Back to Graphene? (2022 vs 2020)

calyxrefugee

So I used to run GrapheneOS on the 3A, but found the usability just too much of a sacrifice. I switched to CalyxOS and was very happy.

It was time to update, so U bought a 6a, and was read to reinstall calyxOS, but just as I was ready, I heard someone argue that Graphene was more user friendly because of sandboxing. and user profiles.... Now I have no idea what that means, and im trying to fill myself in, but that was a suprise to me.

I always thought the pravacy landscape was, get Graphene if you want the best security, get Calyx if you want to sacrifice some security for being able to use apps that need google play.

Now Im hearing Graphene is even more user friendly than Calyx? Ive looked around, but I cant find someone who talks about what the 2022 Graphene user experience is vs the 2020 one, or vs Calyx.

What am I in for if I decide to switch? Would I still be able to use google maps without it tracking me when im not using it?
One app I never was able to get to work was Drakdoo, because the app had a subscription service that you had to use Google Play to pay for. Could I use that..... not something I need, but I would be impressed if you could.

OH!
One more thing I really want to be able to do that I cant on CalyxOS.

I want to use the google transcription service. If I could have an sandboxed userprofile where I could do voice journals that could be later transcribed and also speech to text, that would be supurb.

Hulk

calyxrefugee Welteam
Google Recorder is a great speech-to-text app and it works well on GrapheneOS.

Drbeast

Dude you're in for a treat. I went the same path, grapheneos, looked around , tried calyx, didn't like the fact that my personal data is being scrapped up by the Germans, and decided to go back to google.

Bought a p6p, had a ton of issues with stock, tried grapheneos, installed the play store services, and now I'm not looking back.

It's plug and play and I can poke holes willingly into the iron tight wall that is GOS whereas calyx is just lolwtfbbq tier.

Just open up the "apps" app and install all 3 Google files. Any comparability issues and the settings for each app fixes it.

Solid project and solid devs.

BHydden

I think overwhelmingly basically everything works on GOS except a few exceptions such as g pay because it depends on being on a google white list that we're not yet on... other than that and a couple other things almost everything runs as good or better than stock

Welteam

Ok so the first thing you should do to clear things up is go to the website and read the "Features" and "Usage" pages. There are so many information you will want. If you end up installing GOS (and I'm pretty sure you will), you'll want to read the FAQ page too. Most if not all of what I wrote below can be found there.
Now to answer your questions, Google Play features are split up in 3 apps that you can install on GrapheneOS. Understand that, unlike in Calyx with their MicroG approach, these three apps aren't custom software ; these apps are the official google apps that any stock distribution install and run. The difference (an why we call it "sandboxed") is that instead of baking it into the OS with privileged access like it is done everywhere else, there is a compatibility layer allowing them to run as normal apps without crashing. This allows users to choose whether to install them or not and use the same permissions you already use with other apps to choose what they can access.

What are these three apps and the usability implications ?

Google Services Framework : as the name implied, this app is just a framework and does nothing on it's own. It's sort of a way for google to centralize code shared across apps. This has no privacy implication and this is the only app you need to run google maps. So to answer your question, yes you can have google maps on GOS and you don't even need Google Play/Services
Google Play Services : This is what implements most of the Google play features and what people usually refer to when they say an app needs Google Play. Notably, it implements push notifications and location services. By default, you don't need it for location services though because GOS redirects these calls to the OS location service relying on GPS. GP Services doesn't really work without Google Play however because the app needs to be activated and the recommended way is to install Google Play, open it and click on the "Sign in" button (which doesn't sign you in but simply open the sign in page, you can then stop there without signing up with your gmail account). You can then uninstall Google Play if you don't need it. Once again, look up the website for more information on how to make sure everything works properly (like push notifications which have issues out of the box)
Google Play : the actual store. You need the above apps to install it so if you want the full suite just go to the "Apps" app and tap install on google play ; it will then install all three for you. However, remember when I wrote above that GP Services implements most of the features ? Well the remaining ones are implemented in Google Play itself. These are the features related to the store like verifying paid apps, subscriptions and micro payments. So to answer another one of your questions, yes you can use subscription apps if you install Google Play and sign in with an account.

As for speech to text, I don't use it and I don't really know but I believe it's currently impossible. Maybe someone else can comment on this. Text to speech is possible though.
As for techlore, I'm not going to comment further but know that he isn't welcome nor appreciated here.

Max-Zorin

Welteam

Aside from Google Recorder as Hulk mentioned in this thread, you can get Voice to Text to work with G-Board and the Sandboxed Google Services Framework installed. I used the instructions posted in this thread:

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/278-voice-to-text

To do so, I:

Installed the 3 apk packages for Sandboxed Google Services Framework
Initiated the Google Play Store by clicking Sign In (I didn't sign in)
Removed all permissions including network for the 3 packages
I installed G-Board with Aurora Store, removed most permissions except Network, and selected the Faster Voice Typing in settings
Waited a 10 minutes for the language files to download then removed the Network permission

Now I can use voice typing on my phone and it works perfectly.

GiftedAccess

Welteam What is the step what i can change with the aurora store... I mean, where can that fit in, or i am totally in the dark with this? (yet.)

Grkrz

GraphenOS = the best

calyxrefugee

Thank you everybody. Tis is exactly what I was looking for. Ill be installing today.

Is Matrix the same thing as the fediverse? (only heard it spoken of, not spelled)

BHydden

calyxrefugee I've mostly heard fediverse used to refer to mastodon, but I suppose Matrix is also a fediverse since it's another decentralised network. The main client for android is Element but there are many other matrix clients that offer a variety of features.

If Mastodon is trying to replace twitter, I suppose you could say Matrix is trying to replace discord.

Welteam

GiftedAccess Aurora store is just a way to download apps present in the Google Play app store. It's not a replacement for GMS and has nothing to do with everything I described

GiftedAccess

Welteam Ok, noted!