[microtonal]

What really grinds my gears is people installing GrapheneOS and then loading google play services onto it. What's the point? Just stick with the stock OS. It works better and has all the features you want.

It makes a lot of sense to do that, since GrapheneOS sandboxes Google Play Services like any other app and you can revoke most of its permissions. On stock OS Play Services is privileged and has access to pretty much everything. So, using GrapheneOS with Play Services is a vast privacy/security improvement. And then we haven't even talked about rerouting location requests, etc.

Even if would use GrapheneOS and then set it up as closely as possible to Pixel OS, you still benefit from a lot of security/privacy improvements.

[ptidhomme]

Plus you can install them in a separate work profile (use app "shelter"), which isolates them more.

Personally I need them for my banking app (which is a shame but here we are), but I disallow network access for Google Play Services + disable Google Play app. The bank app works nice with that.

[wao0uuno]

I just don't get the point of going out of your way to install GrapheneOS which exchanges features and software support for privacy and security and then proceeding to install Alphabet spyware on that device anyway. What's the point of all of this if Google still gets to read your notifications, know your location and run their DRM and more in the background? It all feels like a convoluted half measure. A lie to make weak people feel slightly better about their crippling smartphone dependency.

[microtonal]

I think this is a strong feature of GrapheneOS. It's much easier for people to migrate stepwise than go completely cold turkey, which is simply not possible for most people.

E.g. I need WhatsApp, because all of our daughter's school stuff, birthday parties, etc. is arranged through WhatsApp. GrapheneOS provides good middle ways. A new user could install Play Services in the owner profile and still get much better security than stock Android (because many more mitigations) and better privacy (because sandboxed Google Play). Next, they might have a separate profile for apps that require Play Services. Finally, once these apps are not needed anymore, they could get completely rid of Play Services.

A lie to make weak people feel slightly better about their crippling smartphone dependency.

It has nothing to do with weakness. People live in a world where they have social contacts and obligations (mortgage apps, banking apps, etc.) that happen to require apps that use Google Play Services. I am happy if people try to remove as many of the dependencies as they can get away with GrapheneOS.

Don't throw away the baby with the bathwater.