The popular Fairphone 4 even without Google apps

Murena, a French-European company, is in the business of removing Google services from Android smartphones, which it does in the name of privacy. Their /e/OS operating system, which is open source and gives users more control over their privacy, does not communicate with Google or other third parties. Instead of the standard Google apps, the system includes its own versions of core apps like the browser, messaging app, and camera. Murena has loaded their system on a variety of new or refurbished devices, including the Fairphone 4 modular phone. Their goal is to ensure that users have more control over potential privacy intrusions, or that the fate of their privacy is always in their own hands.

Murena, which develops the /e/OS operating system, protects users' privacy by not tracking their activities by default, as standard Android does. They claim not to track installed apps or device location. Although they strive to offer an alternative to conventional services - such as Gmail, Google Docs and Microsoft Office - with their cloud solutions, they cannot completely avoid the connection with Google, since most users need access to popular applications for certain tasks. This compromise point is solved by their App Lounge, which allows the use of a Google account to access alternative applications. This store is said to connect to Google's API to download known apps, similar to some third-party stores (Aurora Store, ApkPure...).

When using Google apps on the Fairphone 4, the company recommends using an account that you can easily miss in the future - in case Google decides to block this way of accessing their services. This fact suggests that the Murena operating system at least partially violates Google's terms of use, although the company itself denies this. However, the privacy ratings that appear with certain applications are extremely convenient for a phone with /e/OS. These are assessments of how "safe" the applications you want to install are, or how intensively they encroach on your privacy.

The Fairphone 4 smartphone with the /e/OS Murena operating system is available in a version with six gigabytes of system memory and 128 gigabytes of data storage space. The retail price of this type of device is set at around 600 euros.