GhostNet Wraith - GrapheneOS Pre-Installed

Your phone knows where you sleep, who you speak to, what you look at when you can't sleep, and how long you stood outside a particular building last Tuesday. Not because anything went wrong. Because that is the ordinary, documented behaviour of a modern smartphone, on both Android and iOS.

Most people know roughly this and accept it. Not out of indifference, but because the alternative involves flashing a different operating system onto a phone you have just paid for, with a real chance of getting it wrong.

The Wraith is that job already done. It arrives running GrapheneOS, encrypted, hardened, and configured, with no Google account and nothing reporting back. You turn it on and use it.

Let's deal with refurbished up front

The Wraith is built on a refurbished Google Pixel 9. That is a deliberate choice rather than a compromise, for two reasons.

The first is that GrapheneOS only officially supports Pixel hardware, because of the dedicated security chip and the verified boot implementation. Other Android handsets do not match it. This is not a case of picking a phone we liked, it is the hardware the operating system requires.

The second is that a Pixel 9 receives security updates until at least August 2031, seven years from its release, which is the longest support window of any Android device. A device bought today has years of patched life ahead of it, and buying a perfectly good handset second-hand rather than manufacturing a new one is the less wasteful way to get there.

Each unit is professionally refurbished to the standard you would expect from a reputable refurbisher: full functional diagnostics across screen, touch, biometrics, cameras, microphone, speakers, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, buttons, ports and sensors, a clean IMEI, and healthy battery capacity. Cosmetic condition and exact battery figures vary slightly between units, so if you would like the specifics for the device you would be sent, email us and we will tell you before you commit.

What GrapheneOS actually does

GrapheneOS is a privacy and security focused Android built on the Android Open Source Project. It strips out Google's data collection layer and replaces it with a hardened system.

• No Google Play Services running by default. Nothing phoning home in the background, no account required to use the phone.
• Hardened memory allocator and kernel. Makes whole classes of exploit considerably harder to pull off.
• Per-app network and sensor permissions. You can deny an app internet access entirely, which stock Android will not let you do.
• Verified boot. The operating system cannot be tampered with without you knowing.
• Full disk encryption from first boot. Lost or stolen, it is glass and metal.

What you give up

This is the section most sellers leave out, and it is the reason people regret this kind of purchase. Read it before you buy.

• Contactless payments do not work. Google Pay requires system-level integration that GrapheneOS does not provide. If you tap your phone to pay, you will need to go back to a card.
• Some banking apps refuse to run. A number of banks check for a stock operating system and will not start on GrapheneOS. Many work perfectly well. Which is which changes over time, so tell us the banks you use before ordering and we will give you a straight answer.
• Some apps need sandboxed Google Play. We can install it for you, and it runs contained rather than with system privileges, so you keep most of the benefit. But it is a compromise, and it is worth knowing you are making it.
• A handful of Google features are gone. Assistant, some smartwatch pairing, and a few conveniences that depend on the Google layer you are deliberately removing.

If contactless payment or a specific banking app is essential to your day, this is probably not the right phone for you, and we would rather tell you that now than process a return.

If you already know GrapheneOS

Then you know it is free, and that you could flash it yourself in an afternoon. What you are paying for here is sourcing and verifying the hardware, the install and hardening done properly, sandboxed Play configured if you want it, app compatibility checked against your actual requirements before dispatch, and somebody to email when something behaves oddly. If none of that is worth it to you, install it yourself with our blessing. The project deserves the users.

This suits you if

• You want a privacy-focused phone without configuring it yourself
• You are uneasy about how much your handset reports to its manufacturer
• You travel often or handle information that is not only yours
• You have looked at GrapheneOS before and found the install process off-putting
• You want hardware-level security without losing everyday usability

Specification

• Device: Google Pixel 9, refurbished
• Operating system: GrapheneOS, latest stable release
• Security updates: until at least August 2031
• Encryption: full disk encryption active from first boot
• Google Play: not installed by default, sandboxed Play available on request at no extra cost
• Configured by: GhostNet Solutions
• Dispatch: within 5 working days

Warranty, returns and support

12-month warranty on the device, in addition to your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which are not affected by anything on this page.

30-day returns where the device is unopened or in as-new condition. If it has been used, we may deduct for any reduction in value, and if it has been reset or had its operating system replaced we may deduct the cost of restoring it.

Email support, answered within one working day. Before you order, tell us which apps and banks matter to you and we will check compatibility. After it arrives, email us if anything is behaving strangely.

Pair it with the courses

The Wraith is the hardware. Using it well is a separate skill, and the GhostNet Cyber Fundamentals series covers it. Start with Course 01, The Digital Privacy Blueprint, or take Privacy Foundations, the five-course bundle, for £50.

Sources

We only use claims we can attribute. Here are the ones on this page, so you can check them rather than take our word for it. On a purchase at this price you should.

• Security updates until at least August 2031: Google's published update commitment for the Pixel 9 series, which is seven years from its August 2024 release. Listed on the Google Store and in Google's Pixel update policy.
• What GrapheneOS does and does not provide, including the hardened memory allocator, per-app network permissions, verified boot and the Pixel-only hardware requirement: the GrapheneOS project's own documentation at grapheneos.org. It is an independent open source project and is not affiliated with us.
• Your statutory rights: Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

How we source and check every figure on this site, including the ones we removed from our own material: Where Our Figures Come From.