GrapheneOS vs Stock - what the most important difference?

plolock

Say i run a single profile and have Google play services installed and also use gmail and YouTube.

How much of a difference is this alone compared to just using stock? Trying to understand myself but also explain to friends and family of the upsides.

I guess at the moment I have a limited understanding of the samdboxed play services and what happens.

Also I had this situation where apps were asking for play services, but once I had them installed I revoked all play services permissions and they still seem to work? Am I getting it wrong?

Delaney

plolock How much of a difference is this alone compared to just using stock?

GrapheneOS can run Google Play services in a way that is more private and secure than stock Android.

https://grapheneos.org/features#sandboxed-google-play

Nydalik

It still makes a difference, as GPS does not have any special privilege, and most importantly you have control over what you are doing and which data you want to give to google

plolock

Nydalik is it enough if I just manage the permissions of the installed apps? Atm I can't understand why some keep working despite I'm revoking the permissions.

Also, if I add play services, install apps that need it, and then remove play services altogether, is the damage already done? If you know what I mean?

Franco

plolock is it enough if I just manage the permissions of the installed apps? Atm I can't understand why some keep working despite I'm revoking the permissions.

Hi, we don’t have full control over the stock OS. Many bloatware apps come pre‑installed, and we can’t easily remove them or fine‑tune their permissions. Additionally, the Play Store has far more privileges.

dhhdjbd

plolock

Facts:

Apps can communicate with each other.
IPC - inter process communication is it called.

There is no ipc communication permission yet. (Private space / user profiles is for blocking apps from unsing ipc with each other)

It is up to the app developer themself to allow its app to communicate with other apps/ they implement what this means.

I am not 100% sure about this part, but i think it is like this (that is how i understand the play service dependencys of apps):

And a lot of apps use play services, which essentially means the use ipc to communicate with it.
For example they could use it for the notifications.

Eumenia

plolock Also, if I add play services, install apps that need it, and then remove play services altogether

If Play Services are a dependency, then how do the apps work without them?

Also you should assume that apps that have hard Google Play dependencies are privacy invasive by them self.

Johnnyloans

Eumenia

Some apps only require google play services to install and they still work after removing gps

SouthernPolish99

Full control of apps and what gets installed. I wanted a new higher end phone without preinstalled AI apps and tools that you can't remove, which led me here.

Also, I'm impressed with the Vanadium browser, many ads and cookies and nonsense are automatically blocked. And compatibility seems really good on most sites compared to Firefox or other Chrome alternatives.