• General

  • Some probably basic beginner's questions

Goldtop57 will those apps also be sandboxed like Playstore itself?

Apps are always sandboxed in Android (with the addition of GPlay itself in Graphene).

If Gmail is an issue, which Email app would you recommend?

Issue in what way? Privacy? You can use recommended private email providers. Email clients such as K9-Mail / Thunderbird and Fairemail can be used for the providers they support.

Is there any real need for Playstore? Since I didn't log in to Google yet, I installed the apps so far from Aurora Store, which worked just fine.

Play Store is more secure than Aurora. Aurora is typically only really useful for devices that are completely free of and Google services. If you have Gservices on your device, its recommended to just use Google Play.

Did I get it right that each messenger needs to be set to unrestricted battery usage?

I think you do if you aren't using GPlay for Push, otherwise not at all. See official documentation below.
https://grapheneos.org/usage#sandboxed-google-play-installation

You should give a battery optimization exception to Google Play services for features like push notifications to work properly in the background. It isn't needed for the other 2 apps.

    Goldtop57

    Hello, glad to see you are trying GrapheneOS. Signing into a Google account won't compromise security at all, it will just result in some loss in privacy, since you will no longer be semi-anonymous to Google. As far as I'm aware, Gmail works just fine. If it doesn't, you can always try K9-Mail/Thunderbird. In regards to push notifications, if you have Google Play Services installed before them, with the battery optimization exception granted, push notifications should work for every app out of the box, no need to grant a battery optimization exception. That last tip is mostly for people who don't install Sandboxed Google Play.

      Hello and welcome aboard.

      1: Using Google (overall) and google apps wouldn't compromise the GOS security but will definitely compromise your anonymity.
      If you install gservices and login to play store (any other gapp) with your previous email you will be identified and tracked by google as on any other device.
      2: Google apps running in owner profile aren't sandboxes as such. But if you create and use google services and google apps in a separate profile, you can achieve some degree of sandboxing functionality.

      3: It depends, in my personal case, I never let my GOS device to even smell google, meta, MS etc crape. There are fantastic FOSS alternatives out there.

      That being said, your choices will mainly depend on your threat perception and the purpose. On a side note, play around with your phone for a week without Google, try different apps and services. At the end when you are comfortable, do a factory reset and start clean.
      Good luck.

        Oppressed Google apps running in owner profile aren't sandboxes as such.

        Wrong. IPC means they can communicate with each other, but that doesn't mean that they're not sandboxed.

            Dumdum what does Sandboxed mean?
            Any two apps can communicate with each other inside a profile through mutual consent. ( In this regard, mutual consent = By default (mostly)).
            Put two google, meta, Microsoft etc apps in a single profile and enjoy your Sandbox forever.

                To what degree is your wife interested in changing the way she handles her digital life? The answer to that question will heavily weigh in on the setup deployed. If she's not all that invested the play store route is totally fine, that way you avoid unexpected outcomes like apps behaving differently than normal, etc. Things can always be moved around if she grows more keen as time goes on.

                Hi again!

                Many replies - thank you all!

                My wife is not that interested in privacy, but wouldn't mind having it, if it doesn't complicate her using the phone.
                I, on the other hand, don't want to be tracked and spied upon by my phone's apps. That's why I use /e OS on my old Redmi 8, but that more and more gets on my nerves, so I want to replace it with something more modern and more functional.

                Ok, I understand using Gplaystore is the way to go for my wife. Battery optimization means to toggle "stopping the app when unused" to off, - right? Or is there another menu entry for that?

                When I have my own Pixel, I should use Gplaystore for apps, Thunderbird for mail, and maps from the website, right?
                I could have a second profile for all G apps, but that sounds complicated? Switching to another profile to check my mail? Hm.
                Will navigation work when geolocation is routed to the OS? (Navigation never worked on /e on my phone, another reason to switch).

                I saw that Thunderbird is available as beta - for testers. Is that stable, or should I use a K9 version that is older but more stable?

                Sorry for the many questions.....thanks in advance for your time!
                Oliver

                  Goldtop57 Battery optimization means to toggle "stopping the app when unused" to off, - right?

                  No. That setting has nothing to do with battery optimization.

                  The setting you want is App battery usage > Allow background usage (click on that text) > Unrestricted

                    Goldtop57 Will navigation work when geolocation is routed to the OS?

                    Yes.

                    Some people do run into issues getting navigation to work in various apps, but that shouldn't be one of them.

                      Goldtop57 I saw that Thunderbird is available as beta - for testers. Is that stable, or should I use a K9 version that is older but more stable?

                      I have Thunderbird working smoothly since beta test became available. meanwhile K-9 Mail continues to work as well.

                        Thank you all very much!!!!

                        I'll be back.

                        Probably.

                        Oppressed 1: Using Google (overall) and google apps wouldn't compromise the GOS security but will definitely compromise your anonymity.

                        if you keep your google apps in one profile only for google apps, does this compromise your anonymity?

                            rellhom if you keep your google apps in one profile only for google apps, does this compromise your anonymity?

                            Depends on what information you give Google, or give them access to.

                            The purpose of keeping Google apps in a separate profile is to prevent other apps from sharing data with Google or vice versa. (Though it doesn't absolutely prevent it if they are determined.)

                            Assume the Google apps are hoovering up whatever data they do have access to though.

                              a month later

                              Ok, I am some steps further now.

                              Current problem:

                              I installed Digical, Bring (shared shopping list) and more, that, when I want them to log into google to gain access to the calendar or other required stuff, tell me "No Network access", even though Wifi is on and mobile Data are on, too.

                              What is wrong? My wife needs those apps, and I cannot figure out what is missing. Do these apps maybe try to access Playstore, which I do not use (I use Aurora instead) and so didn't allow network access...?

                              Any help much appreciated...

                              Cheers,
                              Oliver

                              Ok, some apps work now that I allowed network access for playstore. Does not feel all too comfortable.....

                              Digical still cannot access the google calendars. Upon adding her gmail address, the app says that this account is already activated, but no calendars are shown.

                              Can you recommend a calendar app that easily can access the google calendar?

                                Oppressed

                                I'd love to see a list of some of your daily FOSS apps if you wouldn't mind sharing!

                                  Goldtop57 I think you would be better off just using the Google Calendar app. Digical seems to share data with over 140 providers and 67 partners, I wouldn't be comfortable with 207 entities knowing my appointments and events.