First impressions after 72 hours.

Xarcell

It has actually been longer than 72 hours. I think it has been five days, I'm not sure and I'm too lazy to look it up.

I had trouble setting up GrapheneOs on my Pixel 6, but this fine community helped me through it. It wasn't a problem with GrapheneOs, I suspect it was because my USB connection was lost during setup.

I have used Google Android for several years, perhaps a decade. I was happy with it until I realized all the privacy issues, and how my political views(data) could be used against me.

Now having used GrapheneOs for a few days, I'm NEVER GOING BACK. I'll go phone-less first. I even wished I would have tried GrapheneOs sooner, as I had already been eyeballing it for the past two years.

What I like the most, is how CLEAN it is. It seems like it doesn't have a lot of bloat. It's like a cleaner version of Google Android. Which is what I wanted.

Issues that I've had is I cannot get my banking apps to work. Although, not that big of a deal to me, as I can just login through the browser.

A feature that caught me by surprise is the multiple users. I knew of this beforehand, and thought I wouldn't ever use it, but ended up using a lot. I have a second user account that has Google Play Services, and it is setup like my old Pixel 2. I switch to this user for Google related activities, although don't really use it that much, but helps me transition to moving away from Google as I learn about other app alternatives.

All in all I am really glad I gave it a try. This software is great, the community is great, and it leaps you ahead in keeping your data more private. My family and friends are interested in switching to it, but I want to use it for a few months before helping them do so. I'm also saving for a Pixel Tablet to convert to GrapheneOs.

I feel the furture is uncertain though. I'm being told by others that GrapheneOs is a honeypot. Also, that Google is cracking down legally and making it harder to NOT use their products. I can't go into details about this because I don't understand it.

Anyway... I personally wanted to thank everyone involved with the project. So Thank You!

Aeon

Great to hear you like Graphene :-)

Xarcell Issues that I've had is I cannot get my banking apps to work. Although, not that big of a deal to me, as I can just login through the browser.

Check out
https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/

it is a list of banking Apps on GrapheneOS sorted by country.

secrec

Xarcell I'm being told by others that GrapheneOs is a honeypot.

If somebody is making this claim, I think it would be extremely prudent for you to provide all of the details about it that you possibly can so that it can be investigated.

matchboxbananasynergy

Glad to hear you're enjoying GrapheneOS.

Xarcell Issues that I've had is I cannot get my banking apps to work. Although, not that big of a deal to me, as I can just login through the browser.

You might be able to get them to work depending on why they're not working. Some apps can stop working due to not playing well with the project's hardening, but there are toggles to use for that, namely the exploit protection compatibility mode toggle.

Xarcell I feel the furture is uncertain though. I'm being told by others that GrapheneOs is a honeypot.

There will always be people trying to spread FUD about projects that work. We see it constantly with projects like GrapheneOS, Signal etc. I'm not going to waste everybody's time by reiterating "GrapheneOS is not a honeypot" because if it were and I was in on it, I wouldn't tell you. I will say that it's ridiculous for people to make claims like that without any kind of evidence, though, especially when existing documents prove that GrapheneOS is robust against exploitation in the real world.

Xarcell Also, that Google is cracking down legally and making it harder to NOT use their products. I can't go into details about this because I don't understand it.

Not quite the case. What you may have heard is abut the Play Integrity API which Google is pushing developers towards using. Apps that use the Play Integrity API won't work on alternative OSes. It's an issue that requires regulatory action, ideally, and we're working on it.

other8026

Xarcell I'm being told by others that GrapheneOs is a honeypot.

There are plenty who say this kind of nonsense without backing up their claims. What evidence do they have? I'd bet none because it's completely false.

Xarcell Also, that Google is cracking down legally and making it harder to NOT use their products. I can't go into details about this because I don't understand it.

Besides Play Integrity, I cannot think of any examples of this and GrapheneOS is looking into ways to address this problem. I think you'll find that recent news used flashy headlines that weren't exactly accurate.

Xarcell

Aeon Capital One Mobile is listed, but doesn't work for me, even with Play Services installed.

Dumdum

Xarcell
It says in the notes of that report that exploit compatibility mode needs to be turned on. Did you do that?

lcalamar

Xarcell 100% concur.

After buying my P9P I ran 'stock' for about a week. It was terrible. I'd been on GOS on my P6P for several years and was taking GOS for granted - or perhaps more accurate to say that I had not realized how bad stock android got. My best description is how 'noisy' it was... just constantly shutting off one unnecessary notification after another.

Also - on the banking apps - or any app at all... anytime you CAN use a browser UI instead of an app - you are better off... it really isn't much of an inconvenience and it gives you more peace of mind

I originally started off with separate user profiles much like your setup but over time I found it to be too much hassle for very little if any gain.

Xarcell

lcalamar Yes, on my primary "owner" account, everything is done through the browser. The only apps I have installed are Aruroa, ProtonVPN, and Brave.