de0u If GrapheneOS were to start shipping some app as part of the system it would be very difficult to stop shipping it, because users who had come to rely on that app would be in trouble.
Open_Source_Enjoyer Why would they be in trouble? If GrapheneOS stops shipping them, they can just update it from their appstore of choice.
I think that's the best scenario, and I think it's not a good one. The system would download an update, reboot, and suddenly somebody's favorite keyboard app (or calendar app, whatever) would be GONE. Even if a message popped up saying "Sorry, XYZ Keyboard is gone, please feel free to download it from your favorite app store! LOL YOLO!", I think many users would be enraged. For example, what if the only place XYZ Keyboard were available were an app store that the user isn't already using? I envision people claiming a conspiracy to force users to use some app store secretly favored by the GrapheneOS project.
But what if the reason for XYZ Keyboard no being longer shipped is that it's been abandoned, and what if it's been abandoned because it would be hard to update for modern Android standards?
Also, note that in the current Android model some apps require system privileges to work; those can't be downloaded from app stores.
I think the core of the issue is that it's easy for users to imagine a personal-best-case scenario:
- GrapheneOS starts shipping that user's favorite keyboard (or calendar, whatever),
- GrapheneOS ships that app as long as the author maintains it,
- GrapheneOS continuously audits the app to make sure it remains secure,
- When the app author "retires", the GrapheneOS project takes over the app (even if the app's license has problematic terms).
But I think that overlooks some likely non-best-case features:
- GrapheneOS starts shipping a keyboard/calendar/whatever app that some user dislikes instead of that user's favorite,
- Authorship of the app changes and security gets worse, or the app includes advertising,
- The app is abandoned, then stops working right.
Of course it's possible that I don't understand that there is a way to do this easily despite the various bad things that seem like they might happen to various apps. People who are confident that this is easy can demonstrate how easy it is by doing it: again, nothing stands in the way of somebody packaging GrapheneOS with more apps, and some companies already do it.