Supported phones
OBSIDIAN is built for Google Pixel phones, one model at a time. Every build listed here can be downloaded and installed today. Only the Pixel 8 has been installed on the real phone and used by us, so the others say so plainly: they are finished builds looking for testers, not phones we can promise for yet.
Five phones, and every one of them can be installed today.
Built, installed and used on the real phone. This is the phone to buy if you want OBSIDIAN today. Google supports it with firmware and security updates until October 2030, and it has memory tagging, which OBSIDIAN switches on.
The newest phone OBSIDIAN runs on, built and checked the same way, and waiting for someone to run it on a real Pixel 10. It has memory tagging, and Google supports it until August 2032, which is the longest of any phone here.
Built, and the whole install proved step by step against a stand in for the phone, but not yet installed on a real Pixel 9. You can download and install it today, and we would like to hear how it goes. Google supports this phone until August 2031, and it has memory tagging.
Built and checked the same way, and also waiting for someone to run it on a real Pixel 7. Worth knowing before you do: no memory tagging in its processor, and Google's updates stop in October 2027, which is when OBSIDIAN would stop being able to keep it fully secure.
Built and checked the same way, and waiting for a real Pixel 6 to run it. Read this before you plan around it: Google's updates for the Pixel 6 stop in October 2026, which is this month, and it has no memory tagging. After that date the firmware underneath OBSIDIAN stops being fixed, so this one is for trying OBSIDIAN on a phone you already own, not for buying one to rely on.
All of these are test builds, signed with test keys. Try it means the build is finished and its install has been checked end to end, but nobody has yet run it on that phone in the real world, so treat it as a test rather than a phone to depend on. If OBSIDIAN has no build for the phone you connect, the installer says so and changes nothing on it.
Open Settings, then About phone. The model should read Pixel 6, Pixel 7, Pixel 8, Pixel 9 or Pixel 10 with nothing after it. The Pro, a and Fold versions look similar but are different phones inside, and each would need its own build and its own testing.
Connect it to Wi-Fi, then tap Build number seven times in About phone. In Settings, System, Developer options, the OEM unlocking switch has to turn on. If it stays grey once the phone has been online, it is locked to a mobile network and cannot take OBSIDIAN.
Make sure the phone has been reset and removed from the previous owner's Google account, and ask to see the OEM unlocking switch on before you pay. A phone still tied to someone else's account cannot get far enough into its settings to be unlocked.
A private phone is only as strong as the hardware under it. These are the reasons, in plain terms.
Most phones either refuse a different operating system or can never be locked again once one is installed. Pixels accept another key, so after installing, the bootloader can be locked and the phone will refuse anything not signed with that key.
The Titan M2 chip holds the keys that protect your data and limits how quickly a PIN can be guessed, so a stolen phone cannot be opened by trying every number in turn.
The Pixel 8 generation was the first with processors that can tag memory, which stops a large family of attacks that work by corrupting it. OBSIDIAN has it switched on, for the operating system and for Obsidian Chat. The Pixel 7 and Pixel 6 cannot do this, which is the main reason they are the weaker choices.
When a Pixel runs an operating system other than Google's, it shows the full fingerprint of the key it started with. Once release keys exist we will publish ours, so you can compare the two and know the phone is running what we released.
Google provides firmware and security updates until August 2032 for the Pixel 10, August 2031 for the Pixel 9 and October 2030 for the Pixel 8. OBSIDIAN depends on those, so that is also how long each phone can be kept fully secure. For the Pixel 7 that date is October 2027, and for the Pixel 6 it is October 2026, which is why the newer phones are the ones worth buying.
Close relatives with different hardware inside, such as the Pixel 8 Pro and the Pixel 8a. Each needs its own build and its own testing, and none has been done.
More may follow. None appears on this page until OBSIDIAN has actually been built for it and the install checked from end to end.
Not planned. The reasons above are the standard, and most phones do not meet it.
The install page covers what you need, each step, and how to go back to normal Android if you change your mind. The downloads page has every release with its checksum.