I have not any prior experience with installing custom ROMs, but after trying it out (and getting stuck, and googling and finding answers) I successfully did it. Below is my home screen if anybody is curious:
I use OpenBoard for my keyboard. Unfortunately I am still dependent on Play Store since some of the apps I need can only be found there. Sometimes it feels meaningless committing to this whole thing because I’m not perfectly private; then I think this is better than using a regular iPhone or Android phone.
So far I’m liking it. I am naturally inclined to feel hesitant about using this as my main phone and plugging in a SIM since it’s custom, but I’m slowly making the transition.
Feel free to share any beginners advice or your own experience using GOS for the first time. Cheers!
OpenBoard is no longer maintained. Heliboard is a good alternative.
I think Google Play on Graphene is a good compromise, since at least it does not have root access. Unfortunately it is very crippling to completely avoid Google on Android.
That being said, I heard others are using work profiles to isolate all apps using Google Play from their more private apps. I’m not doing that, but work profiles are nice for … well work apps.
As someone who has a profile only for Whatsapp (used to also be Instagram), a profile for banking & finances, a profile for some stuff that needs play services, and a profile for most other stuff (main profile)…don’t use profiles unless you’re only creating one more at the most, and you’re absolutely certain there’s no need to share information between the profiles.
Graphene has had a long-standing bug from upstream AOSP, if I recall correctly, where it’ll always ask for your pin when changing profiles, and only sometimes will it allow you to use your fingerprint or alternative methods to get into your profiles. I almost never get the fingerprint option for my main profile, and have to tap back from the pin input on other profiles to get the option to use fingerprint, and not always. They do sometimes push something that loosely resembles a fix, but it’ll go back to not working after another update.
Regarding communicating between profiles, that’s hard to pull off. The curveball of having to send screenshots from banking apps, say, confirming transactions, it’s made a lot worse with profiles. I’m currently relying on my nextcloud instance to upload screenshots from finances, then downloading those screenshots from nextcloud into my WhatsApp profile, just to send a proof of transfer to someone. I’m definitely not keeping my phone like this for much longer.
All else considered, however, I’m not going back to a ROM that doesn’t respect me as the owner of my device. I’m happy to have switched to graphene and I am here to stay.
Thank you for sharing this. Honestly, right now, I simply don’t feel a need to use profiles for my apps. I understand some people claim I probably should considering I use both FOSS and Google apps, but I’m just getting started with this whole privacy thing and I don’t feel like rushing. Using only one profile probably isn’t the absolute worst thing you could do, eh?
https://github.com/openboard-team/openboard
Last commit is two years ago. I’d recommend checking what you have installed. A quick search on GPlay finds what appears to be a clone that may or may not leak user data.
version 1.4.5
org.dslul.openboard.inputmethod.latin versionCode 19
targetSdk 31 minSdk 19
Installed: May 8, 2024; 3:17 PM Updated: May 8, 2024; 3:17 PM
Is this an AHH SHIT moment or I’m good? Lol
Unfortunately it is very crippling to completely avoid Google on Android.
Tbh if you don’t do mobile gaming, I think this is entirely doable. I say this as someone who uses Aurora Store for about 3 or 4 odd apps. I could live without them on my phone, but I just choose not to for the convenience of having a mobile client for some proprietary services I use. And I don’t have Google Play services at all.
