Howdy folks, I’ve been working on getting more privacy, and I want my phone to be next. I just wish that the pixels and fairphones were cheaper, especially the fair phone. I know grapheneOS can be considered one of the more secure builds, but are there other more budget friendly devices known stateside that can run alt OSs?

☞ https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/

https://github.com/zenfyrdev/bootloader-unlock-wall-of-shame/tree/main/brands

There's the PinePhone and Pinephone Pro.

Other than that, there's LineageOS supported phones

Ooh that GitHub is solid, didn’t realize nothing phones allowed that bootloader unlock, but damn it doesn’t have the newer ones on there for lineage support. I appreciate this!

Oh shit I forgot the pinephone, that’s still such a cool device! Thank you for the suggestion!

Only reason I didn't go Nothing, was no IR Blaster. Now I realize it didn't matter cuz FOSS support for it sucks lol. Spoiled with my other built in stuff

The answer is to get a used Pixel. With a bit of looking around you may be able to find some pretty good deals. The Pixel 8a is the sweetspot is my opinion. OEM minimum support until May 2031 and old enough to find at a very good price. But not that old for its battery to very likely be busted.