Most of us carry a small monitoring device in our pocket that we call a smartphone. If this bothers you, your options have been limited in the past. Buy a Google Pixel, install GrapheneOS, and accept the irony of running a privacy OS on Google hardware.
Motorola just made this calculation a lot easier. At MWC 2026, the company announced a long-term partnership with the GrapheneOS Foundation, making it the first non-Pixel manufacturer to officially support the privacy-protecting operating system.
What is GrapheneOS?
GrapheneOS is a privacy and security focused mobile operating system developed as a non-profit open source project. Think of it like Android but without all the Google Play services. This results in a more private and secure operating system without built-in tracking.
What sets GrapheneOS apart is the level of control it offers users, giving them the ability to choose how much privacy they want and how much data they want to share. You can choose to operate your smartphone completely without Google services. You don’t even need to sign in to a Google account to use it.
As you might expect, this will significantly limit the number of apps you can use on your phone. If you are comfortable with a certain level of privacy, GrapheneOS allows you to install and run the Google Play Store in a sandboxed version. This allows you to manage what permissions you give to Google instead of giving them full access to your device.
Why this partnership is important
Before this partnership between Motorola and GrapheneOS, you could only install this secure operating system on Pixel devices. According to the project developers, GrapheneOS only supports Pixel devices because Pixels are the only phones that meet their exceptionally strict hardware and security requirements.
This means you either had to use an old Pixel device or spend a significant amount of money on a brand new Pixel phone. With Motorola being the first officially confirmed non-Pixel partner, users finally have real alternatives to choose from, and more choice is always a win from a consumer perspective.
Can I install GrapheneOS on my Motorola phone now?
Not yet. The Motorola partnership was announced at the ongoing MWC 2026, and neither company has confirmed which Motorola devices will be supported or whether GrapheneOS will be pre-installed or offered as a manual installation option.
Motorola announced that it will work with the GrapheneOS Foundation to strengthen smartphone security and develop future devices with built-in GrapheneOS compatibility.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see which Motorola devices will support GrapheneOS, and it’s possible that only next-generation models will make the breakthrough.
