I created this little comparison chart of the three ROMs. I have excluded others like LineageOS, iodeOS or /e/OS because these don’t support relocking the bootloader which means that stuff like banking apps are unlikely to work.
Overall, all three ROMs are quite good, and it comes down to subjective preferences and the individual needs. For example, GrapheneOS out of the box is the most degoogled and private of the three, but this can quickly fall apart, e.g. if you need FCM (Google) notifications for a couple of apps, you’d have to install the sandboxed Google Play Services (proprietary & coming straight from Evil Corp.) in a work profile, while DivestOS allows you to install an unprivileged MicroG (open source, bad parts like ads and analytics API not implemented) instead, or if you need eSIM management, GrapheneOS requires you to install Play Services and some Google eSIM app, while DivestOS has an open source implementation (don’t know if it works as well though).
In my own subjective opinion, I actually think DivestOS looks the best here, with the one big downside that they don’t have a SUPL proxy (in short: Google gets some data from you when you want to find your location). I also like that they support phones for as long as LineageOS does. But I also have to admit that I don’t really care about the security hardening that GrapheneOS does, and so others may have a different view.
Nice. This looks like a start. I sent this to the CalyxOS devs and will send it to the DivestOS dev too. May be they’ll come back with corrections or reasons and I’ll post them here.
A little request for improvement: I don’t think Broadcom PSDS should be marked green, yeah at least it’s not a Google service, but an independent proxy like on GrapheneOS is still better. Consider marking the Broadcom entries under PSDS red or at least yellow.
Also a disclaimer before anyone accuses me: I am not affiliated with Techlore, I’ve never even seen any of his videos (or watch any other Youtube). I just thought this would be a good place to post it as some other places (like r/privacy) don’t allow discussions of custom ROMs.
Thanks. I wish Calyxos to implement one change. MicroG availability for separate work profiles. Like if someone needs MicroG for few specific apps they can install those in one separate profile and rest phone is still completely degoogled. if devestOS can do it, I assume Calyxos can do it too.
From what I know CalyxOS is continuing to explore Work Profile as an app-isolation mechanism, actively. You might yet get your wish, but understand that the CalyxOS team is really 3 to 5 engs or something, and it might not happen right away, or it might. I’d encourage signing up on their Matrix (link) because the lead developer, Chirayu Desai, is pretty active there, and you’ll have their ear.
