CalyxOS is a custom Android operating system developed by the Calyx Institute – a “tax exempt non-profit organization founded in 2010 and headquartered in New York, USA.” You can find out more about the Calyx Institute on their website.
CalyxOS is the perfect privacy-focused Android OS for most people, as offers a great balance of privacy and functionality. CalyxOS “de-googles” your phone, removing Google’s privacy invading services that run in the background and constantly report your activity to Google but gives you the option of replacing any or all of these services with open-source microG equivalents during setup.
Setup
CalyxOS setup is similar to stock Android but has a few extra features. During setup you will encounter a screen asking if you’d like to install microG:
microG is an open source replacement for the standard Google services. It is much lighter than the original and uses significantly less resources, storage and battery.
If you want your Pixels Perfected device to offer complete privacy, you may want to disable Google Services Compatibility here. However, leaving this option enabled will give your device significantly more flexibility and enable you to run most apps that rely on Google services to function. If this is your first time using a privacy focused OS, we recommend you leave this option enabled in case you run into issues finding replacements for your usual apps.
The other unique aspect of CalyxOS setup is the selection of optional apps you can install:
CalyxOS comes with many open source and privacy focused alternatives for your standard applications. We recommend leaving all of these options checked, unless you are already familiar with the apps and know you won’t use them. They can all be uninstalled at any time later, so there is no need to worry about “bloatware”. Explore the CalyxOS app selection at your leisure and you may find some new favourites!
Note: If you are installing microG, we recommend installing the Aurora Store at this point. The Aurora Store is a replacement for the Google Play Store, with many advantages like the ability to download and install apps without a Google account, spoofing to circumvent region blocking and Exodus Report to view trackers that have been hidden inside apps.
The standard app store for CalyxOS, F-Droid, is filled with FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) apps. While many of these applications rival or even surpass the closed source apps on Google’s Play Store, you may be unable to find suitable alternatives and this is where Aurora Store and microG come in.