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  • General question about the state of Graphene and overall performance

Hey you folks,
I have recently done 'basic' research about Graphene and what it stands for and I think it pretty much perfectly fits my needs. Once my current phone's contract runs out, I plan on buying a Google Pixel 7 Pro (Q1 2023, so I hope releases for that phone will be fully supported by then). From what my research has shown me, Graphene can do everything a "normal" android installation can do, except for Google Pay. There are some Apps that I do need to use that require Google services, but since Graphene can run a sandboxed version of Google Play that shouldn't be much of an issue.
I was wondering if there are any other things in which Graphene lacks behind, such as performance or compability that I should be aware of before diving into this world. I'm an avid Linux user, so if need be I'm not afraid to tinker around with my devices.
I'd appreciate any and all heads up on potential hurdles and hope to properly join the community soon :)

    hannes Graphene lacks behind, such as performance

    from the website:

    [Exec spawning] improves privacy and security at the expense of higher cold start app spawning time and higher initial memory usage. It doesn't impact runtime performance beyond the initial spawning time.

    This is the only "performance" thing I could think of. I use quotes around performance because the phone is still performing well, but I don't think this part matters anymore because it's not noticeable on newer phones.

    hannes compatibility

    Not about compatibility, but could be viewed as such by some people. On Stock or other versions of Android without secure exec spawning, some apps run fine, but when on GOS they crash, which is usually because those apps have some (hopefully unknown to devs) memory issues.

    Other compatibility issues I can think of are: apps that are on Stock but need system access to run (i.e. Android Auto), apps that need to pass Google's crappy safety checks (i.e. Google Wallet's NFC), certain carrier features require proprietary apps/code from Google or carriers to work.

    hannes I'm an avid Linux user, so if need be I'm not afraid to tinker around with my devices.

    I think one of the best things about GrapheneOS, and why so many people use it, is that it works well without needing to tinker with it. So, if you were accepting advice on this, I'd say since you have a Linux machine and an interest in GrapheneOS maybe you could clone the source code from GrapheneOS's Github and tinker there and leave your phone as is. Maybe over time you could contribute some code to the project.

      Fellow avid Linux user here. Aside from my initial installation attempts, I've had no issues with GrapheneOS whatsoever. Performance has been great, and the OS is every bit as stable as stock Android.

      I was unsuccessful with installing GOS using Debian Sid; both the manual installation method and the web installer under Chromium failed for me. I have since used the web installer under Win10/Chrome and via another Android phone (USB-C to USB-C) without any issues at all.

      To anyone who cares about privacy and/or security on their mobile device, you really do owe it to yourself to try GrapheneOS. It's very easy to install, and just as easy to restore stock Android should you choose to.

        6 days later

        mythodical alright thank you so much! Does GrapheneOS come with the same visual eyecandy that Google's android version has? I've seen that it has been fit to make it look perfect with Pixel devices and was wondering whether or not GrapheneOS looks just as great! It wouldn't be a dealbreaker or anything, but would be nice to know as I have no way of testing graphene out before comitting to it! :)

          unwat thanks a lot for the detailed response! I mostly want to use my phone for messaging with WhatsApp (Shame on me! but all my relatives use it so can't really avoid it) and some surfing (the only google-service I actively use is YouTube and I assume that will work in a sandbox just fine?). I'm tempted to get the Pixel 7 Pro, and if the performance is just as fluid as the stock OS (which I tried out in an electronics store) I'll be more than happy with it, especially with the buttery smooth refresh rate!

          unwat Not about compatibility, but could be viewed as such by some people. On Stock or other versions of Android without secure exec spawning, some apps run fine, but when on GOS they crash, which is usually because those apps have some (hopefully unknown to devs) memory issues.

          Important to note here that memory corruption bugs that are uncovered by the hardened_malloc that's used in GrapheneOS which make the app crash can now be bypassed. That is, GrapheneOS now includes a toggle in the app info in "Settings" for apps called the "Exploit protection compatibility mode"; if an app is crashing because of a memory corruption bug, you can enable that toggle, and it'll work just fine, while still allowing other apps on the device on to take advantage of the substantial improvements made by hardened_malloc.

          hannes I am relatively new to Android 12/13 so I am probably not the best judge for comparison, but GrapheneOS features the same Material You design as stock Android, with support for adaptive icons and app colours, etc.

            mythodical thanks for letting me know! It's basically that the UI fits the form of the Pixel perfectly, which makes it seem a lot more seemless than before. But I guess I'll have to find out and surprise myself!