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!

    • IDew@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      It gets me wondering, I have never use a search bar widget in my life and I find them rather setting in the way… My search bar is just 1 tap away inside Firefox, which is also on the desktop… I’ve not seen many people around me use it

      Do people really use it?

      • Rogue1633@discuss.tchncs.de
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        2 months ago

        Well I used to use it when I was still using normal Android. When I open Vanadium I get greeted with the last page I visited and I get distracted from that, so a search widget helps me.

        • IDew@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Makes sense. Whenever I open Firefox, of opens on the (empty) homescreen where I can start typing in the URL bar right away. But everyone has got their own ways!

  • land@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Aurora store and F-droid will be your besties, you don’t need play store unless you have purchased something.

    • communism@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      You don’t need Play Store if you’ve purchased something. I had to use a paid app for a few years and installed it through Aurora. You can install paid apps on Aurora if you log into the google account you bought it on.

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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        2 months ago

        I personally like the F-droid app way better. It is pretty polished and has the benefit of being first party

    • Luden [comrade/them]@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Last I used it, Aurora store can’t do automatic updates without user attention. Is that still true? If so, it’s adding another massive inconvenience.

      • Rogue1633@discuss.tchncs.de
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        2 months ago

        Unfortunately I’m experiencing the same thing :( Not too big of a deal for me to do manual updates once every two weeks or so but still an annoyance

      • Grippler@feddit.dk
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        2 months ago

        Is it really a massive inconvenience? I would hardly even call it a minor inconvenience. I get a notification maybe twice per week that there are updates pending, and I just accept them in bulk. Your life must be absolutely perfect and ridiculously easy if that simple infrequent action can be classified as a massive inconvenience.

        There are much more annoying things when de-googling and using graphene OS than this IMO. This hardly even registers as annoying. Not being able to use my government 2FA app or NFC payments, now that is massive inconvenience.

        • IDew@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          To me I love to have control over what I update, I agree with it not being inconvenient. For other it might so it’s not really necessary to be mean about it!

        • Luden [comrade/them]@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          Okay, smuglord. It’s a massive inconvenience compared to doing literally nothing. And it heavily depends on what apps you use and how often they update.

          • Grippler@feddit.dk
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            2 months ago

            It’s OK shitbrains, but a small action compared to nothing does not make a massive inconvenience, at best it makes a minor inconvenience.

  • Linsensuppe@feddit.org
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    2 months ago

    Every step you take towards a more private digital life is essential. I mean you have to start somewhere right? And the phone is in my opinion the biggest privacy thread out there. I am not on GrapheneOS but I’m considering switching soon.

    • windlas@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      I switched over a year ago and have no regrets. It does everything I want (including android auto now) and gives me at least a little but more privacy than a stock android image.

      The more people who use it the more impetus there is to further develop it.

      Give it a go! Its a great.

  • Sivilian@lemmy.zip
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    2 months ago

    I have been using lots of the different private keyboards that have been out for a while but FUTO just came out with a amazing Keyboard that has better then Google Voice typing.

    • communism@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      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.

      • JGrffn@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        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.

        • Wild Bill@midwest.social
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          2 months ago

          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?

    • fleet@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      I’m using a work profile for Google Play. It was surprisingly easy to setup and there are few guides around. But basically you install Shelter, then clone Apps to the work profile. Open up Apps on the work profile and install google play services normally.

        • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          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

          • The Cuuuuube@beehaw.org
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            2 months ago

            So I don’t want to tell you to panic but I can’t find anything about “dslul” or their version of openboard. The questions I have are as follows:

            1. How did you acquire this apk? (F-Droid, play store, obtainium, regular download?)
            2. Do you have hypatia installed? If not, can you install it and run a device scan to see if there’s any known malicious blobs on your device?
            3. Please take a look at heliboard. I know its weird to tell people they’re safer going with the most popular options, but legitimately we’re a pack animal. We do better when we look out for each other and this may be a case where it’s best to go to the version of this project that has the most eyes on it
          • washbasin@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            1.4.5 is the latest—and last—OpenBoard version, released 8/8/22 per app on F-Droid.

            Did you fresh install it? Your log makes it look like you just installed it.

      • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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        2 months ago

        Nah, I prefer F-droid wherever I can. The mentioning when an app has anti-features is so helpful.

        But Aurora is a great second option.

        • The Cuuuuube@beehaw.org
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          2 months ago

          Yeah I use play store because I have to have some stuff furnished from play store for work but aurora store is a great way to acquire those apps you do need to get through life but that aren’t open source

      • Oneser@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Some apps are not available in my Google store due to geoblocking. Can aurora circumvent this? Or is it a front end of the “local” google play store?

        • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          A reputable VPN can block this. I’m not sure if the store can solely. I don’t believe so. If your blocked for any reason you need a good VPN. ****

          • Oneser@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            You are correct, re-loading the aurora store after shifting my vpn to the target country (and anonymous login) seems to change the aurora storefront too :)

  • MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I think I can live without playstore completely but I might need K-9 with Google emails for some stuff on my device, so I guess I’m not escaping Google spying on my IP address anytime soon. Other than that, I don’t use Google or apps from the playstore at all

    • communism@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      I guess I’m not escaping Google spying on my IP address anytime soon

      Use a VPN. No reason not to if you’re concerned about privacy—otherwise you have no privacy as your ISP can monitor you. If cost is an issue, ProtonVPN has a free tier, otherwise I recommend Mullvad as an affordable and really reliable and decent option imo. I found ProtonVPN’s connection to be kind of volatile when I used it (I paid for it too, on the highest tier). Mullvad has always been super reliable though. Whenever I’ve had connectivity issues it’s always been because of whatever network I’m connected to, not because of Mullvad.

      • MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Yeah I probably should but the WiFi at work doesn’t let wireguard through (I have a wireguard server running on a VPS)

  • Dop@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    You can set up multiple user profile and install the play services in only 1 profile if you want to jeep other profile more private

  • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    I’d love to try out GrapheneOS (or another OS), but I can’t afford a second phone, and there’s no way I’m gonna dive head-first into something entirely unfamiliar to me when it’s my only method for telephony.

    • IDew@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      It does function just like any other phone so far I’ve tested. No app that simply doesn’t work. And if it doesn’t, you can simply exploit the GOS hardening in settings to improve compatibility. You overall have more control over any app, which I like

      • K4mpfie@feddit.de
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        2 months ago

        One of my biggest concern is banking apps not working. Is that still an issue with Custom ROMs? Edit: Nevermind, answerd below

    • Ironically it was when the stock android upgrade on my pixel 7 completely bricked my phone (due to the multiple user profiles bug) that I decided to jump in to Graphene head first.

      Compared to my experience running random ROMs on Samsungs back in the era of galaxy note 1 to 4, Graphene installer was so easy!

    • Mike D.@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I feel the same. If I try to install a different ROM and it falls I could be without a phone for a bit.

    • communism@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      It is really similar to stock android in terms of functionality. It’s just degoogled and hardened. It’s designed to be user-friendly and not for tech-savvy people (though tech-savvy-friendly—which is part of being user-friendly imo). I promise you you can use it out of the box once installed just like a stock android install. The only thing to be aware of is to install some kind of package manager like fdroid or aurora store, or even grapheneos’s unprivileged google play store, to get apps, unless you just want to use the stock apps it comes with i guess in which case you probably shouldn’t waste money on a smartphone.

        • communism@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          Yes, only Pixels are officially supported. If you want to add support for other devices, it’s a foss project and you’re welcome to write the code yourself. For other devices there are other degoogled OSes you can use. Graphene is generally considered the most secure but if you have another phone you can install one of the other AOSP forks or turn it into a linux phone or something

          • The Cuuuuube@beehaw.org
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            2 months ago

            Its also worth noting Graphene’s focus on pixel devices stems from those devices having more easily secured hardware. Which android fork you decide to use will depend on your particular use case. I wound up going with a Pixel and Graphene for android auto. But if you’re someone with existing hardware that you want to set up with a degoogled os, there’s e/os, lineageos, CalyxOS, iodé, and, if you wanna get really weird, postmarket os. Having done a deep dive into this I can honestly day there’s no single OSFA answer to this.

  • jawsua@lemmy.one
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    Check out Heliboard (also on F-Droid) and follow the instructions to enable gesture typing. I also suggest Futo for on-device voice to text.

    What specific apps are you using that you can’t deal going away from? Other than some social media or gamr or something. Even then it seems like there are replacements a lot of the time

  • T (they/she)@beehaw.org
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    2 months ago

    I’m curious why no one recommending FlorisBoard.

    I’ve been using GraoheneOS as my daily driver for months now. I still have issues with things that need Google Localization (car sharing program in my city for example) and I’ve had a few banking apps complaining when being installed from the Aurora Store.

    I miss having my cards on my phone quite a lot.

    • lseif@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      +1 for this, but i will mention that suggestions/autocorrect is not stable yet if that matters for people.

      • sparkle@lemm.ee
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        Suggestions/autocorrect will likely come within the next 2 months when 0.5 releases

        It’s also easily customizable and will likely have an in-app layout editor by 0.6

  • lseif@sopuli.xyz
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    2 months ago

    Sometimes it feels meaningless committing to this whole thing because I’m not perfectly private

    every small change matters

    • The Cuuuuube@beehaw.org
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      2 months ago

      Exactly. I don’t even think of myself as having escaped surveillance capitalism. I’ve made it less lucrative though. All that data they’re mining? I’ve done a little bit of work to make sure the mines are tapped out. I’m gonna keep working to convince others that there’s value in doing the same. Its all part of telling these greedy shitheads we won’t accept their global destruction anymore