[kelnos]

Thanks for the frank details about the downsides.

If I can't use my banking apps, Lyft, Google Pay, Photos, Maps, etc. with a particular mobile OS (with all features working), then it's unfortunately not for me.

It seems like most of the Android alternatives throw the baby out with the bathwater. I get that making a trusted OS based on Android is hard, especially with Google having moved so much core functionality into Play Services, but the value I get out of my phone is mostly from mainstream apps, using mainstream features (like push notifications and location services). If those don't work, to me it's not really a useful device.

I get that a lot of these apps aren't particularly privacy-oriented, but to me, my main concern is that there are a lot of Google-owned core components to the OS and userland that actively subvert my privacy. I'd really like to think there's some middle ground on Android where I can trust the OS and userspace core, and still run the apps I usually run.

[commoner]

GP seems to be describing a flavor of Android that does not have microG or Google Play Services.

CalyxOS has microG, and I have no problems getting timely notifications on Signal or Slack, nor do I have any issues using Lyft, Google Maps, Google Photos, or any of my banking apps on CalyxOS (or LineageOS for microG). The only exception on your list is Google Pay, which I don't use because it is extremely privacy-invasive (gives Google all of your transaction data). In my opinion, CalyxOS is a very practical OS that balances convenience with privacy.

[zozbot234]

> If I can't use my banking apps, Lyft, Google Pay, Photos, Maps, etc. with a particular mobile OS (with all features working), then it's unfortunately not for me.

These are proprietary apps, so it's a bit unrealistic to expect that they would support a free OS.

[kelnos]

I'm not asking for official support from the app developer, just knowledge that they "happen to" work on an alternative Android-based OS. Which they should, if all the APIs they depend on are there (including the Play Services ones, via microG or whatever). If they specifically look for "non-blessed" Android variants and deliberately fail to work, that's a shame, but if it's an app I need, that rules out that OS for me, unfortunately. That's just the reality of the situation.