Are there any practical differences between installing the Google Play Store in the owner profile versus in a secondary user profile only?

I'm using a secondary user profile for daily tasks (phone, chat, mail, calendar, etc.). I'm using the owner profile only to install apps. Now that I need to install an app from the Play Store, I wonder if it makes any difference whether I install the Play Store in the owner profile, or create a dedicated user profile (not allowed to run in the background) for the Play Store and apps installed from the Play Store. I'll rarely use those apps, so I wouldn't mind switching the profile to use them.

I've searched this forum and the web, but I couldn't find a discussion of this aspect.

    Hi, my owner's profile includes VPN app only andy second profile is completely "Degoogled". On the other hand my third profile and only is running Google play for the sake of banking apps and everything is working fine for me, and I am using this profile only once per week or so.

      Cdc Thanks for the feedback. That sounds much like what I was considering.

      How do you handle app updates with this setup? Are your banking profile and the Play Store app therein allowed to run in the background, or do you have to wait for app updates when activating the banking profile?

      • Cdc replied to this.
      • Cdc likes this.

          ZetaDroid All apps are installed on owner's profile via Obtainium, disabled and pushed to the secondary "Degoogled", where I also have Aurora and F-Droid which is there for testing purposes only at the moment. Profile with Google Play only isn't running on the background I think as I always tend to end session after I'm done. (Google play app is installed there solely and not pushed from the owner's profile)

          Also, I just tried it and got a message about GP update so got it updated and banking apps are working fine -> there were no updates at all.

            I was facing this same question earlier this year. I finally decided on creating a secondary Google user profile, which has Google Play Store and the few apps I need installed via it. I only use this profile for a few minutes once a week, at best.

            The reason I decided on this approach vs installing Google Play Store in the Owner profile is that if GPS is installed in the Owners profile then Google always has an active connection to your phone. With the secondary Google profile I went with Google only has a connection to my phone during the limited time I'm using that secondary profile.

            While I think GOSs sandboxing of GPS is great, and my use of a VPN in all profiles helps to mitigate Googles access to my phone, location, and data, I still feel it's worth the separate Google profile to insure Google has very limited access.

            ZetaDroid Are there any practical differences between installing the Google Play Store in the owner profile versus in a secondary user profile only?

            Yes. From owner you can push apps across profiles and it depending on apps you may not need the gframework there, while still being able to update apps from play store. Won't be able to do it from secondary.

                0xsigsev Is gframework the same as the Google Play Services?

                I've read several times that some people install only the Play Store in the owner profile? Is that an intended way? I ask because there's only the Play Services in the built-in app store. I see that I could navigate to the Play Store dependency and install only that, though it feels like cheating.

                    ZetaDroid yes mean to say google services but my brain did not wake up due to lack of coffee. Generally once you install it from the gos app store you get all needed dependencies.

                    Then on separate profiles depending on needs you may or may not need to install it as well for certain apps to work, however you can (again depends on apps installed) turn off all permissions to Google apps so it does not beacon home.