Initial Impressions of GrapheneOS - Lemmy Today
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/6126694
[https://lemmy.today/post/6126694] > About a week ago, I finally made the
decision to flash GrapheneOS on my Pixel 6. I’ve been thinking about moving to
GrapheneOS for months but was afraid to do so because of missing functionalities
or app incompatibility that would result in my Pixel 6 becoming unusable. Even
though I could just re-flash stock Android should I encounter those issues, I
didn’t want to bother. > > However, last week, I decided to set aside my fears
and made the move to GrapheneOS. Whatever fears or concerns I had about missing
functionalities or app incompatibilities were completely unfounded. Flashing of
GrapheneOS was really easy, thanks to the instructions they provided on their
website. The sandboxed Google Play environment still allowed me to download the
key apps I needed, whether it be the mobile game that I’m currently playing or a
smart home app (e.g. Ring) or a banking app (e.g. Chase). They all worked as
expected, though my banking apps required me to turn on Exploit Protection
Compatibility Mode, something that was explained to me in one of the Graphene
Discussion Boards. Android Auto was another app that I needed for driving, and
thanks to the latest update that was made by the GrapheneOS makers, I had no
issues in setting up Android Auto to work with my car. That was a huge relief
for me! > > That being said, there is one thing that is not working, but it’s
not that important of a feature for me, and that is NFC. Prior to making the
move, I did not use NFC that much for payments, although my car app did have a
Remote Key function that relied on NFC. As far as I can tell, it looks like NFC
is not usable in GrapheneOS. There’s probably a good security and/or privacy
reason for this, but I do wish something could be implemented for it, as it can
be quite convenient. Again, it’s not that important of a feature for me to have
right now…more of a “nice to have” feature…but I wonder if the GrapheneOS
developers are looking into this. > > Anyways, it’s only been a week since I
made the move. I’m sure more use cases will come up the more I use GrapheneOS,
and instead of fear, I find myself excited at testing out more apps and
functionalities on the OS. Traveling is one scenario I have not yet tried, but
that’s because I’m not leaving town to go anywhere. That’s one set of scenarios
that I look forward to trying out. > > If anyone has any other advices or
information they have about their experience with GrapheneOS, I would welcome
it. And for those who are still undecided about moving to GrapheneOS, I hope
this post relieves some of your anxieties or worries about making the
transition.
