I wanted to share an interesting statistic with you. Approximately 1 out of every 25 people with a Google Pixel phone is running GrapheneOS right now. While it’s difficult to get an exact number, we can make educated guesses to get an approximate number.
How many GrapheneOS users are there? According to an estimate released by GrapheneOS today, the number of GrapheneOS devices is approaching 400,000. This estimate is based on the number of devices that downloaded recent GrapheneOS updates. Some users may have multiple devices, such as organizations, and some users may download and flash updates externally, but it’s the best estimate we have.
How many Google Pixel users are there? Despite Google’s extensive data collection, this one is surprisingly harder to estimate, since Google hasn’t released an exact number. There’s a number floating around that Google has 4-5% of the smartphone market, which is between 10 million and 13.2 million users in the United States. I can’t find the source of where this information came from. That number is problematic, too, because Japan supposedly uses more Google Pixel phones than the United States. The Pixel 9 series was also a big jump in market share for Google. I couldn’t find any numbers smaller than 10 million, and it made the math nice, so that is what I went with.
Putting the numbers together, it means that 4% of Google Pixel users are running GrapheneOS. That means in a room of 25 Google Pixel users, 1 of them will be a GrapheneOS user. If you include all custom Android operating systems, that number would certainly be much, much higher.
To put it into perspective, each pixel in this image represents ~5 Google Pixel users. Each white pixel represents that those ~5 people use GrapheneOS:
Even with generous estimates to Google’s market share, GrapheneOS still makes up a large portion of their users.
I’m one of those people who use GrapheneOS every day, I love my Pixel 9a.
Like and subscribe and SLAM that “press x to doubt” button so we can grow awareness that there’s literally no way this is true in any universe.
Considering that if you use a custom ROM, you’re a pro user, the 1% of the users, this means only one of this two cases:
-
The Google Pixel line is a complete failure and failed to reach mainstream status, nobody knows the brand and buys the phones in a store, they’re moving 1000x less units than Apple
-
There’s some error in your numbers
I wouldn’t consider myself a pro user but graphene was so easy to install. One click of a button while it’s connected to my computer!
- The Pixel is easily unlockable, so one can install custom firmware without being a “pro”, its hardware is (or was reverse-engineered to be) compatible enough to make the experience seamless, with a whole firmware project / community that it’s exclusively dedicated on that specific range of hardware devices, making it a target for anyone looking for a phone where to install custom Android firmware on.
But I’d bet it’s a mix of 2 and 3.
I bought my mom a pixel and installed graphene on it and gave her. She is by no means a power user. Never underestimate the will of nerds to go a step further :)
-
Graphene explicitly says the 400k are worldwide. You cannot then go ahead and use the US numbers for your comparison. From your own source, Google shipped 10 million Pixel 9 devices in 2023 alone. This does not account for other/older pixel models, or the sum total of sales before that point, or since.
Why not just share the actual number: worldwide, there’s 400k users.
How could they know the actual user count? All they can see is number of downloads, right?
The number of recent updates, it seems. Which is probbaly an OK metric.
That image is a horrible way to represent any ratio. I love it!
I actually do like it. I don’t see it as trying to show an actually accurate ratio, or for you to be able to make an informed decisions from it. I read it as a vibe check, just a quick “what would a room fu LLM of pixel users” look like.
I’m not sure if that’d be what it’d look like… distributions are hardly ever that heterogeneous.
I’d bet all the GrapheneOS users would get together in their own corner and nerd out about their customizations.
For the record: 1 in 25 is 4% …the image gives (intentionally?) the illusion of the proportion being higher.
Hello fellow criminals, anyone get up to any good crime lately?
Just doing my best to avoid surveillance capitalism and government surveillance. Is that illegal yet?
I didn’t do the legally mandated number of "Hail Corporate!"s yesterday.
Nice try FBI
🏴☠️
Crimes are free and you can just do them as much as you want.
The government doesn’t want you to know this.
LTT beat you to the joke.
Maybe This Phone ISN’T Just for Criminals - Trying Graphene OS for a Month.
LTT did not make that joke though? He also copied it.
That is in fact the reference
Who cares about toxic LTT?
Google sold 40 million Pixels between 2016 and 2023, and that number has grown rapidly in the last few years. I think an estimate of around 40 million active Pixel phones is reasonable, which would give GrapheneOS a relative market share of 1%; certainly less than 2%.
I’m certain that most people between 2016 and 2023 bought multiple devices to upgrade old ones.
I’m on, I think, my 3rd Pixel. All of them were chosen because of the possibility of putting a third-party firmware on them, but my current one is the first I’ve actually done it to.
Have you ever been outside? In any social situation? Have you ever seen anyone with a Graphene OS phone in those situations other than you? No?
The your estimated are wrong.
Do you walk up to every stranger with a Pixel if they run GrapheneOS? No?
Lol I talk to family, friends, colleagues, people I play ports with. Have literally never once seen a Graphene phone.
I literally cannot think of anyone anymore who even roots their phone, let alone installs a third party OS.
Y’all are honestly deluded if you think it’s remotely close to OPs numbers.
I doubt OP’s numbers, but your experience is not representative data of anything except your friend group.
I never would have guessed anywhere near 400k, that’s wild!
I’m surprised it isn’t more.
Pixels are the reference platform for a lot of open-source phone operating systems. A disproportionate number of people who purchased Pixels are the type of person who did believe Googles motto of “Don’t be Evil”, even after Google abandoned the motto.
Now that Google is inarguably Evil (not Musk Evil, but definitely more Evil than Apple), these people are searching for solutions. They are gun-shy and are not likely to get an Evil iPhone, have a large investment in the Android ecosystem so are unlikely to pivot to Linux Phone, and the niche Android variants are more likely to be assassinated by Google.
GrapheneOS is the obvious choice. I’m surprised it isn’t a higher percentage.
I mean, I still buy (used) Pixels even after knowing Google is evil, because they’re still the least-bad option because of things like Graphene OS.
Also, re: “unlikely to pivot to Linux phones:” that’s not because of any sort of “large investment in Android;” it’s because Linux phones either suck or are expensive (or maybe both). I say that as a desktop Linux user exclusively for almost a decade and owner of a Pinephone. I want to be using a Linux phone, but they just aren’t there yet.
I’m sure it’s a mix, but I would expect fewer people that have GrapheneOS because they have a Pixel than have a Pixel because they are the only devices supported by GrapheneOS.
That is exactly right. But the demographic of Pixel owners likely to install GrapheneOS (or Sailfish or Ubuntu Touch or whatever) and the demographic of GrapheneOS users likely to buy a Pixel probably has a fair overlap.
The reason I got GrapheneOS over other alternatives to Android was because I thought it had something like 1% of the overall smartphone market (source: wikipedia).
hmmm, I’d consider Apple and Google to be roughly equal in terms of general overall evilness these days
they both donate to support fascism and genocide, remove anti-fascism apps and anti-surveillance apps from their stores upon government request (even when not legally required), spy on their users, etc
and their software/products seems to be in the final phase of enshittification
the fact that GrapheneOS exists and works on Google hardware at all seems like a plus in Google’s column, however it’s only necessary because default Android/Chrome are not allowed to go so far as to protect users from surveillance capitalism (so it’s a plus only necessary because of a negative)
unless there’s a specific measure where Google does significantly worse?
I wonder how accurate it is. I have run Graphene off and on over the years but keep going back to stock.
What makes you go back to stock?
Considering that they sell Pixels at normal stores, unlike the Nexus devices that came before them. It shouldn’t be any wonder that there’s a lot of normal people using them. Especially when only google was offering long software support for Android phones.
Long-term support is never something that Normies (that don’t want iPhones) contemplate. They would rather buy the cheapest phone; they don’t see the value in a software vendor supported phone. That is why Samsung is more of a household name than Pixel.
Google have also shown that their long-term support is pointless when they pivot and implement their own version of Apples “walled garden” on the Play Store and the Android ecosystem.
Their implied guarantee of openness is just as facetious as Apples implied guarantee of privacy.
One one hand, a superior ROM choice
On the other hand, subpar crappy Google hardware
I am a freak who would die happy if this OS somehow made it onto my Unihertz Jellystar
Totally agree processor wise. But can you give me a phone that has bigger camera sensor (+telephoto) than Pixel 9 Pro that has a screen smaller than 6.3 inches?
Isn’t it a bit schitzoid to use an os designed to escape google on a google phone??
No other hardware offers the required security hardware features. At the moment, the developers are working to support a model from another, undisclosed vendor.
So you get privacy from individuals while signing up to a company provenly offering back doors to government. It makes sense in the way that govenrment is not going to empty your bank account for sure. But I would call that safety and not privacy.
You don’t need to sign up for any service if you install GOS on Pixel hardware.
GrapheneOS is popular with degoogling, but that’s not its primary goal. If there is a tradeoff between independence from Google and security, they will always choose to increase security.
GrapheneOS is also probably the only custom rom that cooperates with Google to get access to vulnerabilities and patches before the embargo is lifted.
If you want to be completely independent from Google, GrapheneOS is not what you’re looking for. Its it’s a security focused os that also has some degoogling features, not the other way around.
You are right.
I suppose I am a little bit frustrated with the fact that there are 4,9 billion smartphone users and yet 0,5% chance of having a non-US integrated phone. If someone had said that will be the future in 2007, I think most everybody would have thought it preposterous.
Currently, only the Pixel hardware has all the hardware security features GrapheneOS wants. They could support other devices, but then they would have to compromise on security, which is something they don’t want to do. A while ago it was reported that they were looking to partner up with another manufacturer, but I haven’t heard anything about that since.
It seems like the last breaths of the “do no evil” mantra. Your other options are like Fairphone or the yet to be released Hiroh phone with /e/os which is another flavor of degoogled android.
At the moment Pixel phones are the easiest for people in the US market to degoogle
Thanks for the clarification!
Somehow I am not surprised that the only phone able to use software not made by google is a phone made by google. Or, of course, you can buy iPhone and comply with NSA that way.
I am going to take a lucky guess and say this is by design and not by accident.
1 in 25 is a very odd way to say 4%…
4% is a very odd way of saying 1 in 25
1 in 4% is a very odd way of saying 25
4% of 25 is a very odd way of saying 1
It’s not, it’s easier to visualise one person out of a group of 25 than it is 4 out of a group of 100.
Said 0.1% of people
If you actually read the source, you’d know it’s closer to 2 in 50.
Come on now, it’s actually 0,333… in 8,333…
c/dataisbeautiful :P
I had no idea the share was so large.
cool. that’s actually way more than i expected.
the fact so many people distrust phones gives me some unironic faith for humanity, this also explains why they are trying so hard to kill custom roms.
Yeah 4% is big enough to get on Google’s radar as a threat. Especially if it’s trending upwards.
This is more than just a few tinfoil hats now.
And yes they’re working on locking bootloaders and also making AOSP less useful
Is there a theydidthemath lemmy community lol I’d like to be one of those reddit posters who link communities because funny lol
Can I install it on a pixel that bricked during an upgrade?
Depends on if it’s a soft brick or a hard brick. Does it bootloop? Or just not turn on at all? Can you get into recovery?
I can’t remember. I’ll have to dig it out. I was extremely pissed off I had to buy this phone after 2 years and Google wanted an egregious amount to look at it.
