Motorola will let you de-Google your phone from next year You Should Know
Motorola’s flagship phones will soon allow you to install a custom OS that effectively strips out most of Google’s apps and tools.
The GrapheneOS Foundation has revealed that its super-secure and mostly Google-free operating system, built on an open source version of Android, is coming to future Motorola phones. At present, it’s only available on Google’s Pixel devices.
According to a series of Mastodon posts, the current Motorola flagship phones – the Motorola Signature, the Motorola Razr Fold, and the Motorola Razr 70 Ultra – are very close to meeting the company’s exacting security standards already.
All they’re lacking is support for hardware memory tagging and a secure element, things that are expected to be addressed with the next generation of Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon chip.
Chris Hall / Foundry
Motorola set to join Pixel
Come next year, the company feels confident that it will be able to bring its OS to Motorola’s flagship phones. The company foresees it coming to a regular flagship device (possibly the Motorola Signature 2) as well as a Motorola Razr Fold and a Motorola Razr Ultra device.
This would represent the first flip phone to run on the secure operating system so far. GrapheneOS is already compatible with the Google Pixel Fold series right up to and including the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, with support for the Google Pixel 11 series on the way (albeit not helped by changes made to AOSP 16).
It seems Motorola is already doing a large portion of the work required to get GrapheneOS working on its phones, which is making it far easier to get the OS working on its phones than it ever was on Google’s Pixels.
The GrapheneOS Foundation also plans to bring its secure OS to cheaper Motorola phones, but that will be dependent on the aforementioned security improvements trickling down to humbler Qualcomm hardware, as well as Motorola committing to seven-year support for more than just its top phones.
