Hey
I am planning on putting graphenos (or another os) on my pixel (currently using a pixel 6 but will have a pixel 8 shortly). I have a few questions about using then new os. Mainly are there any apps that don’t work. I use my phone for work being a OTP to logine daily etc is that still possible and reliable. There is one game I play on phone downloaded from the play store is that still possible? Lastly how do updates come can I download an update regularly from phone or do I have to plug into PC each time and know there is an update ready and how would you revert back to Google os if needed.
Sorry if that is a lot I just feel scared to take the “leap” into what is for me unknown. Thanks
I use it on pixel 6a. I have encountered no problems, all apps have worked including games from google play store. Only exception is google wallet.
Edit: updates come over the air
Does Google wallet and maps work in sandboxed pay services environment?
Can you create another work profile besides the one for Google Play services?
Yes, but touchless payments do not work.
I believe so, but someone else confirm (I use just 1 profile).
You can create a lot of different profiles , I am using 3 but I think it is like 8 max or something. My wife is using a GOS phone with all the bad apps she can find and there is never an issue. Maps for sure , wallet I don’t know.
Wallet tap to pay will not work.
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Can you use the play store like normal on gOS or do you have to use the container environment?
You install the Google services and Play store from the gOS Apps application, then use them like normal.
Behind the scenes they run in the sandboxed environment, but to the user it makes no difference.
Awesome, ty.
It will be kept in its own container but I have noticed no significant changes to how play store apps work.
I’ve been using it for years and I think it’s great. Currently on a 6 Pro. It’s true that some apps don’t work without Google Play services, but GrapheneOS has the option to install the google stuff in a sandbox, so you shouldn’t run into any issues if you do that. Personally, I don’t use Play services unless I need to, and use Aurora store for any apps that aren’t on F-Droid.
In any case, you can always revert to stock or try another OS
Edit: as faede has pointed out, it appears that Google Wallet has issues. Also, the usage docs mention issues with banking apps in general, so that’s something to consider
For banking apps, long pressing them to get to settings and enabling exploit protection compatibility mode usually fixes the problem.
Ah good to know! Will try that if I ever run into issues, thanks
Also worth noting there are banking apps and banking apps. The good ones don’t rely that heavy on Google. Those works for me fine , I have one shitty one in a separate profile with playstore on it to get it to work.
In order of question:
- just gPay contactless payments (that I’ve found)
- me too, no issues
- should play just fine with gPlay
- updates are ota just like stock android (once gos is initially installed); they have a restore method that afaik uses the google restore website, I haven’t used it in a while but it does work and is pretty straightforward
(used many, many roms over the years, currently gos for 3.5y)
In addition to GPay contactless, Android Auto will also not work on GrapheneOS.
Never liked Android auto anyway :) was always annoying for me.
Almost all apps work. Some may require you to disable a security feature (native code debugging), specifically banking apps. Others may require you to install the sandboxed google services but you can do that in a separate dedicated profile.
Apps that don’t work:
- Google Pay
As far that I know, that’s it.
Android auto too
And that’s a deal breaker for me
Out of genuine curiosity from someone who has never used it, what are the features of Android Auto that are so good/useful that it alone would determine whether to use a custom ROM or not?
Many car infotainment/navigation systems suck. Android Auto and Apple Car play do not suck (as much), and the bigger car screen is great for maps.
Additionally, some cars will show the nav instructions on the dash, my car shows an arrow of the direction I need to go and the distance until then. Reduces the need to look at the map constantly wondering which turn to take.
For anyone who drives to different places regularly, doesn’t want to buy a dedicated car gps, or pay to update in-car maps - a phone is the way to go.
Ok, then I don’t think that I am missing out on much based on my usage. But I can understand that it can be a pain to rely on some of these built-in systems if you use them a lot.
And why doesn’t it work on custom roms?
It’s very tightly integrated into Google’s services. Why I don’t know, but kill Google and you kill Android Auto.
Android auto needs basically root access and every privilege possible , and is a privacy nightmare. Perhaps it works on other ROMs if you have gapps insyltalled
It did work on Lineageos, but there where a lot of other aspects that where a bit flakey. Lack of auto support is really the reason I didn’t stay with Graphine. I may try Lineage again here now that I’ve figured out some of the new ‘featires’ of Android 14 (adaptive connectivity my ass, kept turning off my cell data to save power) since at least some removal of Google is better than none.
That’s a tough one to lose for sure
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Android Auto is the big one for me that does not work on graphene. If they can find a way to get that to work I’d switch immediately.
I’ve successfully used stuff like Google Maps and even Uber, with sandboxed Play Services.
There is some niche functionality that doesn’t work. For example I use the Sam’s Club app to scan and purchase stuff in the club and that all works fine, but when attempting to use the app to pay for gasoline at their pumps, it gives a connection error.
plexus by techlore tries to crowd source if apps work on degoogled phones. However like others said GrapheneOS has the option to use sandboxes google services. I only had one app that didn’t work at all and it was very niche.
I installed it on a pixel 7a recently, and it was pretty idiot proof. I did manage to slightly bork the install but it was easily unborked. I know there are apps with issues but I haven’t found any. Sandboxed google play allows running google play apps easily, though you must use an account (to my knowledge). If you don’t end up liking it, there is an official Google Android image that you can go back to. I would definitely recommend giving it a try.
Since your comment is recent. Do you know if I do this does it void insurance on the phone if I break it beyond repair. EX drop a weight on it (from experience). I read it voids warrentys but what about insurance? And if you do it to a phone and return/trade in that phone going from p6 to p8 is that acceptable. If you dont know all is well thanks
You flash it back to stock when you trade in.
Sorry, I have no idea.
I couldn’t get coinbase to work, but their webapp is good enough for me. I had to turn on compatibility mode for a couple others.
Why are you using a centralized exchange that pays companies like Chainalysis to analyze your transaction history?
The APP from my local kebab Restaurant it uses googleplay services and i refuse to install even if it is sandboxed
We were considering switching to graphene but apparently there are lots of drama regarding the lead Dev which scared us from the idea
Can you elaborate or do you have a link?
Louis Rossman has a video on it, you can search it on his channel, “Why I deleted GrapheneOS.”
Basically, the lead dev for GrapheneOS started acting erratic and eventually left the project a few months ago handing it off to other devs.
I still use GrapheneOS happily and personally still trust it.
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Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Him stepping down does not really mean shit. He censors every possible opportunity of being questioned by hiding himself behind his Discourse forum, his fellow mods actively silencing people on his behalf (as recent as 12 days ago), and he can just come out under a new sockpuppet name when he thinks the scrutiny will die down.
Trusting him is like trusting an abusive violent partner in a relationship, thinking he/she will not beat you again. He facilitates the use and abuse of anonymity via a lot of sockpuppet trolling, and even officially has ordered people to troll any critics. This is from his Matrix chat. https://i.imgur.com/nhepoMJ.jpg And his fellow mod friend akc3n describe this harassment and trolling as “brand competitor analysis”. https://i.imgur.com/q2OefBw.jpg
Yeah, I wouldn’t use Louis’ video as the only source nor Techlore. Looks to me like the person has autism and/or struggles with mental issues and it reflects on the way they treat people and deal with stuff. That doesn’t necessarily make it better or worse, malicious or whatever. The converstion style is definitely not ‘normal’ and it contains quite some manic behaviour. It’s probably more nuanced. I think the whole story is a bit sad and I like GrapheneOS as a project.
Autism is not an excuse to harm or bully people. It harms other autistic people by making society apathetic towards them.
This “IT security” asshole behaviour is abnormal and a mental illness that has no place in society.
The only issue I’ve had is with games from kakao, they crash after a few minutes of starting. I think the last time I tried it said something abiut modification to the OS. But that’s the only developer I’ve had problems with, the rest of the games I have play without issue.
Also the only downside I see is the tap to pay not working at all, but that’s not graphenOS’ problem, google won’t certificate them.
One app I know does not work without Google Play Services is Lyft. It will just crash.
you can use google play services in a sandbox
Fair. Defeats the point though imo. I havent had play services in ~5 years now.
Considering the drama queen shenanigans of the lead dev and his acolytes, I would prefer using any other AOSP based custom ROM like CalyxOS or LineageOS. GrapheneOS is not worth the risk. Dev has added features in the past that would get a journalist or activist easily killed, like shutter sounds you cannot turn off.
Haven’t tried it but, DivestOS might also be an option.
An excerpt from my exposé of GrapheneOS:
DIVESTOS DEVELOPER BANNING ME ON MICAY’S ORDERS OTHERWISE HE WILL INITIATE A SOCIAL MEDIA HARASSMENT CAMPAIGN AGAINST DIVESTOS
Yes, this happened, and this is my favourite part as far as everything GrapheneOS head/mods have done to date. As dramatic as it sounds, Micay in realtime, in DivestOS’ XMPP chatroom, was accusing me of the typical “harassment ringleader campaign” BS, and ordered DivestOS/Mull developer (these are his aliases) SubZer0Carnage/Tad/SkewedZeppelin that if I was not banned immediately, DivestOS and him would face social media targeted campaign and DivestOS will have to forcibly pull off any borrowed GrapheneOS code. DivestOS developer dusted his hands off me, since he does not like me apparently for liking some closed source software and he benefits off of the crybully. Also, unlike the crybully, I have never harassed or harmed anyone because I have a moral conscience to not be an abusive asshole on internet, so he will face no issues on my end.
Screenshot 1: https://i.imgur.com/Al65uTZ.jpg
Screenshot 2 continuation: https://i.imgur.com/mT8W9pa.jpg
You mean the guy that stepped down in march I believe it was? Shuttersounds was an android thing upstream I assume. GOS is leagues ahead of anything else.
You mean the same guy who has lied over dozens of times over years about various people and groups, calling me a “paid agent sent by Chinese govt to destroy privacy community”, Techlore and CalyxOS evil people, developers of Bromite and Florisboard “neo-nazis” without evidence, Louis Rossmann being “complicit” in a (never proved) attempt to swat him, and so on? You mean this guy? https://old.reddit.com/user/lo________________ol/comments/1314x2x/why_did_i_do_this/
Are we talking about the same guy and project, that I have extensively covered for years now, who crybullies every possible entity that does not worship him? This guy? https://old.reddit.com/r/privatelife/comments/13teoo9/grapheneos_corporate_foss_loving_witch_hunting/ The same person who blackmails people to ban certain people, otherwise he will unleash a faux harassment campaign against them?
You mean the same guy who went to lengths of lying about a swatting attempt, never giving evidence for it in 5 months, and calling everyone asking for evidence complicit in his fake murder attempt, just to garner sympathy and fame for his GrapheneOS project? The same person, whose acolyte pet mod akc3n banned me a couple weeks ago on GrapheneOS sublemmy for asking exactly this, labelling reason as “abuse towards project members”?
This is not what I expect out of a Lemmygrad comrade.
Yea , I kind of just didn’t get into his rantings. GOS is still leagues ahead of anything else. Calyx comes in second. So shutter sound was something so bad you had to install open camera? And is no longer an issue. Just as that troubled troublesome dude. I really don’t give that much thought to stuff that doesn’t involve the actual OS. Rossman also likes the OS , you can have those things separated you know? The only time I had contact with micay was in the matrix chat , were I told him more or less to fuck off with his attitude regarding my questions so no I’m not a fan exactly.
You cannot trust someone who claims he is autistic and uses it as excuse to harm, harass and insult people, and never apologise for any of it. It has been said often by experienced software code writers that trusting the person who writes code is critical (cannot find that paper from 70s or 80s), even more than the code itself.
No idea what is there in GrapheneOS that you praise so much. Sounds like you are a victim of marketing tactics. Almost the entirety of this AOSP fork is cosmetic changes, and the “security” stuff might as well not exist. https://web.archive.org/web/20220605185259/https://old.reddit.com/r/privatelife/comments/v4wkon/i_guess_people_still_havent_forgotten/iba48fc/
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Ah yes, Techlore, CalyxOS, Louis Rossmann, FlorisBoard devs, Bromite devs and many others’ issues are my issues… I think you use GrapheneOS and are a victim of sunkcost fallacy. I know many such victims. You have a gambler mindset and will justify it with every excuse.
Minimising attack surface is doable on basically any decent Android phone, hardened malloc has always been part of Linux kernel (and thus Android), Vanadium is just another fork of Ungoogled Chromium on mobile, similar to Bromite/Mulch and so on.
Trusting him is like trusting an abusive violent partner in a relationship, thinking he/she will not beat you again. Also, he facilitates the use and abuse of anonymity via a lot of sockpuppet trolling, and even officially has ordered people to troll any critics. https://i.imgur.com/nhepoMJ.jpg And his fellow mod friend akc3n describe this harassment and trolling as “brand competitor analysis”. https://i.imgur.com/q2OefBw.jpg
Him stepping down does not really mean shit. He censors every possible opportunity of being questioned by hiding himself behind his Discourse forum, his fellow mods actively silencing people on his behalf (as recent as 12 days ago), and he can just come out under a new sockpuppet name when he thinks the scrutiny will die down (he will have to wait until I die).
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