Dear GrapheneOS community,
i am a fresh user of GOS on a Pixel 6a and wanted to share my thoughts on some basic things, after i did research here and tried some things out. There are some points i am still not sure about, which i will summarize as questions. By the way, my primary goal is to use my phone as efficient and privacy-friendly as possible, which means using few apps and avoiding google as much as possible.
To keep it simple, i want to use Signal for messenging/calls and Tutanota for mails/calendar. I'd also like to try out Element. The important part is being able to get realtime notifications from these apps, which should be possible without installing any google services before them (like explained here https://grapheneos.org/usage#sandboxed-google-play), or am i wrong?
Are google apps/services necessary for none, some or all of these apps to work properly, especially the notifications?
If yes to any of these apps: what is the most minimal and privacy-friendly way to set it up? Like before installing these apps, first install Google Play services (which automatically will install GSF and Play Store), set battery optimization exception to Google Play services and permit only network access for GSF and Play Store?
If yes to any of these apps: do i get notifications from them when on my main profile, when i run google services only in a second profile together with only the app(s) with notifications depending on google services? That's the way i would like to handle it, if any of these apps needs google stuff. Would that be possible?
Navigation app: my research told me, Magic Earth should be the best option for me. Since it's free, is my data at risk or how do they make money? Does it need google services to function properly? Should i always run it in a separate profile, since it needs my location?
Thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to share their wisdom!