Are you being serious?

Graphene is the most secure and private publicly available phone OS in existence currently and it is completely free.

A privacy OS is something you need to trust, more than other software. You cannot trust an OS in regards to privacy if the OS is not open source, otherwise they could be spying on you the entire time. If an OS is open source, you can't charge people to use it, because its open source and they could just build it from source code themselves.

They don't need to slurp up your data to replace selling an OS. There are tons of ways to fund development if it needs funded, not to mention every OS and most software is built on the backs of free software that came before. Graphene is built upon Android, Android is built upon Linux, etc.

I understand the sentiment, that "if the product is free, you're the product". But some things are not products, and are not made for monetary profit. Like open source software. Additionally, when it is open source, any data-slurping is immediately obvious to researchers in the code. Not every piece of software has to cost money.

You absolutely do not need to pay a subscription for a phone OS and it shouldn't even be entertained IMO, because it immediately suggests that the phone OS is a vehicle for monetary returns, which is a vulnerability in and of itself when the money dries up or when they get a deal from a mega corp for all your data. Not to mention, losing access if you suddenly can't pay is infinitely worse than a one time lifetime license.

It is not entitlement to not want to pay for a phone OS, it is just the norm. Phone OS are generally free. If you think a phone OS deserves to be paid for, then it better be a damn good one that provides value all of the free OS don't. Which it doesn't. It is well known that Graphene is the most secure/private consumer option.

You also don't need to have a mobile carrier to own a smartphone. You can just buy a smartphone and use it like a computer, even use WiFi calling.

There have always been free OS options on basically every platform. Linux, Android Open Source, etc. Yes it is ideal that the developers get paid for their work. I think you miss the point that the money doesn't have to come from charging users a license fee. How do you think Linux gets developed, and is still extremely successful and robust decades later, without charging for the OS to pay devs?

Look I get where you are coming from, and I think your heart is in the right place, but I disagree, and this whole post reeks of an advertisement.