Hi,
i am using GrapheneOS happily for some time on my Pixel7a. But there are two things which are bothering me a bit and I'd like to ask if anyone experiences the same and if there's some technical explanation.
I have google play services installed and use following 'app-stores' for 3rd party apps:
- Aurora Store (to omit having a google account for non OSS-apps, especially FCM based apps)
- F-droid / Neo store (for most OSS apps)
- Obtainium
One thing i experience regularly during updates and initial installations of apps is that almost apps install very slowly. I read that this seems to have to do with the 'ahead of time' compilation (AOT) that is enforced in GrapheneOS, but what bothers me even more is that some (but not all) applications installation size is heavily inflated, compared to a LineageOS 14 device i own.
Examples (all latest versions, first value is GrapheneOS installation size, 2nd LinageOS installation [only app without caches of data]):
- Uber (0,93GB vs. 408MB)
- X ( 318 MB vs. 135 MB)
- Wikipedia (84 MB vs. 47 MB)
- WhatsApp (254 MB vs 115 MB)
- Signal (280 vs. 144 MB), Signal-FOSS by TwinHelix repo is similar in size
Apps with low or no 'overhead' on GrapheneOS compared to Lineage:
- VLC (133MB vs. 111 MB)
- TOR Browser (298MB vs. 295MB)
- SimpleX (both 330MB)
What is the reason for that ballooning of the installation size? Also AOT? Is GrapheneOS somehow patching the apps or parts of them?
Thank you for your replies in advance!