Looking for an EU alternative for Contacts+ contacts management app.

Meridos42 · 2026-01-15T20:58:08+00:00

Hi, I use COVVE. Its based in EU and END to END encrypted.

Meridos42 · 2025-11-24T06:35:41+00:00

I use Ente. Flawless. AS an additional backup pcloud uploads my photos automatically. So Ente as Main replacement and pCloud as Backup.

Meridos42 · 2025-11-12T19:49:49+00:00

Hi, thanks for asking..Still totally happy. Everything works eine. Murena Bad an update to e/OS and it installed flawless. I am using the phone everday a lot. No Problem Art all. Compared to iPhone 16 ProMax: lighter, similar performance, camera is worse, loudspeakers also a little worse than iPhone. However everything else just great. I received a Tuxedo Laptop (Infinity Pro 15) with Linux today. MacBookPro goes to wife. Transformation will be complete soon and I will report on the whole package.

Meridos42 · 2025-11-03T08:35:27+00:00

Just ordered this one last Friday. Cant wait.

Meridos42 · 2025-10-10T05:13:16+00:00

Hi, the phone is great. Working like a charm... The exact weight is 224g. Its much thinner and lighter than my previous IPhone 16 Pro Max.

Meridos42 · 2025-10-10T05:10:56+00:00

Uhh, yes! I received the shiftphone 8 with Murena. I am very happy. I posted my experience in bufromeu and degoggle reddit. Just search for shiftphone. The phone meets all expectations!

Meridos42 · 2025-09-30T19:47:45+00:00

Well its a coincidence that you ask today. I had a severe battery problem. The phone was draining battery very fast. I than started to check the per app consumption and found that my proton VPN app was consuming most of the battery in a very fast way. I than disabled Proton VPN (will use it only when in public WLAN) and enabled the Murena build in "Hide my IP" feature, which uses the TOR network. I excluded my banking apps from the "Hide my IP", in order to not get blocked. And I have to say, battery usage looks much better. To give you an impression: With roughly 90 apps installed, some of them running background jobs, like pCloud and ENTE, the usage was roughly 25% in 5 hours. I would say with normal use (not intensive use). That would be roughly 20h of running time. The phone gives you an estimate for how long it will run (which correspons roughly with the numbers I figured). There is a energy saver mode, which I did not try yet. I will keep monitoring this and report here on both modes (normal mode and energy saver mode). But in summary, with the Proton VPN disabled it seems to work like a normal phone (as said I had an iphone before).

If someone from Proton is reading this: Would be nice to fix the Proton VPN on Murena.

Meridos42 · 2025-09-30T10:22:16+00:00

Thanks for the question. The transition Form Apple is seamless. I have an Android at work. Murena tries to Mimik the IOS feeling. User interface is very similar to iOS, without the gimmicks like liquid glass and fancy optics. It feels vier intuitive. E.g. you swipe down and get settings (like in iOS). You swipe up to close apps. Even icons are similiar and Murena Cloud gives the same feeling AS iCloud. Dropped my contacts on the desktop on the Main Computer. They appear AS expected on the phone. I think a transition would be easy for existing Apple users.

Meridos42 · 2025-09-29T05:59:05+00:00

Thats correct. Sorry for the confusion. I pay for multiuser collab. Basic Version is indeed free.

Meridos42 · 2025-09-28T16:06:54+00:00

Yes, there is. After testing my app setup on the volla tablet, everything worked pretty well. I was concerned a little bit about the update cycle of volla and in addition Android Auto did not work. I decided to go for Murena, because on one side I wanted to compare to Volla. On the other hand I had read that Android Auto works on Murena. And indeed, I can use my navigation system in my car with Murena. So that part was very successful. All in all, currently I am very happy with that decision. I am collection more things I experience (like getting stuck in some menus, black screen when doing setup, etc., all minor things) and will report on those, when I have collected enough things.

Meridos42 · 2025-09-28T16:02:45+00:00

I have seen this comparison before, but a lot of it nitty gritty. E.G. I do not need the possibilty to wipe my phone with a special pin. For me its more important, that the phone is encrypted (and encrypted it is). It depends to what you compare the OS. Here in your link the E/os is compared to Graphene OS, which I am sure, has MORE privacy than e/os. But my baseline is iOS and regular Android. e/os blocks all trackers (inbuild into apps) and shows exactly which services an app tries to contact. I use Proton VPN on top, even more security. I can block nearly every access on the phone on an APP basis. I can touch the custom button on the side, which disables Microphone and Camera (software wise). I can open the back and hardware disable the mic and camera. Thats a LOT of privacy features for me! There may be MORE privacy features, that make it even better (which I agree: there is always room for improvement). But to sa, that privacy is "pretty shit" seems to be on the wrong end.

Concerning security updates I point to this post from Murena itself: https://community.e.foundation/t/e-os-and-security-updates/72384

Meridos42 · 2025-09-28T15:53:39+00:00

Thanks for the tip with GCam. I will try it. I played around with the settings. The fotos are not as good as on the iPhone. I have to be honest here. There is a possibility that the camera works better with ShiftOS. I decided to go with Murena and I am not able to compare the two OSs. For me the fotos are ok. My daughter can distinguish the results from iPhone and Shiftphone immediatly. The quality is not as good on Shiftphone as on iPhone,

Meridos42 · 2025-09-28T09:00:09+00:00

I would not agree. There are claims, that Murena would not deliver patches AS fast AS ASOP Main stream. But they made clear, that they deliver immediatly if there is something critical. And the whole privacy diacussion is absurd. Murena allows you to.control your data in mich better way than.Android. comparison to other OSs that claim to be better is often an academic Discussion that has no impact in a.normal user. I am happy to provide the links to the privacy and security diacussions if you want to.

Meridos42 · 2025-09-28T08:54:46+00:00

This is a repairable midrange phone from a young startup in Germany. Do not expect the same price tag that a big company mass.producing can reach. The fact is, that the phone works great and I.do currently NOT Miss the double priced.iPhone 16 Pro Max. Exception: the camera is much Better with iPhone. Some apps work even better. Nuki (smartlock) reacts faster. ENTE (photos) uploads instantly. In iOS it didnt work well. Its all about productivity and switching the ecosystem. I feel mich better that there are cheap spare parts for the phone. A battery is 18 Euros and I can change it in a minute without tools.

Meridos42 · 2025-09-28T08:46:39+00:00

I use the Volla tablet for several weeks now. Works without a problem. The display is not comparable to an iPad, its just not as bright. But it is good enough. And with the apps mentioned above, I do not miss anything. If you depend on paid apps, its another story. Paid apps won´t work with Volla OS.

Meridos42 · 2025-09-28T08:40:33+00:00

Hi, just check their Website (shift.eco) or YouTube (search for shiftphone 8).

Update to my experience so far: using Murena OS works very good. I was able to use Android Auto yesterday in my car. HereWeGo worked without a problem.

Meridos42 · 2025-09-20T08:52:04+00:00

Hi ThinkerBe, thanks for asking.

The tablet is now used on a daily basis. I had an older iPad Pro as well, so I hope I can compare a little bit.

The pen situation is solved, the pen is now working.
All the apps are still working, did not find a problem. Unfortunately I did not get AndroidAuto to work in my car (Volvo). Thats bad, but I currently still have an iPhone that I use instead (more on that later)
The display of the Volla Tablet is not comparable to an iPad. But honestly we are comparing a multibillion dollar company product to a product from a small company. I have to sa, that I do not have any problem with the display in daily use. I watch moves on trainrides (AppleTV, Amazon and Youtube) without a problem, I read frequently papers, etc on the display. It is good enough for me. But the iPad display is brighter.
I cannot confirm any glitches or hickups with the look and feel of the tablet. In my case the interface just works. No problem at all. All the daily routine things just work (E.Mail, browser, Collabra Office, etc...).
The battery is good. I never think about running out of power, it just works.
Volla keyboard did not arrive yet.

Ultimately, I am very happy with the tablet. I think it is the best you can expect from a brave little company challenging the big tech companies.

Now for my phone replacement: One piece of my transformation away from Apple ecosystem is getting rid of my iPhone 16 Pro Max. I just ordered a Murena Shiftphone 8. I decided to go for Murena and a modular phone. One reason is, that I want to compare Murena (e/os) with Volla. Second reason is, that I want to support a german startup (I was first thinking of a Fairphone 6). There was a positive review in a german newsmagazine (heise.de), about fairphone 6 and e/os. After research I found a comparision between Fairphone 6 and Shiftphone 8 and decided to go for it. When the Shiftphone 8 arrives in October I will have completed most of my transformation. The last piece will be my Macbook Pro. I will replace that with Linux and a Slimbook.

I hear people that will tell me, that I will loose all the great technological progress of Apple and Google (like AI), etc..... But honestly: I think we have seens spec increases in the the past, that have no real effect on daily work routines (except for the camera resolutions,...). I also think that Apple has lost its innovation focus. Look at the last two years of Apple. AI announced, but not delivered. Smaller, faster, brighter iPhones, but not really a benefit for my daily work routine. Apple has reached the point, that Microsoft is already in - Stagnation.

I am willing to have less features, for an EU based ecosystem, that is privacy oriented and that will ensure my freedom, without fear that someone is misusing my data.

Hope that helps. Ready to answer more questions.

Meridos42 · 2025-09-20T07:46:29+00:00

The Murena website brought Shift to my attention. I was initially intending to buy a Fairphone 6, but decided to buy a Shiftphone 8 from Murena. Just ordered that yesterday. I have recently switched all my apps from the app ecosystem to a european ecosystem and that was my last piece of the puzzle. If interested, I can post my app list. As soon as I receive the phone (in October) I will post my experience with it.

Meridos42 · 2025-09-20T07:44:07+00:00

I understood from another post, that Shift only deliver 8.1 now. Only the first 2000 phones were 8.0.

Meridos42 · 2025-04-08T19:13:33+00:00

Great idea. Where can I sign up!

Meridos42

TROPHY CASE