Hi, I want to discuss default App Experience, Reasoning and some Ideas.

The UX of GrapheneOS is not great. I liked VeronicaExplains take "if you make if so easy to install, please provide at least some way to install apps".

Really, the WebUI installer is great, but afterwards... some experience and thoughts:

Old, seemingly unmaintained apps

I am not sure how maintained those Apps are, as it seems you are putting some work in fixing bugs. But afaik Google abandoned them, so they are years outdated.

SMS/MMS App

Shows an "outdated runtime" warning at the user
apart from that "just works"

Alternatives:

Deku SMS:

Supports AES encrypted SMS (in some regions internet may still be missing and SMS are needed)
is well maintained

Connect You

mix between contacts and SMS. Problem here: no tag support (needed for Contact scopes)
actively maintained, updated UI
one app for 2 things

Simplemobiletools SMS

currently difficult situation, probably soon Fossify
very minimal, based on AOSP afaik
good UI, recently maintained

So while I can understand the take "SMS sucks and should not be seen as secure" (Signal dropped it, another app is deprecated) but better have encryption than have none?

Fossify SMS is probably the best candidate.

Gallery

lacks any editing
looks horrible
is probably also very old?

Alternatives:

Fossify Gallery

forked from AOSP Gallery some time
actively maintained and ZippoApps free
no internet access
editing functionalities, among a lot more

Aves Libre

looks great
many cool features that are not needed
no editing support
actively maintaines
privacy friendly, but internet Access for crash reports on Crashlytics

I suppose the best candidate would be Fossify Gallery then.

Clock

The current one

is blue ?
lacks volume/off button control
has a quicksettings shortcut
works well

Alternatives are complicated, as they are all incomplete it seems

New Clock

has a lot of features
based on AOSP it seems
lacks quicksettings toggle
darkmode, button control, lockscreen overlay,...

Clock You

lacks button control

Simple Clock

hopefully soon Fossify
forked from AOSP afaik, so newer but reliable

Keyboard

In my experience the AOSP keyboard is not good.

very old
no resizing possible
no clipboard actions
no gesture swipe stuff

It can be really okay, but the lack of resizing makes it unusable for me.

Floris Board

great customizability
no autocorrection
internal clipboard that can be isolated, securing clipboard access
thus having two ways to "copy" (system dialog or keyboard button) may be confusing
currently unmaintained

OpenBoard

more minimal
well maintained
fork of AOSP keyboard I think
gesture support (somehow)
multiple layouts
autocorrection with fine grained settings

Simple Keyboard

possible Fossify
havent tested it, probably AOSP fork

So while I love the security and privacy of Floriaboards internal clipboard, it may be confusing, bloated and is currently unmaintained. I think OpenBoard would be a great alternative that does an actually good job.

PDF Viewer

I know about the debates with the hardening in the viewer.

MJPDF would offer some usability improvements like

search
dark mode
copy text
view links, chapters
fullscreen mode

Telephone / Dialer

It just works and it not outdated. Also it allows many settings otherwise unavailable.

Welefon

very minimal
well maintained
not very neutral

Simple Dialer

maybe soon Fossify
maybe an alternative

So no clear decision here. Maybe Welefon makes sense though.

Calculator

looks pretty bad
simply a calculator

I would just leave it out. Alternatives:

Mint Calculator

conversions but no network permission
looks well

Many more options, but Mint Calculator looks best.

Considerations

I know GrapheneOS is based off AOSP and not LineageOS, but I wonder if projects like LineageOS, DivestOS, /e/OS etc. couldnt collaborate more with GrapheneOS.

They sometimes have their own apps, which may be good alternatives. For some reason no fork of GrapheneOS exists.

I also assume the AOSP Apps are very reliable, minimal and secure. I get that adding "random apps" to the core OS would increase Maintenance.

Also I know that some apps with shitty UX like the file manager are needed for Portal access.

I am wondering though: why have system apps at all? Most apps could run perfectly well as user apps. If they are outdated AOSP apps, why not let users install their own? Giving random apps system privileges may be unwanted.

As the Pixels are often very overpowered with storage, putting apps in the system partition to save that space is not needed.

Something in me would like to use that space anyways, but yeah.