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this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
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How would Motorola lock it down? They don't control it in any way.
GrapheneOS is open source, Motorola - just like anyone else - can make changes to it before they install it on their devices.
Like a locked bootloader and bloat.
That's not what "lock it down" means.
What does it mean to you?
Prevent changes. Locking down software project would mean making it closed sourced. Locking down hardware means preventing software/firmware changes.
We meant the same thing then. Nothing prevents Motorola from making changes to GrapheneOS, making it closed source, and blocking software/firmware changes on their phone so that you can't install the open source original.
Any phone manufacturer can do it and they don't need any special deals with GrapheneOS for that. GrapheneOS would definitely not support Motorola making some secret changes to the OS before installing it so this news is the complete opposite of such situation.
I completely agree, I am answering the hypothetical you brought up:
I don't believe they will lock it down, but you asked how could they do that. And the answer is they could easily do that, deals or not. I don't think they will, but there is nothing preventing them from doing so.
Yeah, technically it's possible. Technically they can also hire GrapheneOS guys and make future versions closed source. In the context of this news both things are unlikely though.
Different tense. ~~I wasn't using it in the privacy hardened sense.~~
Just realized it refers to the same thing both ways. GrapheneOS is user-side hardened whereas iOS is producer-side hardened.
Oh snap, I misread it as Motorola bought GrapheneOS! This is way better news than I realized! Thx for the clarification. 🫡
Edit: On reflection can FOSS even be bought since it doesn't have an owner to pay? I'm caught up now.
Yes, you can pay developers to stop publishing new changes. Basically hire the people developing it and stop releasing the code. Community can try to still develop it independently.
At the limit though they'd have to pay every coder with an interest in that software's development and enough time for a hobby. I guess they could target distribution like Codeberg but alternatives would eventually fill their place.
Normally there's a small group of people with expertise doing most of the work. If you poach them and pay them to work full time on the project it will be really hard for the community to compete.