CopperheadOS is now GrapheneOS

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CopperheadOS was renamed to GrapheneOS in 2019. It was temporarily known as the - Android Hardening project in 2018 before a permanent name had been chosen. For more - details on why the project was renamed, see our history page. - For the historical release notes of the original CopperheadOS, see - our legacy changelog page. The - /r/CopperheadOS subreddit was - historically the central hub of the community along with a bridged IRC/Matrix channel - that's no longer available.

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GrapheneOS is the continuation of the original open source project by the original - development team. Our source code repositories have been used - since CopperheadOS transitioned to being directly based on the Android Open Source - Project in 2015. The prior repositories predate the CopperheadOS branding and were - also owned by us. It can be confirmed that our repositories are the original ones from - the GitHub network graphs showing the forks over the years.

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Ownership

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We own the historical CopperheadOS source code, documentation and accounts tied - to the open source project. Our legacy Twitter account still needs to be returned - to us so that it can be renamed and made into an archive.

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Copperhead has no valid claim over the ownership of the source code. It was not - developed for them. They were involved as a sponsor for the work and had - permission to sell products based on it, similar to companies selling devices with - GrapheneOS. We've learned a lot of lessons from what happened and are being very - careful to avoid being strongly associated with any particular company in the - future.

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New closed source product reusing the legacy branding

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The new product branded as CopperheadOS is closed source and not associated with - the original project. They took our project's previous name and copied our legacy - source code and documentation. Attribution to us has been stripped away and they - pretend to be the ones who created it.

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They've essentially stolen the identity of our open source project and have - invested substantial resources into misrepresenting GrapheneOS as being a new - project. They've built a business based on taking credit for research and - development not done by them. Substantial damage has been done to GrapheneOS - through an organized campaign of misinformation and harassment.

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New CopperheadOS vs. GrapheneOS

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The new CopperheadOS is a shadow of the historical GrapheneOS code. They've - continued copying portions of our newer generation code but haven't developed any - significant privacy or security improvements on their own. It's a poor imitation - of the original. It has a fraction of the privacy and security improvements and - lacks a team with an understanding of how they work. It often doesn't receive - timely security updates. It has made serious mistakes compromising user privacy - and security.

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CopperheadOS is a paid product and has license enforcement compromising user - privacy and security through tracking devices to implement DRM. They use the - outrageous business model of charging users for security updates rather than - simply selling them the software or devices with it.

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GrapheneOS devices can be purchased from a bunch of different companies, - organizations and individuals. Many of these offer customer support. Unlike - CopperheadOS, it's still open source software and you aren't being charged to - simply get the OS updates. Anyone can sell devices with GrapheneOS without - permission from the project due the open source licensing. Many of these sellers - voluntarily contribute back to the project.

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GrapheneOS is far more actively developed than the new CopperheadOS and has - substantially more resources available, including significantly more funding.