Degoogling - can someone ELI5 how certain apps work on Graphene OS?
Degoogling - can someone ELI5 how certain apps work on Graphene OS?
Hi,
I am (very, very early) in the process of degoogling. I am definitely not a high risk as far as needing to be completely locked down. It's more about trying to have a little more control over how my data is used.
I am looking at Graphene OS, but I am a little confused how certain apps (that rely on Google services) work. I have a Pixel 8 and will have it for the foreseeable future.
The apps I currently use that I would still need (or their equivalents) are:
- Clash Royale (Supercell)
- Notion (Notion Labs)
- Clickup (Mango Technologies)
- Business Calendar 2 (Appgenix)
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If I installed these exact apps "sandboxed", what exactly does that mean from a user standpoint? Will I have to use a separate account, reboot my phone, etc, or is it a quick process to use the app?
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Is there a list of apps that I could browse to find equivalents to the above? Recommendations here are also ok.
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I saw that Firefox isn't exactly private(?) and that Vanadium is better in that aspect but I don't understand why. Can someone ELI5, and help me see if this is a relevant concern for me?
Thank you! 😁
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You don't install the apps "sandboxed". You can install the Google services like any normal app (in the "Apps" app). The Google services will then only have very limited permissions, for example they won't be able to see your location, camera, contacts etc. by default and you can grant these permissions like to any other app.
The only thing that changes is that you have the option to install Google services and that you have the option to grant them permissions they would have limitlessly on a "normal" Android phone.
Your four mentioned apps should work on GrapheneOS without any problems, the only apps I had difficulties with were banking apps. The Google Play Store won't be installed by default though, so you will need to install it in the "Apps" app. (I recommend using F-Droid to find alernative apps, although you won't find something like Clash Royale on there. If you don't want to use a Google account, you may want to look into Aurora Store (it provides anonymous access to the Play Store), which is also available of F-Droid)
I personally still use Firefox (Mull to be exact), because Vanadium doesn't seem to have any good way of blocking ads. I found this on the internet in some R*ddit comment:
Chromium-based browsers like Vanadium and Bromite provide the strongest sandbox implementation, leagues ahead of the alternatives. It is much harder to escape from the sandbox and it provides much more than acting as a barrier to compromising the rest of the OS.
(Long version of the above quote: https://grapheneos.org/usage#web-browsing)
FWIW Cromite should be the recommendation now (Bromite has been long discontinued!), although I too don't worry too much about the sandboxing benefits and use a FF fork for much/most of my browsing these days.
Cromite*
and yes Cromite is god tier stuff. even blows Mullvad Browser out of the water. ultimate privacy and ultimate security both.
One of my favorite browsers, and it does such a good job I apparently haven't had to think about it enough to learn how to spell it...
Then why does Tor Project avoid Chromium and instead elect to use Firefox as its browser base? Is TailsOS less secure than Graphene AOSP fork?
Because gecko base on Android has too many holes, and are harder to plug than webview. Android uses a modified linux kernel, which means that it is NOT linux "based". Expecting Android to be Linux is just silly. TailsOS is Linux, genius 🥸
Can you elaborate on these "holes" on Gecko engine on Android, that are worse than WebView made by Google? You know that Tor Project also uses Gecko as base even for Tor Browser for Android?
Regardless of what you say, Android is a Linux based distribution for phones. It just is not the same way GNU/Linux distros are on desktop, but there are too many similarities. Claiming Android is not Linux is an absurdity of colossal proportions, and something that belongs on 4chan.
I'll be on the lookout for the cease and desist letter, and then I'll stop, cool?
So you believe in shitting on moderators, even when you have absolutely nothing worthwhile or constructive to say? It does seem like that. Baiting moderators never goes well.
Bro, you seriously need to rethink youe delivery. What's goin to happen? Am i going to have to open another account? Take easy man you read seriously stressed.
You said you were trying to make me angry as an approach. So I read you correctly. Do not do it, it often backfires with most mods/admins.
It's all good bro. I said i was dropping it. I'm sorry. In all honesty, I see this place as a way to unwind, I joke a lot (not always in a way othees may approve of, granted), so we can either play nice and maybe even become friends or we just make it like we don't exist for each other and move on with our lives. I'll take it either way. And full disclosure, I have no ill intent towards you (or anyone else for that matter) at all. I hope you can at some point realize that life, with all the challenges it carries, is beautiful, and laughing at everything is the best way to live it. Additionally, believe it or not, your disgust for GrapheneOS has led ke to want to dig deeper into what they're about, because I've taken their good intentions for granted, when in reality I have no way to tell if they have good intentions or not based solely on my current knowledge. So for that, I thank you.
lol, so angwy
Awesome. Thank you for the detailed explanation!