I found myself yelling at a friend of mine, not long ago, who loves Jesus, is a true servant leader on the front lines of the culture war we are in, and has helped raise millions for companies that claim to be “alternatives to Big Tech.”
It was two friends, actually, on two separate occasions, and this was definitely not the first time this has happened and unfortunately will likely not be the last.
Two truths were and are present at the same time.
First: those on the front lines of the spiritual and cultural war we are in continue to use the tools of the enemy to fight the enemy, and as a result must expend exponentially more resources to fight and win, because they are continuously feeding the very beast system they claim to be fighting against with their communications, data, and attention. No serious warrior would do this in an actual kinetic war… and yet these warriors are doing this daily, feeding themselves all sorts of excuses as to why they can’t and won’t make the switch.
Second: most of these same people legitimately do not understand how any of the tech they rely on every day actually works and, as such, have serious fears about how a migration would even be possible, and whether it would drastically change their productivity and the outcomes they are working to achieve.
The fears and excuses we hear mostly fall within four categories. I want to address each one directly, keeping in mind these are specifically coming from those who already acknowledge the problem and yet remain stagnant in addressing the problem.
1) “I’m not tech savvy and I barely understand how my existing device works… this seems like it will be too difficult.”
Fair. Your current “smart” device was in fact designed to be confusing on purpose. Not the hardware, the software. Every update, every permission dialog, every buried setting, every terms of service update is engineered to keep you dependent and disengaged. Apple, Google and Microsoft need you confused. Confused people don’t ask questions. They just comply.
GrapheneOS, the operating system in our Ghost Phones and Ghost Tablets, is not more complicated than what you’re already using. In fact, it’s actually simpler, because it’s not trying to manipulate you into doing things that benefit a corporation at your expense. The apps you actually need are available. The interface is familiar. The difference is who controls it.
When we set up your device, we don’t hand you a manual and wish you luck. We walk you through it with resources you can use both on and offline. Our clients include grandmothers, pastors, and executives who told us the same thing you just did… and within a week, 90% weren’t thinking about the OS at all. They were just using their phone.
Also worth noting is that migrating contacts, pictures, phone and text logs is a process that should not be a massive headache if instructions are followed carefully. In some rare cases, we get customers who lament having spent hours and hours trying to accomplish this task and decided to just give up. The frustration is real, but it didn’t need to be this way.
I’ve also spent hours trying to fix a printer, fix a plumbing issue, car issue, computer issue… you name it… on my own, trying to follow instructions provided online or in a manual or in a video only to spend countless hours driving to/from the hardware store and wanting to smash things.
In every case though, when I took a deep breath and realized the issue was likely not the project itself but ME and that the right tool for the job and/or talking live to someone who’s done what I’m trying to do hundreds of times would likely make things exponentially easier… I picked up the phone and made the call or sent the email and eventually got the job done quickly and relatively painlessly.
To this end, transitioning to a new device should not be a frustrating all day event, even if you have 1,000s of contacts and photos.
Although we are a small team and do not have an instant response phone line, especially on weekends, we do get back to people quickly, live, with humans who speak English, in the USA, and have solved these types of problems hundreds of times for people who can’t seem to get something that should be easy to work right.
When the few people who do have issues actually stop and reach out and don’t start demanding we respond at 9pm on a Saturday night when they’ve decided to start trying to migrate their devices, we are able to get them through the process quickly and relatively painlessly.
Our support options are various and outlined in our Getting Started Guide here:
https://mark37.com/ghost-phone-guide/#14_Support_Training_Options
Hence, the question isn’t whether you can figure it out. You already figured out the iPhone, MacOS, Windows and/or Google Android. You most definitely CAN figure this out, even if it requires a little hand holding.
2) “If your company doesn’t survive, how will my device be supported?”
This one actually tells me that you already understand, even if only intuitively, that the centralized model is fragile. You’re right to think about dependency. Most people don’t.
The thing about GrapheneOS and ZorinOS, specifically, though, is it’s not ours. We didn’t build it. We don’t maintain it. It’s open-source software developed and maintained by an independent team that has nothing to do with MARK37’s balance sheet. If we disappeared tomorrow, your devices would still receive security updates. Still function. Still protect you. Because it was never dependent on us to begin with.
That’s the whole point of open-source infrastructure. It’s not a product you rent from a company. It’s a standard you own.
What MARK37 provides you is deployment, configuration, training, and ongoing support. We are the Geek Squad layer and, yes, if we ever shut our doors, you’d need to find another technician who understands the stack. Just like if your mechanic retired, you’d find a new mechanic. The car still runs.
There are also now millions of people using these tools with more and more on-boarding every day. A simple search for GrapheneOS or Linux or ZorinOS will produce for you a mountain of video and written content from others now using these tools. We simply happened to be in front of this wave, years ago.
3) “I’m too dependent on certain apps.”
Name them. Seriously. Literally, write them down right now. Because over the past year of this work, things have evolved such that I have yet to encounter a legitimate productivity need that couldn’t be solved inside a sovereign tech stack. Not once.
What I have encountered, repeatedly, is people who conflate the app with the function.
You don’t need Gmail. You need email.
You don’t need Google Maps. You need navigation.
You don’t need the Amazon app. You need to order something.
You don’t need the bank app. You need to access your account information.
You don’t need Microsoft or Google’s VPN/2FA app. You simply need a VPN or 2FA app.
These are not the same thing, and the distinction matters enormously because the app is where they collect you.
Some transitions require a workaround. A few require a behavior change. Almost none require you to abandon a capability entirely.
What I’d ask you to sit with is this: the apps you’re “too dependent on” are the apps that are most dependent on you. Your attention. Your location. Your contacts. Your search history. Your voice. Every day you stay is a day you’re paying a tax you never agreed to, in a currency you don’t realize you’re spending.
4) “It’s too expensive. I can’t afford a new device right now.”
Budget constraints are real. But let’s be precise about what we’re actually comparing.
A Ghost Phone starts at $425. A new iPhone 16 starts at $799. A Samsung Galaxy S25 is $799. You are not being asked to spend more than you were already going to spend on a device. You’re being asked to redirect that spend toward something that doesn’t surveil you.
If you already have a Pixel device sitting in a drawer, if it’s OEM unlockable, you or we can flash it for a fraction of that cost. If your current device is truly at end of life, the upgrade math almost always works in your favor when you account for what you’re actually getting.
And then there’s the longer calculation and question re: What is your data worth? Not philosophically but practically. Your location history, purchasing behavior, political associations, health queries, communications… that profile is being built, packaged, and sold continuously. You’re not a customer of these platforms. You’re the product. The price of your Ghost Phone or Laptop isn’t a cost. It’s an exit fee.
Some people genuinely can’t pay it right now. That’s real, and I respect it. But most people who say they can’t afford it are spending $14.99 a month on streaming services they barely use and upgrading their phones on a two-year carrier cycle they’ve never questioned.
The money is almost always there. The priority isn’t. That’s the honest answer.
I get passionate when talking to people about these things because I understand the stakes and the true costs involved when those who are fighting for just causes continue to use the tools of the enemy to fight the enemy.
They make it MORE difficult for themselves and those of us who are actually doing something about it, while actually fighting the same enemy.
We are called to be salt and light. And when our leadership ignores one of the most important battlefields of this war – the digital one – they don’t just fail to help. They actively fund the opposition.
Every iMessage sent. Every Google search run. Every dollar spent inside the Apple or Google ecosystem by someone who knows better is a tithe paid to the beast system they’re preaching against from the stage on Saturday and Sunday or in the conference room, or in the boardroom or in their social media feed.
I don’t say that to shame anyone. I say it because I believe most of them would stop immediately if they truly understood the mechanics of what they’re participating in. I say it because we literally feel and see the effects of these decisions every single day through the work we are trying to do.
That’s why MARK37 exists though. Not just to sell devices. To close the gap between conviction and action for people who already know something is wrong but haven’t yet had someone sit down with them and show them the way out.
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably one of those people. You already sense it. The excuses above probably sound familiar because you’ve said one or more of them yourself.
If you know someone who you think would benefit from reading this, please do not hesitate to share this article with them.
The door is open. We’ll walk you through it.
No. More. Excuses.