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  • Alternatives for apps requiring root plus other features.

So I very much want to go out and buy a pixel just to get Grapheneos as most devices these days are getting more and more locked down and have many other privacy issues.
The only thing stopping me from just doing it is the apps I use and I want to know if there's alternatives for the apps/mods I currently use daily and have for the past few years.
I'll list some apps/things I use and would like to know if there are any alternatives that will work with Grapheneos or if they are features that are or may be supported in the future. You'll notice the main issue here is they use root and afaik Grapheneos won't support root anytime soon which I find odd as I having root on my manjaro or any Linux install for that matter isn't frowned upon and personally I'd rather take a hit on security for more freedom. I did see a grapheneos rom where someone pre rooted it with a magisk patched boot img but haven't looked too much into it.
Anyway here are the apps:

First off AdAway: I use this over others because it directly edits the host file and doesn't have a constant VPN (work around) or service running. It blocks ads within apps and is kinda just there as I hardly notice it also I have a bunch of domains blocked ect.

Call recording: I heavily rely on call recording and this is a must have feature for me. I saw some posts asking about this but the post/op was deleted.

Tasker: I use tasker to automatically toggle WiFi on/off depending on if I'm working/out or not.

Themeing: I'm currently on Android 10 but I'm not familiar with newer versions as I've been out of the loop for a long while now and im not sure what the state of themeeing is on newer versions. currently I theme apps like discord,Twitter, SoundCloud, email, ect using swift installer I am currently on an amoled device and have grown accustomed to pitch black themed apps. I feel like this is probably going to be limited if I move over to Grapheneos.

Fng (fluid navigation gestures):I use this app to hide the navigation bar and replace it with gestures instead. Problem is it needs root to accomplish this.

I also use naptime to force doze in certain situations to save battery and it's something I could live without but I'm curious what the state of battery saving is with graphene is I'd assume right off the bat it's better than stock Android. I also use acc (advanced charging controller) to stop my device from charging with it gets to a certain percentage.

Any help is appreciated and thanks in advance.
I'm assuming the answers are going to be something like Grapheneos is for privacy so it won't support these things but I'd thought I'd ask and see before I either start looking for a better room for my 6t or a good rom on a new phone.

I only have experience relating to your last 3 questions:

For theming/Amoled themed apps, every app I am currently using supports a Amoled/black theme. This includes Bitwarden, the proton suite, Molly-Foss, Neo Store, Aurora Store, QKsms.

Gesture based navigation is a option, no need to root to remove navigation bar.

GrapheneOS includes enhanced permission toggles for apps, including 3 settings under battery: Unrestricted, Optimized, Restricted. I keep the majority of installed apps restricted to conserve battery. I am coming from Ios, and find battery life much better than Iphone 12PM.

    All my phones were rooted until now.
    I bought a Pixel 6a to give a chance to grapheneos.
    You can root it, even if not recommended. I did it for test (I tried to pass safetynet but did not work).
    I'm now back on stock grapheneos non-rooted ROM.
    I give it a chance.
    Regarding AdAway, I enabled Private DNS in network settings: adblock.doh.mullvad.net
    It seems to work.
    Sadly you can forget call recording currently.
    Tasker or Automate should still work without need of root.
    A cool feature of grapheneos is the ability to block network access to any apps, no need to have afwall firewall (root).

    So for my need, private DNS and network restrictions address 80% of the job.
    I still miss call recording and Google pay/wallet.

      Orphee thank you for this.
      So what's the situation regarding call recording?
      I'm really happy that Graphene has an afwall feature built in and probably implemented better too.
      Sounds like the DNS option will work and I like mullvad so it sounds promising I'll need to test the DNS on my current daily driver to see how it compares to my AdAway setup.

        Fireeyeeian Without root/LSPosed, I don't think there is an option for call recording.
        It is up to you to consider root or not. , but it is quite standard as long as you know how to retreive boot.img and patch it with magisk, and play with fastboot.
        I did not try any magisk or lsposed modules for call recording on GOS so I can't confirm it will work, or not.
        I only tried to make safetynet work with magisk module 2.3.1-mod but it failed, probably because of "sandboxed" Google play services.

          italian_job

          From app description :

          MOST PHONES DOES NOT SUPPORT CALL RECORDING. Blame Google or your phone
          manufacturer not me!

          If it fails with high quality sound recording (voice line) this app will switch
          back to the MIC recording, no ads, open-source, GPLv3.

          Edit : As expected, does not work.

          Orphee Currently I have a magisk module that enables call recording. I was actually under the impression that you couldn't root GrapheneOS but I guess I was mistaken.

            Fireeyeeian
            Yes you are, it is just not recommended so not discussed here.
            But perfectly doable the same way you would do it on a Samsung but with fastboot.

            For call recording Josh/Side of Burritos has this installed, can't recommend or support as havent personally used it but something to look into:

            https://cubeacr.app/

              MetropleX I think I got that one for my mother a while back I'll have to have a look at it. I currently use a magisk module to just unlock it in my default dialer app. Thanks for the lead.