NOTICE

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FORUM

Due to the large number of new users joining us each month, we have provided this New User Guide to help onboard new users as quickly and easily as possible. After reading this guide, should you wish to learn more, or seek to customise Graphene OS further, we suggest visiting the Graphene OS Forum. There are hundreds of active users keen to share a wealth of information and answer your questions.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

1] Insert your SIM into your Pixel, using the SIM tray ejection pin hiding behind the Google card in the box.

2] Power up your Pixel ignoring the notice that your phone is running a different OS.

3] Swipe up, enter your password previously provided, and tap the keyboard tick to proceed.

YOUR PASSWORD

CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD

If you want to change your password that is used to boot up [turn on] your phone, just follow these steps:

TIP: Use 8 or more upper & lower case letters & numbers and not your name or birth-date.

1] Make a secure record of your New Password

2] Settings ➤ Security & Privacy ➤ Device Unlock

3] Tap on the text 'Screen Lock' [not the gear icon]

4] Enter your Current Password

KILL SWITCHES

YOU CONTROL YOUR PRIVACY

Your Graphene Phone includes sensor kill switches so you can easily shut off the cellular modem, microphone, camera, GPS and many other features, at the touch of a switch.

You can easily edit which switches are available by swiping down from the top of the screen twice to display the 8 switches, then tap on the small pencil icon to add or remove switches as desired.

DISABLING 5G

If you wish to disable 5G on your phone:

1] SIM Must Be Inserted

2] Open 'Settings'

3] Tap 'Network & Internet'

4] Tap 'SIMs' [eg Telstra]

5] Tap 'Telstra' [or other]

6] Tap 'Preferred Network Type'

7] Tap '4G' or '4G Only'

SECURE PHONE

ADVANCED SECURITY ➤ PART TWO

Should you have ordered a Secure Phone [rather than DeGoogled Phone] the above new security settings will be enabled by default as of early September 2024.

In limited cases, some apps [usually banking apps] may not be compatible with these settings, in which case, a pop-up notice will display and give you the option to turn the setting off for that specific app.

LET'S GET ORGANISED

MOVING APP ICONS

➤ MOVE: Touch, Hold, Drag to new position

➤ FOLDER: Touch, Hold, Drag app onto other app

➤ FOLDER NAME: Open folder, tap name to edit

➤ REMOVE: Touch, Hold, Drag onto 'Remove'

➤ UNINSTALL: Touch, Hold, Drag onto 'Uninstall'

ADD NEW APPS

AURORA STORE

If you want to add a new app to your DeGoogled Graphene OS phone, just open the Aurora Store app [your anonymous portal to the apps in play store].

Tap on the 'magnify glass' icon in the bottom right, type in the name of your desired app, tap to select the app, then tap on 'install' to install it.

ADD NEW APPS

ALTERNATIVE APPS

If you had an app [paid or free] like TomTom Sat Nav from the Apple or Google Store, and can no longer install it, consider alternative FOSS [Free Open Source Software] apps. They are free and often without "trackers" [so spy free]. Simply google search for "FOSS android sat nav alternative app to tomtom" and read the results. Then review several in the Aurora Store app, check for "trackers" [see tip above] and download and try some. We chose Magic Earth, privacy respecting, free and an excellent Sat Nav app.

CLOSE YOUR APPS

HOW AND WHY

When you have finished using an app, don’t let it keep running in the background. Swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen and release it so the app sits in the middle of the screen. Then swipe up again from the middle of the app to the top of the screen so the app disappears and is fully closed. This stops it from using any more battery power and also stops it from tracking you if it was, for example, an app with GPS access like a Sat Nav. app.

FREE PROTON MAIL

We encourage you to consider moving to a private email service like Proton Mail if you have not done so already. Perhaps now is the time to move away from email services that have been proven to spy on you.

YOUR WIFI ROUTER

TROUBLE CONNECTING ?

If you are having connection issues on your home or office wifi router with your new DeGoogled Pixel, your router may have restricted the number of devices that can connect. Graphene OS has an advanced privacy spoofing feature that you can adjust. Follow the link below to learn more.

CONTACTS APP

ADDING MY CONTACTS

This task is a little more challenging. Firstly, there are many phones people can be moving from including: Standard Pixel, iPhone, Samsung, Oppo, Motorola, Huawei, Nokia, Vivo, Honor, Xiaomi, the list goes on.

Each one can have different ways of managing and exporting contacts from their contact app. Some have NO export options, only "cloud storage & recovery", which is of no help moving to your Pixel Graphene OS phone.

CONTACTS APP

EXPORTING FROM IPHONE

If you are moving from an iPhone, you can export your contacts directly from your iOS Contacts app. Open the iPhone Contacts app and "select all fields" on export so you include all data for each contact, then:

1] Go to the lists view [choose "back" from the default screen].

2] Tap and Hold the "All iCloud" list until the menu pops up [assuming you have iCloud enabled, look for a "local" list if you don't].

3] Select "Export" to generate a ".vcf file" which you can then transfer onto your Graphene Pixel via a USB Thumb Drive, or other method.

4] Open the Contacts app on your Graphene Pixel and select Import from the settings menu.

ANDROID AUTO

OPTIONAL INSTALLATION

Our Pixel Graphene OS phones support the official Android Auto app. Follow the link below to learn how to install and configure Android Auto correctly.

PIXEL 3.5mm ADAPTOR

You can purchase a USB-C to 3.5mm adaptor if you wish to use your headphones with your new DeGoogled Pixel phone, or to connect your Pixel to your sound system, available here.

FAQs

GENERAL + PRIVACY

Did you see our FAQs on our DeGoogled Pixel page? It covers general, privacy and security questions relating to your Pixel Graphene phone including questions like “whats the most secure web browser” and “Does my Pixel support Dual SIMs” or “Can I disable the camera or microphone”.