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Stefano Marinelli

Saturday relaxation: I'm doing some tests to see if I could use the Google Pixel 7 with GrapheneOS - and without Google services - as my main phone. I've solved many of the issues:

- F-Droid for downloading main apps
- Aurora Store for Play Store apps
- For push notifications, I already have the ntfy server on my own server. By using UnifiedPush, many apps can use it
- Tusky (or moshidon) perfectly supports UnifiedPush (although I usually have notifications turned off for social apps)
- FluffyChat and Element support UnifiedPush and work well on my server
- Whatsapp works perfectly with the Matrix bridge, so I don't need to install it
- Mercurygram for Telegram perfectly supports notifications via UnifiedPush
- For email, I'm unsure whether to keep a separate connection (also to receive email notifications if my ntfy server is down) or use NotiMail to redirect them to UnifiedPush
- 2FAS Auth for 2FA

I will probably create a profile with Google services only for the apps that strictly require them, but it won't run in the background and I'll only use it when needed. For example, everything related to banking apps comes to mind.

Some apps remain out, mainly intercom apps. However, I could integrate them into Home Assistant and use that for sending notifications.

Yes, I think I could use a device daily without Google services, being fully in control of my data.

#Pixel #GooglePixel #GrapheneOS #OwnYourData

14 comments
CaldeiraG

@stefano I use a P7 with Graphene on the daily, ntfy didnt really work for me I'll be honest, i'll just not get notifications instead :) Email I use k9-mail or the now rebranded @thunderbird mobile and that sends notifications just fine.

I gotta try using Matrix more and the WPP bridge, sounds appealing (i just use the main app without notifs)

Stefano Marinelli

@caldeirag @thunderbird it wasn't working with the ntfy server, but is working with my own, self hosted one.

Paul Buetow

@stefano Same / similar setup I have currently. I own the Google Pixel 7 Pro and have instsalled GrapheneOS on it 1.5y ago, Love it.
Main profile: Completely de-googled, with F-Droid/Aurora.
Google profile: Some apps I sometimes have to use but require (sandboxed) Google Play
Social Media profile: For Mastodon, LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook...
Data sync with my home FreeBSD based NAS: Syncthing
. I have blogged about it last year: foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-01-23-wh (Didn't use Syncthing back then)

@stefano Same / similar setup I have currently. I own the Google Pixel 7 Pro and have instsalled GrapheneOS on it 1.5y ago, Love it.
Main profile: Completely de-googled, with F-Droid/Aurora.
Google profile: Some apps I sometimes have to use but require (sandboxed) Google Play
Social Media profile: For Mastodon, LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook...
Data sync with my home FreeBSD based NAS: Syncthing
. I have blogged about it last year: foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-01-23-wh (Didn't...

Paul Buetow

@stefano Not all banking apps work on GrapheneOS, even with Sandboxed Google Play services, though. For one bank, it works for me. For the other bank, it doesn't. So I still have to have a stock-android phone for this exception. But I am not banking all the time, so the stock-android phone stays home in my shelf.

Paul Buetow

@stefano Also, Android Auto is supposed to work sandboxed. It does sometimes for me, but often, my car display would just crash and randomly reboot. Not sure, if it is GrapheneOS' fault or my cars....

Stefano Marinelli

@snonux I'll try Android Auto in the coming days. As for the banking apps, I rarely need them on the go (I prefer to use my computer for banking stuff), so I will try them but it wouldn't be a big problem

Paul Buetow

@stefano For now, i have given up Android auto, I just use my phone+google maps on the Google profile + a phone stand in the car. I might re-try, as there were a few updates since i had the problems.

Stefano Marinelli

@snonux My wife's car has no problems with Android Auto on my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (we use it quite often), so that car will be perfect for a test

Stefano Marinelli

@snonux Thank you for sharing your experience and the blog post!

Stefano Marinelli

@mms for now, better than with Google Services. I think they collect a lot of information and the phone is much less "idle". But I haven't tried it with my sim as a daily driver, so I'll perform some, deeper tests next week

as400 πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ 🐧

@stefano

For apps that need google services use private space. This way you don't need to switch profiles. Google services will run only when private space is unlocked. When you lock it - google service will be stopped. This is a new feature in android 15.
For email I highly recommend FairEmail. Me and my wife use it for years and it has been great.

Stefano Marinelli

@as400 Thanks for the hint! I'll probably do this, so I won't have to switch profiles.

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