Users profiles and Play Store

MrR

Hi, first week using GrapheneOS and have a doubt about how apps in users profiles work.
I have MainUserA with Play Store installed and UserB without play store and GFS.
I install apps from play store on MainUserA and "push" the apps I need to UserB.
What happens to the apps on UserB? They'll automagically update even if there's no app store app installed in that profile? They'll update even if i uninstall the app from MainUserA?
I don't want to install any other app store so I'm trying to understand if I can use multiple users or I have to stick with using only one profile.

Welteam

MrR Apps don't just update themselves, they are updated by the app store that installed them. Moreover, apps are shared across users so updating in one user update the app for all other users. Finally, all apps (including app stores) only see apps installed in their user.
Given these three facts, you can deduct that :

Apps in user B will be updated when you update the same app in user A
You can't update from a given app store if the app isn't installed in the same user

unwat

MrR

You can create a profile just for updating apps if you'd like.

I have many profiles, but since I install some apps from Github rather than F-Droid or some other app store, I have found it easier to keep all the open source apps released via Github in one profile, then update them there. Doing it this way updates the apps for every other user, many of which don't have app stores installed. It's a couple of steps away from automagically updating, but it's still effective.

Edit: a thing I forgot to mention is I copy the apks to a thumb drive and install in other profiles. It's not as clean as using owner to push apps, but it works.

MrR

Welteam

that was quick. thanks.
so the best way would be to find a way to stop the apps on MainUserA but not disabling them (I'm pretty sure disabling an app prevent the app from updating)

Welteam

MrR Sadly there is no way to do that. Why do you want to stop the app in the main user?
You could also do something a bit more convoluted if you really need to: you could create a third user also with google play. When you need an app, install it in owner and push it to both then uninstall said app from owner. That way, you have your app in user B without GPlay and you can update the app from user C as well as freeze the copy by ending the session of user C.

MrR

The main reason I want to remove apps in my primary user is to avoid apps I don't regularly use running in the background and avoid someone (kids occasionally using the phone) to see which apps I installed and accessing them.
Your ideas seems really good I think I'll follow that route.

spiral

unwat
What do you mean by "Doing it this way updates the apps for every other user..."?

"Doing it this way" I take to mean "creating a profile for use with GitHub opensourced apks" but how would that "update the apps for every other user"?

unwat

spiral

Oh. Sorry. I thought Welteam's explanation already covered this, so I just added how I do my app updates. I guess I just made things more confusing.

All apps are installed system-wide on the phone. If you install an app to the phone via one profile, the app is installed system-wide. The only difference is other profiles don't have a "link" to that app.

If I "install" the same app to the phone via two different profiles, there is only one app installed and a "link" to the same app installed is "linked" within the two profiles.

Any time an app is updated from any profile, it updates the app system-wide. That means if User A and User B have the same app, both User A and User B can update the app and that update is applied to both users because they're "linked" to the same app.

In my case, I installed many apps on my phone via my "App Updater" profile, then "installed"/"linked" those same apps in other profiles as needed. When I update apps in the "App Updater" profile, the app is updated system-wide, meaning other profiles with the app "linked"/"installed" will be updated as well.

Hopefully this clears things up.

spiral

unwat
ahhhhhhi I see. Thanks for the fantastic explanation. I did not realize that the app installations worked that way.

telemetry

A related question: if i have 2 user profiles, both with google services, for example one for general play store apps, one for banking.
In the first profile i log in into my google account, now should i also log in into the same account in the second profile? does google even allow that?

unwat

telemetry

You can log in to whatever accounts you'd like. Google won't stop you from logging in to the same account from multiple different profiles on the same phone, nor will they stop you from creating multiple profiles each logged in to its own unique Google account.

telemetry

unwat thank you,
also i was wondering if having multiple profiles running google services have any significant impact on battery life?
feels like it shouldn't since that's what happens by default on stock os...
but having apps like, say, syncthing running on multiple profiles surely would visibly impact battery life, right?

unwat

telemetry

Yes, having multiple apps like that running at the same time will affect battery life. Not sure if it's significant, but it's something.