Automod on reddit recommended I post here as well 🙂

Hi all, I'm new to GrapheneOS on the Pixel 9 and it's great so far. There's a bit of a learning curve, but all in all, it's not bad.

I'm not big on customization - the most of my "flow" comes from my home launcher, which is easy enough to configure how I need it. I miss being able to just touch the in-screen fingerprint reader to wake + unlock my phone all at once, but that's easy enough to get used to... and there are some other quirks that I'm happy to work around.

But, one thing stands out like a sore thumb: the status bar.

Is there any way to make some apps always full screen, and/or make the status bar smaller? The status bar is twice as tall as it needs to be. I know the front-facing camera is pretty far down on this phone, but the status bar extends past it, likely for aesthetic reasons. I have small hands, I'm not complaining - that means less reaching with my thumbs. But, while a little ridiculous in portrait mode (though something I can get used to with time), it's egregious in landscape since most apps just give up on that space entirely.

I keep finding myself wishing I had gone with another OS entirely because of this status bar issue. I know that seems a little extreme - and don't get me wrong, I know I made the right choice - but the "Aspect Ratio" setting being removed from GrapheneOS feels kind of unnecessary. I tried accessing it using apps like Hidden Settings (since it shows up when searching) though they just cause the Settings app to do nothing but force-close.

Ultimately, I think my questions here are:

Is there any way to reactivate/reinstall the Aspect Ratio setting?
Is it possible to disable/remove the black overlay created by the "Display cutout" setting in Developer Options? I found that setting it to "Narrow cutout" is great, I lose a little bit of the screen behind the camera cutout but nothing crazy... though the black overlay is of course a nuisance.
Would it be insane to root the device just to get a fix in place, then un-root? Is that even possible?

Sorry if this all seems absurd. I really am flexible, but the status bar of all things is driving me absolutely crazy. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know I can submit bugs/issues/etc on Github, and I'll gladly do that if needed, but I'm sure the devs have lots on their plate and this sort of thing likely wouldn't be worth their time. Thanks in advance!