GrapheneOS: First 24 Hours Checklist

A freshly flashed GrapheneOS phone is not yet a hardened phone. The install is the easy part — the difference between a device that is genuinely locked down and one that merely runs GrapheneOS comes down to what you configure in the first day, before you start reinstalling everything you used to have.

This checklist runs in order and covers the whole sequence: verifying the flash, setting a strong lock screen, deciding where Google Play should live, choosing a browser, working through the radio and network toggles, installing the first apps, doing a permissions pass over everything you installed, and finishing with a functional check.

Two steps cause most of the trouble. The Google Play decision — owner profile, a separate user, or a work profile — is a real trade-off rather than a one-line recommendation, and it is far easier to get right before you have signed into anything. The permission pass is the other one: it is the step most people skip, and it is where GrapheneOS gives you controls stock Android simply does not have.

Work through the list and your progress saves in your browser, so you can close the tab and come back to it. If you would rather have it offline, the same checklist is available as a PDF.

Not flashed yet? Start with the install guide. Wondering what will misbehave once you start using the phone, the app compatibility rundown covers what breaks and why.