Goodbye iPhone, hello my phone

For basically my entire adult life I used iOS. It was the default since I was also a Mac User, since I was 13 years old to be precise. The walled garden with the nicely trimmed hedges and the polite little signs that say no fun beyond this point.

And then, about six months ago, I got tired of it.

Not in a dramatic “throw the iPhone into the sea” way, more in a slow-burn “why am I still putting up with this” kind of way. Death by a thousand paper cuts. Every small limitation, every “you can’t do that here”, every setting that feels like it exists primarily to remind you who’s in charge.

The final nail in the coffin is usually why most people switch and that is the absolutely atrocious battery life of iPhones.

My phone now is a Google Pixel 6a running GrapheneOS, and it has been equal parts refreshing, weird, and occasionally hilarious.

The hardware: Pixel 6a, the sensible brick

The Pixel 6a is a good middle ground. It’s not a fragile glass jewel that demands a velvet pouch and a personal assistant. It’s just solid and still has good support from GrapheneOS even though Stock Android has left it behind. The performance is good, and crucially, it’s one of the best options if you want to run something like GrapheneOS without turning your life into an endless compatibility quest.

It’s also the first phone I’ve owned in a long time where I feel like the device belongs to me, rather than me being on probation in someone else’s ecosystem.

The OS: GrapheneOS, or “actually having options”

GrapheneOS is what happens when you look at modern phones and say:

“Right, yes, I’d like the smartphone experience… but with less surveillance seasoning.”

The main reason is hardening and control. It’s Android, but stripped of all of the bloat from Google. Every decision I made during its setup process has been deliberate. More locked down in the places that matter, and more flexible in the places where iOS would just shrug at you and walk away.

Oh, and this thing can now run for days without a charge as it is not constantly calling home.

Also: the permission model feels like it actually means something. You can take away access and the phone doesn’t sulk about it. You can sandbox things. You can decide what you want installed and why, rather than collecting apps like they’re stickers in McDonalds’ Monopoly game (fun, but ultimately devoid of any real value)..

The switch: from iOS muscle memory to Android reality

The hardest part wasn’t “learning Android”. It was unlearning years of iOS instincts.

On iOS you develop this learned behaviour where you just accept that some things are the way they are. Is it really syncing? Where the fuck are all of my files?

GrapheneOS is different. It invites you to think about what you want your phone to be.

That said, the first few weeks were a bit like moving house and discovering all your furniture has slightly different dimensions. You keep reaching for things that aren’t there, or are there but live somewhere else now. Eventually the new layout becomes normal and you stop opening the wrong drawer for the cutlery.

Apps, services, and the awkward bits

Yes, you can run Google Play services in GrapheneOS, and yes, it can be sandboxed. That’s one of the clever bits: you get compatibility without handing over the keys to the kingdom. I’ve opted for F-Droid for most of my core apps (which are all based on Nextcloud) and I have the Aurora store for everything else, meaning that I don’t need a Google Account. Yay!

But the experience does force you to be honest about what you actually need.

Some apps behave. Some apps throw a tantrum if they can’t have full access to your life story. Some banking apps act like you’ve personally insulted them, thankfully my bank is not one of these and (at the moment) I haven’t had any problems using banking.

Weirdly though, eBay will not work on this phone.

I’ve come to enjoy the curation. iOS felt like an all-inclusive resort. GrapheneOS feels more like building your own campsite. More effort, but the fire is yours.

The verdict (six months in)

I don’t miss iOS the way I thought I would.

I miss exactly two things:

• the “everything is polished by default” feel
• iMessage, purely because everyone I know is trapped in it like a social contract

But in exchange, I got a phone that feels like my device. Not a glossy appliance.

The Pixel 6a on GrapheneOS isn’t the easiest path, and it’s definitely not the path for people who want their phone to behave like an obedient magical rectangle with no questions asked.

But if you’re tired of the garden walls and you want a bit more say in how your pocket computer lives its life, it’s a very satisfying switch.