Switched my phone to a custom OS last month and it's not as scary as I thought

I was always sure that moving off the normal Android system would be a huge pain. I pictured a broken phone and hours of reading tech guides. But after my old phone got another update that asked for more permissions, I decided to try it. I followed a guide for a phone called the Pixel 4a and used a system called GrapheneOS. The whole process took about two hours on a Saturday morning, and most of that was waiting for files to copy. Now, I have way more control over what apps can do, and the phone still works for all my normal stuff like maps and messages. The big change for me was seeing how many trackers my old weather app had that are just gone now. Has anyone else made a switch like this and found an app that just won't work without Google's services?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_olivia2mo ago

Found the same thing when I switched my old phone to LineageOS! My banking app totally refused to run without Google Play Services. I ended up using an older version of the app from their website, which still works fine for checking my balance.

sanchez.mary2mo agoMost Upvoted

That's a smart workaround with the older app version. Some apps are just way too picky about their environment. It gets really annoying with things like food delivery or ride share apps, they often won't even open without the full Google framework. Makes you wonder how much of the app's actual function needs all that background stuff and how much is just lazy coding.

leehall2mo ago

My old Galaxy S5 on LineageOS taught me that.