The short answer
GrapheneOS runs on Google Pixel phones and on nothing else. As of 30 September 2026 the project has official production support for every Pixel from the Pixel 6 to the Pixel 10a, including the Fold models and the Pixel Tablet. It recommends buying only the Pixel 8 generation or later. GrapheneOS does not support Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Motorola or any other brand, and it is not a system image you can flash on to whatever phone you own. GrapheneOS has announced a partnership with Motorola for future devices (GrapheneOS, 16 September 2026). The last non-Google device it ever supported was the Samsung Galaxy S4, dropped in 2016: the phone was in the project’s first alpha of August 2015 and gone from the beta of February 2016, when the project left CyanogenMod for a direct Android Open Source Project base and shipped for Nexus devices only.
Supported today
The official list, in the project’s own order: Pixel 10a, Pixel 10 Pro Fold, Pixel 10 Pro XL, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10, Pixel 9a, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9, Pixel 8a, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8, Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet, Pixel 7a, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7, Pixel 6a, Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 6. Pixel 11 support depends on Google’s December 2026 update; our Pixel 11 page lists the project’s statements on it with their dates.
We supply the Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 families with GrapheneOS already installed, configured and updated. The models, their configurations and their support horizons are on the GrapheneOS page.
Recommended: Pixel 8 and later
Two reasons, both the project’s own. First, Google guarantees these phones seven years of updates from launch, against five for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 generations. Second, from the Pixel 8 the phones moved to ARMv9 cores with hardware memory tagging, which GrapheneOS turns on by default for the operating system and for the apps known to be compatible with it, to stop whole classes of memory-corruption exploits rather than one bug at a time; pointer authentication and branch target identification arrived with the same cores. A Pixel 7 runs GrapheneOS today, but it lacks that hardware and its updates end in 2027.
When support ends
GrapheneOS can provide full security updates only while Google still releases firmware, drivers and the other device code for the phone. Once Google stops, the project may publish extended-support releases as harm reduction; they cannot carry full security patches, and the project says not to plan around them. Google’s minimum support end for each supported model, as the project lists it:
| Model | Google’s minimum support ends | Guarantee from launch |
|---|---|---|
| Pixel 10a | March 2033 | 7 years |
| Pixel 10 Pro Fold | October 2032 | 7 years |
| Pixel 10 Pro XL, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 | August 2032 | 7 years |
| Pixel 9a | April 2032 | 7 years |
| Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 | August 2031 | 7 years |
| Pixel 8a | May 2031 | 7 years |
| Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8 | October 2030 | 7 years |
| Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet | June 2028 | 5 years |
| Pixel 7a | May 2028 | 5 years |
| Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7 | October 2027 | 5 years |
| Pixel 6a | July 2027 | 5 years |
| Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6 | October 2026 | 5 years |
Official GrapheneOS updates for a Pixel typically end shortly after that date. A month or several of extra updates sometimes follow, and the project says not to count on them either.
Why only Pixel
The project is explicit that broad device support is contrary to its purpose. In its own words: “for most devices, the hardware and firmware will prevent providing a reasonably secure device, regardless of the work put into device support.” Support for many other phones exists at the source level, and GrapheneOS could be built for them, but building is not the point: without the right hardware underneath, the result would not be the secure device the project sets out to provide.
Its published requirements for any future device include, among others:
- official support for installing another operating system with the full hardware security functionality intact;
- complete monthly Android security patches for the device code, without regular delays of more than a week, for at least five years from launch (Pixels now give seven);
- verified boot with rollback protection for both the firmware and the operating system, and the verified boot key fingerprint shown as a full hash;
- a secure element that provides the StrongBox keystore, hardware key attestation and throttled derivation of the disk encryption key;
- hardware memory tagging and hardware-assisted control-flow integrity;
- radios, the graphics processor, storage, and the media and image processors isolated from the main processor;
- A/B updates of firmware and system with automatic rollback when the first boot fails;
- the ability to switch off USB data, and USB as a whole, in the USB controller;
- no JTAG or serial debugging reachable while the device is locked.
Today only Pixel phones meet the whole list, and the project states that the Pixel 8 through the Pixel 10a meet or exceed it. The project has said it intends to partner with manufacturers on hardware that meets its requirements rather than lower them.
One thing to check before buying elsewhere
A Pixel sold under a carrier contract can be locked so that its bootloader cannot be unlocked, which makes installing GrapheneOS impossible. This is mainly a United States problem, and it is not common elsewhere. A Pixel bought unlocked, as ours are, has no such restriction.
Buy a Pixel with GrapheneOS: models
Sources
GrapheneOS documentation
- GrapheneOS FAQ, the sections “Which devices are supported?”, “Which devices are recommended?”, “Which devices will be supported in the future?”, “Which devices did GrapheneOS support in the past?” and “How long can GrapheneOS support my device?”, read 27 September 2026. — grapheneos.org
- GrapheneOS features overview, the section on hardware memory tagging. — grapheneos.org
- GrapheneOS, the history of the project. — grapheneos.org
- GrapheneOS on Mastodon, 6 October 2026: Pixel 11 support after December 2026 if Android 17 QPR2 ships at least minimal MTE firmware support. — grapheneos.social
- GrapheneOS on Mastodon, 29 September 2026: Pixel 11 support once Android 17 QPR2 ships working MTE. — grapheneos.social
- GrapheneOS on Mastodon, 16 September 2026: the Motorola partnership. — grapheneos.social
The Galaxy S4
- Lorenzo Quiroli, “La prima alpha di CopperheadOS, il firmware open-source sicuro”, AndroidWorld, 8 September 2015: the first alpha, built on CyanogenMod 12.1, available for the Galaxy S4 and the Nexus 5 only. — androidworld.it
- Jonathan Corbet, “CopperheadOS: Securing the Android”, LWN, 17 February 2016: the beta of 8 February 2016, built directly on the Android Open Source Project, available for the Nexus 5, 5X and 9 only. — lwn.net
