Enough already, stop asking for frivolous irrelevant things

area51

GrapheneOS is NOT G@@gle android. GrapheneOS priorities secure safe private, not flashy sparkly tosh.
I suppose with one developer down and a whole host sh!t to contend with getting A16 ready for GrapheneOS, it has them working full time. Just give asking for the bells and whistles that G@@gle uses to grab your attention, a time out.
Feel free to argue, I am here for secure and private not sparkly....

Quantum

area51 Can you really judge what is too sparkly if you don't even use your phone?

Even compared to people that care about privacy and security you seem to be in the extreme. If you're that far out in one direction won't anything seem too sparkly...

We can have both things. People just have to actually donate so that the work can be more reasonable.

Unknown-Phallus

area51 Your rage imbues you with sparkly of a Differing breed. Your rage also justified and understandable, Vapid Frivallity is definitely a nuisance.

Sigismund

While I agree that I'd rather have devs focus on security / privacy features I am in no position to make such a statements like yours.

Also the more popular the OS becomes we will see more and more of such requests because we will see an influx of more 'casual' users accustomed to certain level of features that may not make sense to you. I've seen it with arch before and I see it starting here.

xxx

I think it's o.k. that people ask for things. Luckily graphene is not google android.

thecrankosaurus

I agree on the OP' stance. This is a privacy first focused project not a drop in replacement for google. I find that the devs do an awesome job adding reasonable functionality within the stated goals. Personally I kinda wish it was a bit more stripped down and barebones myself but I realize that my wishes/wants are not the same as the devs. Instead of asking for more stuff you should give back to the team for all they do...
I lost my old acct creds here so quickly made this just add my .02

Quantum

thecrankosaurus I don't really see how you'd make it more barebones without fully removing functionality.

thecrankosaurus

Quantum
Oh I know that the things that annoy me are just that, annoyances and only to me most likely, and it would no doubt need an entire codebase rewrite lol, so I just happily appreciate the job being done for us all...

Canardo_Sanchez

Honestly it's ok to ask once. You can't expect people that just found Graphene OS to read the whole forum then curb their need for sparkly out of fear of the inquisition.

I'm also happy GOS went out of the designated way for some quality of life improvement such as the 80% limit, which is neither about security or privacy.

FlipSid

I agree with the OP as well.

I use my phone for everything.
E v e r y t h i n g, from banking, to printing, to surfing, to navigating, to small office, to online meetings, to being in contact with "my ppl".

I have never ever encountered anything that would not work, or could not be made to work.

Also thanks to this forum and the great usability of this OS, even though it's security and privacy focused.

At some point 'ya just gotta swallow the "bullet" of GrapheneOS or stick to stock.

Quantum

FlipSid I don't agree with OP. We need some sort of balance, because everyone has different opinions and perspectives.

This is your ideal setup; "I use my phone for everything.
E v e r y t h i n g, from banking, to printing, to surfing, to navigating, to small office, to online meetings, to being in contact with "my ppl"."

OP's ideal setup; "Just like my phone, nothing on it except GrapheneOS and that's it, no apps or personal photos, contacts."
"My phone is purely a phone, nothing more, no apps just GrapheneOS."

Your normal usage is prolly too sparkly for OP.
Not trying to shit on anyone, but people seem to agree with their own ideals here, not each other.

Byku

Call recording is good.
Battery bypass is good.
The ability to use sandboxed Google Play is good.
The ability to use Android Auto with minium permissions is good.
Proper backup tool will be good someday.
I could go on...
None of these things tie directly to privacy&security but they make it more likely for people actually use GrapheneOS. What is the point of a secure OS that is too cumbersome for everyday use?

SgtSurehand

Byku none of the things you mention here are essential, i.e. your life could not go on without them so are a mere addons on a bare OS with minimal attack surface. Perhaps it is not about you getting too little but expecting too much.

It is not fair to force enhancements on whole userbase (albeit optional) and when it doesn't necessarily align with project's expectations and workload.

Who is to say what is needed and how feasible it is to implement and maintain, a particular user, small subset of users or those who have to put the work in?

Quantum

SgtSurehand Well sandboxed Google play is essential in certain countries.

I think you've kinda glossed over his point.
"It's not fair to force enhancements on the whole userbase", doesn't really make sense either. When it comes down to it, it's the project that decides and have decided on doing certain features. They can prolly work it out themselves what they wanna do and can do.

Byku

SgtSurehand yeah, about project goals numerous times the dev account commented that they want people to use Graphene as an everyday OS, not just for hush hush secret stuff. I will stand by the belief that what makes GOS great is that it is a secure and private system while still remaining compatible/utilitarian.

FlipSid

wizoatk

Byku
which it already is, see my post. In case it did not come across:
It already has great usability, compatibility etc.

SgtSurehand

@Byku @Quantum I don't mean to slag you off guys but you sound like the sort of people who wouldn't survive a day with mine or @area51 setup. I don't need your bells and whistles. Like I said not so long ago, you perhaps may be using the securest app store in this part of Milky Way but you have no idea what data Google & Co hold on you, so don't go suggesting your approach is fine for all.

Quantum

SgtSurehand Personally I don't use Google services that way. I just have it installed without any permissions granted. It just needs to be installed for some of my apps to work. 99.9% of the time I basically run a google free phone except from when I need to run those apps in a different profile.

For the most part I've got a fairly simple setup too. I'm taking "their" side more because nobody seemed to understand that they aren't really agreeing anyway. You should read all my post in the thread.

Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of stupid requests and a bunch of people come off as ignorant towards the project and its goals. OP probably should have stated how they use their phone in the post. I can guarantee that most users don't use their phones that way. People are basically agreeing with OP that their own usage is too sparkly...

wizoatk

For reference, the current aspiration description on Discord:

GrapheneosOS: private and secure mobile OS with Android app compatibility

Security and privacy,
designed for everyone.

WestQuester

I don't know what you consider frivolous and irrelevant but the whole point of FOSS is that not everyone has the same desires or needs so what one person wants, another doesn't and vice versa.

I will say that practically speaking, many Linux distros and projects like this suffer from lack of widespread adoption because of attitudes like this. It's fine if it's just a niche personal project (it's FOSS, after all!) but the reality is that most people will not adopt it if the barrier to entry isn't low enough. If the compatibility isn't high enough.

The longevity of a project will depend on how dedicated its developers are. The larger userbase you have, the more developers will potentially contribute and carry on the project, but then it can also lose its focus. However, the surest way to kill a project is to make it so niche that only a few people care to use it (how many Linux distros have died over the years!). There's a tradeoff for sure.

FlipSid

WestQuester not "everything" can be implemented by the devs of GrapheneOS because it goes against the core principles of the OS. Also see:
https://www.reddit.com/r/PrivacyGuides/comments/rhbik5/10_dumbest_ideas_in_privacy_communities/

GrapheneOS is a security and privacy focused project which already incorporates great usability and compatibility.

Personally I think donating helps the longevity of a project more than many extra extra extras