• General

  • Using Main profile vs using secondary profile (with GPS)

I have been running GOS for a little bit and my initial set up is 2 users:
Owner - apps install and software update
User - main user no GPS (google play services)
I install everything primarily from the play store and use obtanium for extra staff.
Missing notifications on whatsapp and proton makes it not reasonable to continue with this set up. I am not ready rn to use dual profile set-up because sharing files would be a b***. If shared scopes between profiles would be introduced that would solve the issue, but i think that's would open new attack vectors which would defeat the profile idea.
I'm gonna change the set up to a single user with GPS, and keep the installation from these sources the same, question is do i simply use the owner and install from it, do the updates and use as a regular device, or do i keep the owner as is rn - for installs and updates and set up a new profile with GPS and use that one as daily?
Would there be real benefits to using secondary profile in this set-up?
I see no downsides in using secondary profile as daily I'm just not really sure about the benefits.

Would appreciate your thoughts, cheers

    MrStreisand There really is no one "best" way to set up your phone with profiles. It's really up to you how you want to do it.

    I personally wouldn't suggest having Sandboxed Google Play running in a profile you're not even using. To me that seems like a waste of battery for none of the benefits. Two profiles with Sandboxed Google Play will just suck up more battery faster.

    If you want to use a primary profile with Sandboxed Google Play, then why not just use only the Owner profile, or keep the Owner profile completely empty and use a secondary profile for day to day use?

    I personally do it the second way. I think it's a better setup for multiple reasons:

    • If I want to save battery, I can always terminate my profile but I don't need to restart my phone.
    • Personal data can be put to rest easily, no reset needed.
    • If I want to be extra paranoid, I can use other profiles after ending the session of my regular use profile.
    • Profiles can be set up to forbid running in the background if you want to use extra profiles for other purposes.
    • After a reboot anyone with my phone would have to enter two different passwords to get to my personal data.
    • Certain system settings are only accessible via the Owner profile, so a password is required to change certain settings (some might find this annoying, but I like it because it's more secure, but it's true it's annoying for some other settings).

        other8026
        Hey, thanks for a detailed description of your set-up, this makes a lot of sense, and most likely i will use it that way.

        To clarify - i disable google play store and all the services once I'm done updating, so I don't really see any difference in battery, because the main profile is set up to access the web only through a vpn, which i turn off when switching to daily - thus the owner doesn't actually have online connection at all unless i turn the vpn on:)
        The logic to set it to owner installing and updating - is that the daily can't really install anything (cause i lock the ability from the owner) which makes is one step better in my eyes, I'm just curious how much this set up makes sense vs the more direct version - which would be yours or as you've mentioned - just running of the owner direclty.

          bump
          any other thoughts on the benefits of running in the owner profile only or separating as described in my posts above?

          Another minor reason why I like running separate profiles is for the once or twice a year that I feel like doing a factory reset for a "clean" start. Much easier if the owner can stay the same. But I'm also a very simple phone user. I don't need it to do complicated stuff or change settings often, transfer files around, etc. I try to keep everything cloud based (hosted on personal servers at home) so my phone can stay tidy.

            Your missing notifications problem could be (because me2 is human and can misunderstand your first comment) the fact you use 2 ways for the same app, GPS & Obtanium. When downloaded from GPS, the app should function normally without problems. Don't update these apps later in Obtanium or other than GPS.

            There are too many different profile setups and all can be good, just search for the best one matching your personal taste or threat model.