3 ms·

The best semi-open phone experience you can get is a Pixel with CalyxOS or GrapheneOS. Everything will work because its built on android, but with full privacy

The best semi-open phone experience you can get is a Pixel with CalyxOS or GrapheneOS. Everything will work because its built on android, but with full privacy and better security.

Tijdreiziger 4y ago
Not GP, but I looked into that option. The problem to me seems that most popular apps depend on Google Play Services in some way. So your options are (a) use microG (which seems pretty janky), or (b) install the real Play Services, which puts you back at square one.
- 3np 4y ago
  Or c) use alternatives to those most popular apps. Also, "seems pretty janky" is quite the shallow dismissal.
  - Tijdreiziger 4y ago
    Re: alternatives -- see this comment chain a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33103321 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33103321 Re: jank -- per the official microG wiki [1], most of the functionality is only partially implemented and/or has bugs. I don't see how it's shallow to consider that as janky. [1] https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/wiki/Implementation-Status https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/wiki/Implementation-Status
    - jacooper 4y ago
      I use MicroG daily, and never faced issue with apps it all. Everything works
- jacooper 4y ago
  Clayx ships with MicroG and almost every app works with no problems. GrapheneOS has a GMS install option, but it installs it as a non root service, so you are still going much more private than stock Android.
NoboruWataya 4y ago
Not everything, as I understand it - some apps (such as Google Wallet and some banking apps) rely on Google's SafetyNet API and won't work on those systems. It's a shame because it's probably only a handful of apps but it's the ones that are important to me.
- jacooper 4y ago
  Calyx has a hack around SafetyNet, but it breaks often