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  • Google Play in main profile 😱

de0u i meant more like nearby sharing and things of that sort. what can i feasibly turn off but have nothing break was my real question!

      [deleted]

      It depends on want you want out of it. It needs network permission for handling push notifications and downloading software. It needs at least storage scopes for security keys.

        [deleted] i meant more like nearby sharing and things of that sort. what can i feasibly turn off but have nothing break was my real question!

        I think the directions indicate that certain things (e.g., using Google's location service instead of satellite GPS) require more permissions.

        I think anything that is turned off will cause some application to stop working. People who want different apps will need to decide which Play Services abilities they are comfortable enabling/disabling. Without a specific list of apps I don't think it's possible to suggest what is truly needed.

            One way I find user profiles make a lot of sense, are for applications that you only need to use very occasionally, and you don't want running at all until you need them.

            Putting an app like this in a separate profile is sort of the equivalent of leaving it disabled in the main profile, and enabling it quickly when needed on those rare occasions, then disabling it again.

            It is also analogous to the "freeze" function in shelter.

            Actually, just a thought, but a feature I would quite like, is a way to keep shortcuts for disabled apps on your home screen, and have them sort of greyed out like work profile apps are when your work profile is turned off.

            And in the same way that, when you tap a work profile app, (while WP is turned off), ii pops up with a message asking if you'd like to turn on work profile. It could pop up with a message asking if you'd like to enable the particular app.

            Then a way to quickly disable the app again could perhaps be to hold down on the app shortcut on your homescreen and there could be a "disable" button there.

            I know this idea is probably way more work than is worth it for the GOS team to be thinking about when they have so much more important things to be working on, but thought I would just have a ramble.

            At the moment, I am more than happy with using separate profiles for this, or using the Settings shortcut "App info" to quickly get to apps that I want to enable/disable.

            Also I am so happy the GOS team has added things like sandboxed Play Store/Services and now Android Auto support as I have now finally managed to convince multiple family members to move to Graphene who would never have done so otherwise

            • [deleted]

            • Post #40

            de0u okay that makes sense. i appreciate it!

              de0u

              Do you need to allow network for all 3 apps? It says you need battery optimization exception for google play services, but doesn't specify network needs.

                  treenutz68 if you want to use Play Services to get notifications working for apps that need it, then you will need to enable network for Play Services. (And it makes sense to enable network for the other 2 apps as well if you are already enabling it for one of them)

                  Edit: sorry, were you talking about location, not notifications?

                      roamer4223

                      No you got it, I was talking about notifications. So it sounds like you should enable network for all 3 in that case?

                          • [deleted]

                          • Post #45

                          roamer4223 but this doesn't mean i have to login to a google account correct?

                              [deleted] no, you only need to log in if you want to install/update apps with Google Play Store. Notifications will work without logging in

                                  2 months later

                                  To add to this, since no one has mentioned it…

                                  Been using Graphene for about 8 months now and current setup is to have nothing Google on my owner profile, then a 2nd user that has Google play and invasive apps like maps and gmail and what not. Then a 3rd user profile for banking and business apps.

                                  This has been working pretty sweet, except for not being able to use widgets or PWA's in secondary user profiles. Or at least, I'm able to use them, but as soon as I go to the owner profile, the widgets/PWAs disappear from the screen/menus. Having to constantly set them again is a bit annoying, and not very usable. This is an AOSP bug, and won't be fixed anytime soon, as it's been there for years and probably not a priority for google as these use-cases are pretty niche.

                                  So now considering switching my operations to make the owner profile my daily driver, with the widgets and PWAs I like to use, so that they will stay put whenever I switch profiles. Still considering if I need google stuff on the main profile, but I'll probably test doing without and keep the 2nd user profile with the invasive apps. Apart from privacy advantages, it's also a good way of not being distracted by the bullshit apps too much.

                                  I installed some apps (Fdroid, aurora store, proton VPN, Bitwarden) in owner profile which I share out to my main daily driver profile (no google) and banking profile (google installed)

                                  The banking profile ends session as soon as I switch out. I use NextDNS and its crazy how many calls I see to google once I switch to google enabled profile. As soon as that session ends, all calls to google stop. Pretty cool.
                                  A bit annoying yes to switch back and forth to bank.
                                  What I do notice is I tend to miss system updates by not using the owner profile much

                                  I'll switch over once a month or so, and will sometimes notice a system update notification from a couple of weeks prior.

                                  Other than that, been quite happy with GOS on a Pixel 7. Almost a year now

                                    Frostily7047 What I do notice is I tend to miss system updates by not using the owner profile much

                                    I'll switch over once a month or so, and will sometimes notice a system update notification from a couple of weeks prior.

                                    If you have Send notifications to current user turned on for the Owner profile, you shouldn't be missing system updates.