will not make much of a difference. It could even lower the security of the device in case some āmaliciousā apps gets root access.
Also as far as i know if you want to use some hardcore Firewall blocking EVERYTHING - root is a must
Yeah, you might be right. Maybe I am wrong but on a de-googled phone there is not āphoning homeā going on. The apps installed by the user can be effectively āfirewalledā with an application like Netguard. And then with my not-so-extensive testing with /e/ os and Netguard, it seems to block the some system apps as well but I I guess then you will run the risk of not everything working as intended, like OTA updates.
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Hopefully, i just donāt like to put more trust than i need for anyone 
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Yeah bricking a device is not as hard as some belive. Depends on the device. Some Xiaomi phones can brick themselves. As for malicious apps and other security concerns I just use a configured installer so bad apks donāt get through and use no other specific security beyond a system proxy that i use when needed. Althgough there are bad actors out there the real danger to personal devices is miniscule and a lot o fattackks happen to VPN providers and companies like McAfee as the source of large data repositories. it is conceivable that having anti-vurus, vpn and other software actually makes you more likely to be a vicvtim of cybercrime. If you can manage without itās best to keep fianacial info off the device. logging into you bank acvcount is cool cos once you log off your bankās security is responsible, but try to keep the device itself free of sensitive data
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Thatās absolutely true as far as power usage goes and unless youāre wanting to immerse yourself in android knowlesge rooting a device is not really too safe. To do it without the know-how risks all manner of malfunction and if you donāt need or want to learn it then itās best to stay locked.
That said, Iād still look at the ways in which Google can be kept at bay on any device. Deep settings can be used to make the device more yours than theirs.
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Can someone help me please? Thank You in advance!
I want to install /e/. At the Moment im using lineageos 17.1. my device is axelte samsung galaxy a5 2016. I looked for e support and they wrote down my phone in the list of supported devices.
TWRP is already installed.
- sudo pacman -S heimdall
- Heimdall onto my device.
- Connect phone and Computer
- Load e onto sd card
- Go into twrp and wipe all except of sd card.
- Install e
Hi there.
What method fdid you use to install TWRP? And when you boot to recovery is TWRP your only/default recovery system?
Let me know and I should be able tohelp.
Hi. I used odin to flash twrp on my phone. Its the default recovery instead of samsungās recovery
.
In that case you should be perfectly fine to flash Lineage directly from your SD card without any further ned for Odin or Heimdall.
Download the Limeage .zip file for your device as well as the appropriate Gapps if you want to install Google then save them in a new folder on your SD card. Boot into TWRP and wipe your system - taking care not to tick the SD box in the menu. Best off to also format the system by clicking the āformatā option and typing āyesā in the terminal.
reboot directly into recovery and then select install and search for your .zip files. select the Lineage zip and youāll be advised to swipe the bar at the bottom to flash the rom.
so long as the you download is matched to your device it will proceed with the install then ask you to boot the system or flash another zip - Gapps if you want them.
Use the xdadevelopers website to download your Rom - you will get a gebuine zip with minmal risk of corrupted files.
if you need any clarification or furthe help - just fire away.
Ive just seen the additional info here. Once TWRP is installed itās best to put Heimdall to one side and work from either the phone or utilise ADB via your teminal on a PC or laptop.
Heimdall is not helpful for rom flashing and the process is unnecessarily complex. Once TWRP is installed you no longer need Heimdall to get anything done.
When I first heard about the Librem 5, that is what sparked my interest in finding alternatives to apple / google. But after much reading and video watching, the census seems to be that Daily Driving a Librem 5 or any linux phone for that matter is a bad time. Sounds like daily use is still a couple years away from being reliable. Thoughts?
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