Set up your phone

01Choose your PINs

Decide on them before you start. Every PIN on the phone has the same number of digits, six or more, and no two may be the same.

PIN	Needed?	What it does at the lock screen
Everyday	yes	Opens the everyday profile.
Protected space	for the protected space	Opens the protected space.
Duress	optional	Wipes the phone. Comes with a duress password too, for prompts that ask for a password.
Reboot	optional	Restarts the phone at once. Every encryption key leaves memory and every profile needs its PIN again.

Use PINs nobody would guess from the others. Not 111111 and 111112, not your birthday for one and your partner's for the next.
Longer is stronger, but you type the protected space PIN every time you open it, so pick a length you will actually use. Eight digits is a good middle.
Write them down once, on paper, until you know them. A forgotten everyday PIN means resetting the phone, as on any Android phone.

02First setup

The setup wizard runs on first boot, after you have installed the build.

"Protected space?" Choose yes to set up the layout. No gives you a plain phone: one profile, no protected space, nothing kept out of view.
Everyday PIN, then fingerprints if you want them. Fingerprints only ever open the everyday profile.
Protected space PIN, duress PIN and password, and the reboot PIN if you want one. Setup checks that they all differ.
Setup creates the protected space, locks it and finishes in the everyday profile.
Open the protected space once by locking the phone and typing its PIN. Its own short setup runs the first time.

The duress PIN, the reboot PIN and user management now live in the protected space's Settings, under Security. The everyday profile can't see or change them.

03What goes where

The two spaces are separate Android users: separate apps, separate data, separate encryption keys. Nothing installed in one shows up in the other.

	Everyday profile	Protected space
Runs	All the time, like a normal phone	Only while it is on screen. Turning the screen off stops it.
Gets	Notifications, messages, SMS, alarms, background sync	Calls you make. Nothing arrives while it is closed.
Key in memory	From its first unlock until the phone restarts	Only while open. Removed within seconds of leaving.
Good for	Messaging, email, maps, anything that must reach you	Banking, crypto wallets, documents, accounts you open on purpose

A simple rule: if it has to wake you up, it goes in the everyday profile. If you only ever open it deliberately, it can go in the protected space.

One-time codes by SMS arrive in the everyday profile. Incoming SMS goes to the everyday profile only. If a bank in the protected space texts you a code, read it there, then switch. Push approvals from an app in the protected space only arrive while the protected space is open: open it first, then start the action.

04Day to day

Open the protected space: at the lock screen, type its PIN on the same pad. There is no switcher and no second screen.
Leave it: turn the screen off. The phone returns to the everyday profile's lock screen and the protected space stops. Its data stays encrypted until its PIN is typed again.
After a restart: you can open the protected space first, without unlocking the everyday profile.
Camera from the lock screen (double press of the power button) opens the everyday profile's camera in its locked mode, as on any phone.
Lock everything at once: type the reboot PIN, or restart the phone. Both put every profile back to "needs its PIN".

05What works differently

Wrong PINs count for both spaces. The phone can't know which space you meant, so a typo counts against the everyday profile and the protected space alike. After five, both wait a minute before the next try, then longer. The countdown shows on the pad, and the duress PIN still works during it.
The first protected space unlock after a restart counts one wrong try for the everyday profile. The everyday profile's next unlock clears it.
Auto-confirm is off by default: type the PIN and press Enter. You can turn it on in the everyday profile under Settings → Security & privacy → Screen lock; it then applies to every PIN, since they all have the same length.
The protected space is PIN only. No fingerprint, no pattern, no password.
No Android "private space" beside it: one is enough, and two would confuse.
Kept out of view, not hidden. The everyday profile doesn't list the protected space, but storage totals, battery use and anyone who knows this build can tell it exists. Don't rely on it staying secret.

06Settings worth changing

All of these are GrapheneOS features and work as they do there.

Auto-reboot (Settings → Security & privacy → Exploit protection): restarts the phone after it has been locked for a set time, which takes the everyday profile's key out of memory too. Shorter than the default is reasonable, for example 8 hours.
USB-C port (same place): "Charging-only when locked" is the default and the right choice for most people. "Off" if you never use USB data.
Network and Sensors permissions per app: turn network off for apps that don't need it, at install time or later in the app's permissions.
Lock screen notifications: hide sensitive content in the everyday profile, since the lock screen is the one screen anyone can see.

07Updates

Updates come through the built-in System update (Settings → System → System update), signed with our keys. They download and install in the background and take effect at the next restart. Both spaces, their apps, data and PINs stay as they are.

App updates are separate and happen per space: the protected space's apps only update while it is open. Open it now and then, or update its apps by hand.

Next: install apps.