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First new phone in 6 years! (GrapheneOS) What else have I been missing? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/android@lemdro.id
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Hi all. My Samsung S20 finally gave out after 6 years and I needed a new phone, so I got a Pixel 9 Pro with GrapheneOS! It's been a blast learning all of the various new features I haven't had access to. What are some "newer" things that you have been taking advantage of?

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[–] 10 points 4 months ago (7 children)

Well, if you're eschewing Play services/degoogling, you're going to find the features are very similar to the experience you're coming from. No NFC/payments, apps that won't run due to Play services requirement, no facial unlock, All pixel-specific features missing, no visual voicemail, no RCS chats, etc, etc.

I've been running degoogled GrapheneOS on my Pixel 9 for a couple years now and love it but it's not because of the features, since the experience lags years behind Googled phones. I love it because of the privacy and in spite of the barren wasteland of bells and whistles.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago* (2 children)

    I’ve been on the edge of switching for a bit, but am mildly apprehensive. I will be okay without many of the apps except astronomy. Regarding texting, I’ve tried pressing many of my text contacts to signal, but many persist in normal iOS. Perhaps this is a stupid question, but does all that normal communication just cut over okay? I know signal will. Most importantly I’ve not tied my GOS phone to the googs and am trying not to. Anyhow my ignorance is making me too chicken to transfer my eSIM away from my working phone.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Your texting conversations will just default to SMS/MMS even if the other party is capable of RCS. For me, this is no real detraction as I don't have need of any of the RCS features and SMS/MMS suit my needs fine. Backing up your texts on a phone with RCS enabled and restoring them on the graphene phone without RCS will still succeed, although I've noticed some sms apps(like Fossify Messages) won't sort them by timestamp properly, I'm assuming because it either can't read the RCS timestamp or it doesn't count it as an SMS. The content is there, it just isn't sorted by time received.

    I use Signal for conversation with my family and it works seamlessly across Graphene and desktop. Just make a backup and restore it on the next phone you'lll be using signal on.

    It's really not that hard to run it without Google apps/services. In my case, I lost my MTB tracking apps as all of them require Play Services and my Starbucks app does as well but everything else I need , including banking and medical work without issue. For everything else needing Play Services, I was able to find a suitable replacement(for instance, Paralino in place of Life360, as they offer a specifically degoogled APK).

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

    Thank you for the info. It is encouraging though I did plan on using the fossify suite as well.

    I try and pay attention on these threads and have been fleshing this GOS phone out, but how does one obtain a banking app without the play store? I wouldn’t think you’d find an apk for my regional CU anywhere but the play store. Am I wrong? If I log into the play store, then it “compromises” my privacy, no? Or is there some way to fence off or sandbox things? Apologies for the bother of so many questions, but do appreciate the education.

    Edit: Shit, too many questions.

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    • [–] 4 points 4 months ago

    Set the automatic reboot so you phone reboots with encryption lock.

    You can set a pin for unlocking the phone and biometrics for other authentication separately. Gives you easy ways to better manage your security.

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    [–] 4 points 4 months ago

    Check out FlashDim on F-Droid: variable brightness on your flashlight

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    [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    Auto turn off wifi and Bluetooth because of the new SigTrace Surveillance.

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    [–] 1 point 4 months ago (3 children)

    That device came with what, Android 11? I think my favorite thing since then has probably been not having to ask whether fDroid can install apps once it's done one time.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    ... Until google changes it in September. I guess that might come back.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    Well, if you don't run Google spy services, then nothing is changing for you in September. But if you do, then so help you. I feel sorry for you.

    With that said, I am very seriously looking into switching to post-market OS and running mainline Linux on my phone instead of Android.

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