Private Space/Separate User Profile Best Practices

Splendour

Hello all, I switched to Graphene about two weeks ago. I have put the finishing touches on my setup after pouring over info in the forums and others online, but I nevertheless had a few questions remaining that I could not find satisfactory/definitive answers for. I thank everyone in advance for their patience and willingness to help!

Is it better to make use of Private Space, or a separate User Profile? I have seen lots of back and forth on this and I am unsure.
If indeed the Private Space is the way to go, does one put their 'safe' apps in the Private Space, and leave all the apps that need Google Services and the like outside of it, or vice versa?
One of the workflows I have seen described for the User Profiles is the following: Installing all apps in Owner, pushing the 'safe' ones to a secondary profile (which then becomes your main profile), and then having a third one for Google Services-needing apps. The Owner profile would handle the updates for all profiles... but at the same time I have also seen people mention disabling the Play Store on owner... so how is the pushing of updates supposed to happen then? Do you instead import the Play Store to the third profile as well? This would seem like you then have two Play Stores installed though. Is there something else I am missing?
Last question, seeing as though the Play Store and the apps can communicate... wouldn't it be better to use your real Google account on the Play Store and not a fake one for installation of banking apps and other things that use your phone number (such as WhatsApp)? Because otherwise you are giving your identity up either way if your fake Google profile is tied to your banking info.

nologo

Splendour

There is not one 'best' option, it's up to the user to decide. For convenience and usability, private space is preferable I think. (Switching between user profiles is a hassle.)
Again, both are good options, neither is the 'best' per se. If you need your Google apps all the time, putting them in the owner profile makes sense. If you don't need them much, put them in private space.
Don't bother with weird 'profile as app pusher' setups. Not worth the hassle.
I don' t understand the question. What is a 'fake Google account'?

Ignorant_Cormorant

Splendour wouldn't it be better to use your real Google account on the Play Store and not a fake one for installation of banking apps and other things that use your phone number

Unless the app uses Android Credential Manager and you intentionally sign in with your account, it has no way of knowing what account you used in the Play Store to install the app.

schklom

Splendour

Private Space is a lot more convenient. I would advise using it, then moving to a User Profile if you feel the separation is not enough
Depends what you prefer, there is no best method. It also depends on if you want to leave your Private Space running 24/7 to get notifications (if it's locked, no app inside can run), or if you'd rather get notifications from the normal profile and therefore have Google there.
That sounds pretty inconvenient to me, you'd have to switch profiles to install or manually update an app. IMO your daily profile should be the one you use to get apps, Owner or not. Personally, I use a secondary Profile to use all apps Google and non-Google. Owner just exists as a decoy, I leave it empty. It also lets me delete my daily profile without having to factory reset the entire phone if I need to e.g. cross a border. Maybe put your sensitive (e.g. banking apps) in another profile to prevent access if you're robbed
Normal apps don't know what Google account you use on the Play Store, unless you tell them (I think that's the Phone or maybe Contacts permission). I created a few burners with VPNs and rented phone numbers, and one of them happened to not require age verification. If an app needs your phone number, that does not mean you need to login to Google Play Store with your real account.

Splendour

nologo Hey, thanks a lot for the reply. What I meant by a fake Google account is that I have seen others make throwaway accounts for the Play Store for each new phone they get running GOS.

nologo

Splendour ah, ok. "Fake" confused me, because a 'burner' account is as real a Google account as any other Google account. I still don't understand your fourth question, though.

Splendour

nologo Forgive me as English is not my first language, perhaps I did not phrase it optimally. What I meant was that, seeing as though Google is going to see (I assume) that you logged into something with your real phone number, like WhatsApp, or your literal bank, why does it make sense to use a burner account for the Play Store if those are the only types of apps you are installing?

nologo

Splendour English is not my first language

Same here.

Splendour why does it make sense to use a burner account

That's a very good question. I don't know the answer. A 'burner' account is a very real Google account. I don't know why some users on this forum love it so much. Personally, I don't use a Google account at all. Or WhatsApp, for that matter.

Splendour

schklom Wonderful response, thanks a lot man. This helps tons.