After switching from stock android to graphenOS what do you think?

AngWay

So this question is for those who have acutally used the stock android on the pixel and then switched to graphenOS what do u think? are u missing the stock android and all the bells and whistles that the stock android on the pixel had specifically the pixel 9 and pixel 10 with all the AI stuff and comfort software that does so much for you. or is having graphenOS just as good for you?

Would love to hear from you all. Thanks

nologo

AngWay I don't miss stock at all. Invasive AI crap is one of the main reasons I do not want to go back to Pixel OS. I do not want any AI in my life. I also love how minimalist GOS is, kind of reminds me of the early days of Android, back when the Google apps weren't integrated in the OS yet. (My first smartphone was the Google Nexus One - yes, I am that old.) Bells and whistles aren't for me. Minimalism is.

Please note that it is perfectly possible to use (sandboxed) Google Play Services and Google Play Store on GOS, a lot of Google stuff will just work. So the difference with stock is not necessary that big. Depends on the choices you make. My 'de-googled' FOSS based set-up is a choice and I love it, but other users may choose to use proprietary Google apps. Some users even use Meta stuff like WhatsApp and Instagram! I would never do that, but a GOS phone can be a lot like a stock Pixel phone if you wanr.

NoahRaketic

AngWay I used the stock OS for a while before my carrier lock timer ended on the Pixel. Honestly, I didn't notice a huge difference from experience. All of the Google apps I used to use work, including Google Messages (which has been very nice for RCS).

DeletedUser720

AngWay I think it's great I've switched!

AngWay

nologo Yeah i feel the same way but do you ever feel like that if you don't use the AI stuff and stay up to date on all the new stuff u might not be smart enough in the future to navigate this stuff? I know i do get alittle paranoid that i will be that dumb old man in the future that doesn't know how any of it works lol.

AngWay

NoahRaketic Really i know on mine the visual voicemail will not work with the google messaging app.

nologo

AngWay do you ever feel like that if you don't use the AI stuff and stay up to date on all the new stuff u might not be smart enough in the future to navigate this stuff?

No. In the end, the people who avoid the AI con will turn out to be the smart ones.

starglider

AngWay I absolutely think that people who don't take advantage of the new AI tools are missing out and will be old (unemployed) men yelling at the sky. Turns out that "tech" people have a lot more in common with longshoreman than I'd thought (except without the unions, so they won't benefit from being able to force the rest of the economy to support their inefficient work patterns). There are a lot of things that AI is just incredible for and, of course, a lot of things where it's not very good or wildly over-hyped.

As a fellow nerd (I assume most people posting in the GrapheneOS forum are nerds), having these models spin up little programs and scripts for personal use is incredible. As just one example, I use a different app for outdoor running vs treadmill running (not many apps support FTMS). So I had Claude spin up a little app that reads all the mileage and time data from Healthconnect, and outputs it to a CSV I can pipe into the Python program I use for other fitness tracking stuff. Took ten minutes.

A lot of the people babbling about AI's being mere "stochastic parrots" simply haven't used them, or they're using the crappy free (soon-to-be-ad-laden) models.

All that said, I want to be in control of when these systems are doing things on my behalf and when they're hoovering up data on me. I've been blown away by OpenClaw (using Opus 4.6 as the base LLM on a DO VM). I literally texted it from Signal asking it to order flowers for my wife, and it found a highly-rated delivery company, created an account, confirmed the amount with me, and placed the order. It was really impressive.

But having this stuff run with root on my phone, with no control over it, no control over what data it can see, and subject entirely to the whims of whatever company happens to control my phone's OS? No thanks. AI is just a software tool like any other tool. It doesn't need to be baked into the OS and able to read, analyze, store, and train on everything my phone touches, including E2E encrypted data that it can pilfer by reading the screen.

I think she probably overstated it, but the Signal CEO's point that "malware is now in the OS" isn't as far off the mark as it should be.

Aeon

I find Stock OS very "noisy" 10 audible notifications that had no need to be audible and wherent really useful in a span of 5 minutes on the P9 when I started it first up to oem unlock it to put GrapheneOS on.

Graphene in contrast had fewer notifications, I think 3 when it first bootet it up and they where silent.

Novalissoide

I love being able to rootlessly make my app drawer this tidy for focus.
https://imgur.com/a/J2xOIrh

AngWay

Novalissoide Dang yeah thats small. but u can only really have that if u stay away from google services. if u have to use google services then u can't make it look like that.

MineralWater

At all, i don't miss anything from the stock android on the Pixel. I can use all apps i need on Graphene too.

What I like most is the easy install method and that the OS was super stable all the months I used it.

I flashed Lineage/Cyanogen some years ago and nothing really worked there, so I am really impressed how good Graphene works.

For me it feels like stock without all the distractions and AI stuff.

I am not totally anti Google, i use my real Google account plus Playstore/Play Services in one single profile, i switched to Graphene because of security and like mentioned for the absence of integrated AI.

I also used iOS for some years and must admit that Apple had a superb OS with all the integrated things like password manager and secure backups. But copying files from or to the phone was always a pain and Apple is so expensive that I had to switch to Android.

ShoulderSurfin

It is a great improvement knowing that G isn't grabbing everything. I still use G but very selectively (like YouTube on my TV). There is not really any major thing that I can say is a major downgrade, but I do miss G Pay just a tiny bit when it comes to convenience. I will take one on that.

MikeMichalek

I don't miss stock at all. Easier for me because don't use my phone for banking, etc. that many people will use their phone for.
I love the control I have over each app. I found through Aurora and f-doid basic great gallery and keyboard apps. Do use Pixel Camera.
When first Motorola Grapheme phones available I want my wife to buy one.

DeletedUser728

starglider you're in general correct, currently we're behind by miles, but that's expected trade-off.
My hope is for private on-device AI at least for most privacy-sensitive assets which is my phone with all it's apps, contacts etc. I can survive manually dialing someone. Edge Gallery already has some assistant-like examples that are OKish on 16GB ram with some GPU accelerations,

For more complex tasks, be it research/info processing, coding, etc, I hope it will be enough to use burner accounts via VMs (either via AOSP's terminal or a dedicated VM) where access to ensitive information is reduced.

Aeleon

No difference at all. I don't use all the integrated AI crap, if I need AI for something I can still use Gemini or Claude. I don't think anybody needs to be worried about getting left behind, the AI tech is pure hype and it only helps to automate basic things. If you use AI regularly you have more reason to be concerned about getting left behind.