I have not any prior experience with installing custom ROMs, but after trying it out (and getting stuck, and googling and finding answers) I successfully did it. Below is my home screen if anybody is curious:

I use OpenBoard for my keyboard. Unfortunately I am still dependent on Play Store since some of the apps I need can only be found there. Sometimes it feels meaningless committing to this whole thing because I’m not perfectly private; then I think this is better than using a regular iPhone or Android phone.

So far I’m liking it. I am naturally inclined to feel hesitant about using this as my main phone and plugging in a SIM since it’s custom, but I’m slowly making the transition.

Feel free to share any beginners advice or your own experience using GOS for the first time. Cheers!

  • HappyTimeHarry@lemm.eeEnglish
    17·
    4 months ago

    Even if apps you use depend on play store one of the things you can do on GrapheneOS is temporarily disable it and only turn it back on when apps refuse to run, another option is just keeping those apps in a separate work profile.

        • refalo@programming.dev
          2·
          4 months ago

          I would argue you shouldn’t be using those apps in the first place since they all contain proprietary blobs (yes that includes Signal, see Molly-FOSS for a non-blobbed fork).

          • HappyTimeHarry@lemm.eeEnglish
            2·
            4 months ago

            Absolutely, my suggestion was just for folks who have apps that still require play services, not everyone can avoid it, but you can minimize usage if you do need them.