You don't really lose access to the Play Store, you can access it indirectly using the free Aurora app instead. There is also microG, a free reimplementation o

You don't really lose access to the Play Store, you can access it indirectly using the free Aurora app instead. There is also microG, a free reimplementation of Google Play Services, which would allow you to even use apps that depend on that (for instance, for push notifications). Of course what I actually recommend is doing neither of those and only using apps from F-Droid instead. But it is an option.