GrapheneOS Pixel exclusivity just officially ended

Back in October, GrapheneOS said it was working with a “major Android OEM” to bring its hardened Android fork beyond Google Pixel phones. At the time, it didn’t say who that partner was, but we finally got the official answer at MWC 2026. Following a recent leak, Motorola has now officially announced a long-term partnership with the GrapheneOS Foundation.

In a post on Motorola News, the company confirmed it’s teaming up with the nonprofit behind GrapheneOS to collaborate on future devices built with GrapheneOS compatibility in mind. The two sides say they’ll work together on research, software improvements, and new security features, though there’s no mention of a specific phone just yet.

This is a fairly big shift for GrapheneOS. Up to now, it has only supported Google Pixel devices, arguing that Pixels were the only phones meeting its security and update standards. That exclusivity is part of why Pixels became popular among privacy-focused users. Motorola becoming the first officially confirmed non-Pixel partner changes that dynamic.

The announcement also ties in with recent speculation. A few days ago, a now-deleted Reddit post shared what appeared to be an internal Motorola slide listing “Graphene OS” under its security offerings. While nothing was confirmed at the time, it pointed pretty clearly in Motorola’s direction, and we obtained the image shared in the Reddit post, as shown above.

Motorola also used its MWC event to introduce a new Moto Secure feature called Private Image Data. When enabled, it strips sensitive metadata such as location information from new photos taken on the device. It’s set to roll out to select Motorola phones in the coming months.

As for GrapheneOS itself, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Motorola hasn’t said which models will support it first, whether it will ship preinstalled or remain an optional install, or when compatible devices will arrive.