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What's it like for apps that don't like rooted phones? I remember in the past, stuff like banking apps and some streaming ones refused to work on rooted stuff.
aggi-
Haven't yet found an app that doesn't work, except for a single one that was documented in advance.
Not working:
- Google Pay, as Google will not approve in their allowlist a pure OSS Android for Pay, and whilst Graphene could trivially lie and masquerade as another device for Google Pay they will not do so out of principle.
Working:
- Wallet, but only for passes, vouchers, coupons, flights, etc... and not Pay
- Barclaycard
- Amex
- Monzo
- Carta
- Starling
- PayPal
- Wise
those are just the ones I've installed... I set up the new device whilst having the old device (a Pixel 6) next to me... if I'd found anything that didn't work and that was important to me, I would've stopped and rolled back, re-installed the Google flavour of Android, and started afresh.
but I've not found a single thing that didn't work, that I didn't already know wouldn't work.
what I knew would not work: Pay, Assistant (and most of the small AI things as a result)... and then contextually, Camera AI that involves networking (which is things like Magic Eraser, and I never used this)
so really my only loss is Google Pay... but I'm 100% happy with this as Google have positioned themselves as a Level 3 transaction provider ( https://www.tidalcommerce.com/learn/what-is-level-3-data ) which means that using Google Pay is providing them with an incredible amount of data on your spending habits, which they can use for marketing as Level 3 provides enough information to fully de-anonymise and associate to marketing profiles. I am, very intentionally, going back to using cards directly and not using a phone as a payment device.
On Google apps, I have installed Gmail (for work), Camera (for the on-device improvements), Photos (without network access for a nice on-device gallery), Maps (as it's still very nice), Calendar (for the nice widget)... so it's not like I have totally de-Googled, but I've put everything in nice sandboxes.
it's only been a few days, but predicted battery life is around 2.5 days, I only have 2 background apps running: Gms Compatibility (provides an abstraction to allow Google apps to think they're on a Google device), and Syncthing.
- Google Pay, as Google will not approve in their allowlist a pure OSS Android for Pay, and whilst Graphene could trivially lie and masquerade as another device for Google Pay they will not do so out of principle.
Velocio
Wasn't difficult, obviously it totally wiped the phone, but installation was entirely via WebUSB, meaning there is a web page to do the installation and you just follow instructions... Instructions are limited to "press these buttons on this order".
You can still install gmail and play store, but now they'll be sandboxed.
Under Graphene I do have the Pixel camera and Google Photos installed, but the sandboxing means I can disable their internet connection per app, they think I'm offline but still work fine... I use SyncThing to autobackup photos directly to my laptop (wherever it is) and NAS (back at home). I have gmail installed too, also for work, but that's also sandboxed, everything is.
Now everything is set up, it's basically a more secure Pixel, a more secure Android, and feels virtually no different. There's a few proprietary features missing, like having the alarm wake by turning the screen on, or the adaptive charging, but the latter of those is addressed in the Graphene FAQ.
I'm essence, less AI, more battery life, more control.