My experience with ChatGPT has been.. spotty at best. I'm glad you figured it out!

@p44 Yes, browser cache. But, it seems a farfetched idea. Have you tried rolling back to a working backup and then updating again? Perhaps something went wrong or the newest update will bypass/address the issue.

@p44 2.5.0 is working fine for me. I had to log back in though. Maybe it's a cache issue on your end?

reserved post for hardware/accessories

This is an (ongoing) attempt to document my migration from iOS to GrapheneOS (aka GOS). I watched countless Pixel and GOS videos that covered pixel review, GOS setup, accessories, etc. But none go over the post-setup side of things which took me down a very time-consuming route. Hopefully, you can learn from my experiences and make an informed decision. I took this migration as my chance to start fresh and clean up my digital footprint a bit.

Privacy done right from the get-go

 

Phone Number

Your phone identity is tied to your phone number. While it's easy to use a different email address, phone numbers are harder to swap. Start by getting a secondary phone line that won't break the bank from RedPocket (US). This is a real phone number, not VOIP so it'll get accepted by banks and any other fussy institution. The plan is sold only on their eBay store and can be purchased as a physical SIM kit, eSIM kit (delivered by email within minutes), or a renewal/refill. It costs $30 for 360 days with unlimited calls/text and 200 MB of data. They offer higher data plans if needed.

I've used Tello as well and can recommend them albeit being more expensive. A cool feature is that from within your Tello account, you can disable all incoming text and/or voicemail if needed.
 

New Google Account

Create a brand new Google account and make sure to activate 2FA TOTP immediately. If not set, then Google will eventually ask you to verify your phone number. If you're like me, and did not set one, then your account might get blocked and you'll have to go through the appeal process which was approved within 24 hours, but I had to wait an additional 48 hours before I was allowed to sign in again (even though the approval email said to sign in ASAP lol).
 

Purchasing a Pixel Phone

You can hunt for a used phone online and I can't help you there. But, if you're going for a brand new phone from the Google Store, then you'll want to read this reddit post to grab a "referral code" and save 10% on your order. The awesome part is that the discount applies to the MSRP, not the ongoing sale price (if any), saving you more $$.

 

GOS Installation

The web installer method is idiot-proof. You can't mess it up and brick your phone. The installation was so smooth that it's not worth writing about it. Kudos GOS team!
 

App Stores

I'll cover what I've tried and what is recommended in the GOS world.

• GOS App Store: ️ This comes pre-installed on your GOS phone. It has the basic phone apps/services which also has a GOS modified version of the Google Play store app. Try to use these apps and not alternatives for maximum security.
• Accrescent: ️ This is a highly regarded/trusted app store in the GOS world and actually has some nice apps that I stumbled upon (e.g. Arcticons, trale, Molly, IronFox)
• Google Play Store/Services: ️ You might think why use this on a GOS phone. For starters, it's sandboxed and unpriviliged. Apps are scanned and verified which minimizes the attack surface. It might also be the only place you can grab certain apps like banking ones that rely on Google Play Services and won't work without it.
• Zapstore: 🫤 Mixed reviews with many saying why use it when you have sandboxed Google Play, Accrescent, etc; use at your own risk.
• Obtainium: 🫤 Lets you install apps/apk directly from the developer; use at your own risk.
• Sideloading: Not recommended by the GOS team; use at your own risk.
• F-Droid: Avoid at all cost. Slow updates, bad practices, yada yada.. Learn more here
• Aurora: It's basically a UI for the intrusive Google Play Store. It doesn't stop any of the trackers, no unattended auto-updates, and no proper verification; use at your own risk.
   

Apps

As an iOS user, I couldn't use other launchers, icon packs, or apply user modifications. There's a reason iOS limits all that stuff as the phone just works. I hate to break it to you, but in Android, you need an app (or two) to get the job done. With that outta the way, here's what I'm using:

• Launcher: LawnChair Launcher
• Icon Packs: Arcticons, Aura, Lawicons, Oxygen, iOS 26 (yes, I went with an iOS themed UI )
• Calendar: Fossify Calendar (you also need DAVX5 for syncing with your Nextcloud calendar/server)
• Notes: Nextcloud Notes, Joplin
• Reminders: Tasks.org (free offline sync, paid with DAVX5 sync option)
• Youtube: FluxTube (no sign-in needed to save/bookmark channels and videos)
• Music: VLC, Substreamer (for your Navidrome server)
• Camera: stock Pixel Camera app but it's over 1GB in size (GOS camera app has a slight lag to it which I didn't like and is missing some features)
• Pixel Camera Modification: using Obtainium, add this repo and specifically install this "app-photosonly-release.apk" which is for GOS users. It lets you click on the gallery thumbnail in the camera app and will directly open your newly taken image.
• Gallery: stock GOS app
• Maps: Waze (Google owned, but has reliable live traffic), CoMaps or OsmAnd (great offline maps, not ideal for driving)
• Molly: a forked and security enhanced version of Signal
• Email: FairEmail (instant IMAP sync), Thunderbird (slow IMAP sync every 15 min), ProtonMail.
• Phone/SMS/Contacts: stock GOS apps
• Browser: Vanadium (stock GOS browser; super hardened), IronFox (hardened Firefox)
• Keyboard/Swype: FUTO keyboard

---

I went with the overall consensus on which app stores to use. I don't want to go down the de-googled phone path, so I'm happy with my setup. Your threat model might be different than mine and it might make sense to use Zapstore or go full blown de-google. In any case, please do share your recommendations and thoughts!

@andreasdueren Thanks for your patience on this I'll give it a shot soon!

@staff The admin UI app mentioned in the docs errors out and going through the upstream tickets led to this forked app that works great in the surfer app. It's the same drag and drop process.

• Doc page: https://docs.cloudron.io/packages/synapse#admin-ui
• App mentioned in docs: https://github.com/Awesome-Technologies/synapse-admin/releases
• Open Ticket since Apr: https://github.com/Awesome-Technologies/synapse-admin/issues/825
• Working Fork: https://github.com/etkecc/ketesa

BTW, the second tarball is the one that worked in the surfer app. The first shows a loading screen and never completes.

@andreasdueren said:

This sounds like it can be nicely consolidated though. Just delete the users which don't exist anymore.

If I do that then all the data/rooms will be lost to us I think. As for the login, it's not Element X specific. IIRC, the original app was OIDC based and that got messed up with the transfer I mentioned. To regain access, I simply had to reset the password for each user and then I could log in with user/pass and that kept all the rooms and user data intact. Lately, I've been having issues with notification and delayed delivery. Then, I saw your ESS package on the forum and gave it a try. Delivery works fine AND we can finally call each other. I knew using Matrix as a note/journal app would come back and bite me in the a55.

I think I'll try the following in this order:

• copy paste the sensitive data that I really care about
• try looking to manual export of all rooms
• if none exist, try the CLI method (it's above my pay grade hence the reason it's lowest in the list)
• if that fails, rage, nuke the old server, and start fresh

The OIDC issues happened when I switched from one host to another AND moved the app across Cloudrons that didn't have the exact same users so it messed up the mapping. I think it's seppuku time for the old app

@andreasdueren iirc I did compare it to a config of a fresh install and fixed things up but I didn't go into the database end of things. Currently, there's no OIDC working. We can log in via username/email and that works fine. Honestly, it seems easier to extract the key info from rooms that I want and start fresh with a new matrix/ess app. But, I do have a LOT of rooms as I've been using it as a journal/note-taking app (totally replaced Joplin over time).

@andreasdueren yeah I'm on windows but i fired up a spare laptop that has pop_os on it (22.04 iirc). When that didn't work, I got Ubuntu desktop 26.04 installed today, but didn't try the CLI stuff yet. Even if I get the CLI to work. I had issues with my matrix server OIDC related stuff. I'm worried it's not going to go well. I'm going to check if I can export rooms and just import them manually into the new ESS.

Thinking down the line... what would happen to an existing ESS app once Cloudron picks it up and adds it to the official store? Will I have to reinstall and do a restore backup?

btw, any way to do the ESS migration without the CLI thing? I couldn't npm/wtv that other dependency thing to install right. I tried it on pop_os. I installed Ubuntu today so I'll give it another shot later though.

@andreasdueren ah thank you

@andreasdueren findmy is on android? unless you mean the google one? if so, that's a hard pass I'm running grapheneos...

@andreasdueren well, the idea is to replace find my on ios so the fam can see where I am. How portable are those tracking devices? approx cost?

I ran traccar client on my pixel and it's such a battery drainer. Any recommendations to help extend the battery life?

Traccar Client on Google Play Store

@andreasdueren Does the migration process work on existing installs to keep using the same domain?

I set up a new server. The installation went smoothly. I logged in via Cloudron using two different CR users.

User 1: logged in to element x on iOS
User 2: logged in to element x on GrapheneOS/Android (installed thru google play store)

iOS to Android:

• Text messages
• Audio calls
• Video calls

I'll test iOS to iOS when I get my hands on fam devices tonight.

Edit: BTW, I tried the option "blur background" in the video settings and things became REALLY laggy on my Pixel 10. I enabled it during the call. Maybe that's why.

@andreasdueren one line at a time didn't work nor pasting it whole. I pasted them one section at a time and that worked. The "export" lines were done one at a time though. But the "echo" ones had to be as one. e.g.

echo "Checking for duplicate email templates..."
psql "$CLOUDRON_POSTGRESQL_URL" -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -c "
SELECT name, template_type, locale, account_id, inbox_id, COUNT(*)
FROM email_templates
GROUP BY name, template_type, locale, account_id, inbox_id
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;
"

This was pasted in one go.