Protonuser Can someone confirm what the security/privacy benefits of private space is vs user profile?

There are no security or privacy benefits with private space compared to secondary user profiles. Secondary user profiles are the most isolated kind of profiles.

Private space is a convenience feature that offers similar security and privacy to a secondary user profile while being far more convenient to use.

For example, private space share clipboard with main profile, so apps in private space and main profile can see what is copy pasted in the other. This is one of, and in my opinion the biggest security and privacy tradeoff private space have done compared to secondary user profiles. Secondary user profiles have their own clipboard, so clipboard data cannot leak cross-profile.

But, private space is more secure and private than a work profile, while having similar convenience.

So secondary user profiles are the most secure and private, then private space, then work profiles.

    I hope at some point this feature will be accessible outside of the launcher. I'm not lazy or closed to novelty but yet can't really imagine using anything else than Nova; it has defined the smartphone usage and everything I expect out of it for a decade.

    But it turned into the shadow of itself, thanks to good ol' capitalism (company was bought and gutted). I expect the next update for 2026.

      Canardo_Sanchez I too had used Nova Prime for over a decade. A couple months ago I switched to Lawnchair. Not quite as customizable as Nova but I forced myself to get used to it and after about a week I haven't looked back.

      For everyone else, what launcher are y'all using to use private space? Are there any that work other than stock and pixel?

          GrouchyGrape as of right now, I set up private space to have "spyware" apps that I don't use on a regular basis, but still need to live within the realm of the owner profile. I currently switch the launcher to stock whenever I need to access private space. A few years ago, there was an app called "no'me" which let you switch launchers easily, but it disappeared from the face of the earth some time ago. My main launcher is also Lawnchair, but even their nightly builds have no support for private space yet. I guess it will take a few months until it arrives, until then I (we) will have to live with this workaround.

            Protonuser rellhom No, that's not an advantage of Private Space. Apps in the Owner user cannot see installed apps in other users or the Private Space. The Owner user themselves can see the overall installed apps. Private Space is not supposed to offer any privacy or security advantages over user profiles. The advantage it offers is that it's nested in the Owner user interface and therefore more convenient than switching users. User profiles offer some advantages through having an entirely separate user interface, but an isolated clipboard can be brought to Private Space as an option in GrapheneOS and is already being worked on.

                  Is there any way to install apps installed in the owner user into the private space?

                  I'm new to GrapheneOS so please forgive me if I'm wrong. I read multiple people here who want to put Google Play/spyware apps in the private space, but doesn't it make more sense to put that in the main profile and then use trusted / open source apps in the private space?

                    GrapheneOS Is the stock OS ability to "Install app in Private Space" planned for GrapheneOS? I read this option was removed as it was not relevant for GrapheneOS implementation. Is there a best practice for installing the same app in both Owner and private Space to avoid versioning conflicts ?

                      Killjoy not at all, no. The owner profile has the most insight into the other profiles, you can imagine it as an "admin lite". Play Services should exist in owner profile only when you need some app that needs to run 24/7 and relies on Play Services. Apart from that it's wiser to just cram Play Services into a work/secondary user/private space profile.

                          Does anyone know if you can access the full settings in the Private Space? Specifically to set up a fingerprint unlock or custom keyboard in the Private Space. The reason I ask is I'd like to set up KeyPassDX and I typically use biometric unlock and Magikeyboard, but not sure I know how to do it.

                          Happy to create another thread if that's better.

                            d0ckR

                            d0ckR
                            I had a similar issue with a bank app inside the Private Space, but somehow the SMS app from the main profile would open instead. I've also had to install Fossify Phone and Fossify SMS just to make sure the relevant requirements are picked up by the bank app, but even with with this setup I'd send the SMS and the verification would fail. I think more than the Phone permission itself it also needed to read the phone number advertised by the SIM or something like that. After retrying the verification a few times, at some point it finished with success, which could maybe work for some as a workaround, but I wouldn't say it is reliable.

                                My main issue of the Private Space is from the NFC payments. I have my main banking app on the owner profile which has its own NFC functionality, even if it needs Google installed for some reason. This app is set in the settings as the default for NFC payments and it works just fine.

                                Once I unlock the Private Space, however, I can't pay with the banking app from the owner anymore, even after locking the Private Space or restarting NFC. It looks like NFC doesn't get the bank app anymore and it is only solved by a full reboot.

                                I do have a bank app on the Private Space, as I said above, but it is not enabled and either way I've tried locking the private space too. Could it be some issue with the NFC management between the owner and the Private Space, one that doesn't get solved not even by closing the Private Space?

                                  kopolee11 Does anyone know if you can access the full settings in the Private Space? Specifically to set up a fingerprint unlock or custom keyboard in the Private Space. The reason I ask is I'd like to set up KeyPassDX and I typically use biometric unlock and Magikeyboard, but not sure I know how to do it.

                                  It is possible to use fingerprint unlock and magikeyboard with KeePassDX on the private space. I know it is possible to access the relevant settings through the KeePassDX settings. The settings are available on a private tab in the normal settings on the owner profile.

                                      Killjoy I'm new to GrapheneOS so please forgive me if I'm wrong. I read multiple people here who want to put Google Play/spyware apps in the private space, but doesn't it make more sense to put that in the main profile and then use trusted / open source apps in the private space?

                                      That is what I am going to do. I don't think it make more sense as such; regardless of what profile you put Google Play and their apps in, they cannot see or talk to apps in any other profile. Some prefer to put Google Play and their apps in the private space, because that way they can be shut down by simply locking the private space, so they cannot even track when you use your phone or not. But I prefer to have all privacy sensitive things in the private space, so I can keep that data and those files encrypted and locked away most of the time, in case my device is taken. And that is of course only trusted open source apps. It depends on your use case.

                                      DeletedUser87 not at all, no. The owner profile has the most insight into the other profiles, you can imagine it as an "admin lite".

                                      Apss running in owner profile should not have more permissions than apps running in any other profile. Especially no kind of admin like permissions. This includes Google Play and Google Play Services, which are just regular apps in GrapheneOS without any special permissions.

                                          vagrantly321

                                          By installing App Manager from F-Droid, searching for the Settings app and, under activities, lunching the Settings Homepage Activity, I was able to access the full Settings app of the Private Space. If anyone is interested to modify some options that are not currently inside the Private tab of the Owner's settings app, this is a simple workaround.

                                          So at this point I've checked the NFC settings, and surprisingly the bank app that I set as the default for NFC payments in the Owner profile was listed here in the Private Space as the default too, even though it doesn't exist here at all. It is worth to mention that it even has the little icon indicating that it is part of the Private Space. I'm not sure if installing the same bank app also in the Private Space would provide a temporary solution to this, but I might give it a try and write here if it works until an official fix.

                                              Hello,
                                              Actually I have 2 user profiles at GOS: primary, without GSF and secondary, with my banking apps and GSF installed.
                                              Is possible to migrate from this 2 user profiles to only a user profile (main) then install GSF and my banking apps at private spaces then no install GSF at main profile without lost privacy/security or is best to continue using 2 users?
                                              Thanks

                                                GrapheneOS You can have a single Private Space and a single work profile in the Owner user.

                                                Would it be possible to implement not just one, but multiple private spaces for use on GrapheneOS? Would be a game changer, because you could have good usability while still being able to control which apps can talk to and see each other.