Three weeks ago, I installed GrapheneOS on my Google Pixel 8 Pro, following this video guide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVXmNiSAyFc
The process was smooth and easy.
I’m not an IT person, and I didn’t find it difficult at all to install GrapheneOS—just follow the instructions and everything is straightforward.
Daily use has been problem-free—I barely notice any difference. I installed the Google Play Store and Google Play Services via the GrapheneOS App Store, and all four of my banking apps work perfectly.
One hiccup: I couldn’t restore my WhatsApp chat backup directly on GrapheneOS. To work around this, I logged into WhatsApp on another Android device, restored all my chats there, then used “Transfer Chat History to Android Phone.” Here’s WhatsApp’s guide:
https://faq.whatsapp.com/209942271778103/?cms_platform=android
I haven’t done any rigorous screen-on-time tests, but in my experience the battery life with the screen on isn’t noticeably better than on stock Android 15 or 16. Also, when I make video calls over LTE, the phone gets super warm—something I don’t recall happening before.
Overall, though, I’m happy with GrapheneOS. Aside from the usual missing features (e.g. Google Pay), here are a few other omissions I’ve noticed compared to stock Android:
• Double-tap back gesture isn’t available
• Extreme Battery Saver mode is gone
• “Automatically turn on Bluetooth tomorrow” doesn’t work (maybe a future update will fix this)
From what said above, the only thing I don't like, is the battery getting very warm.
Anyone else has this issue?
Thanks!