Because somebody asked me to post an update on my attempt of switching from ios (over 10 years) to android here is the short of it.
Graphene os is fully functional and i had no issues running any app and having notifications on it, i was however forced to install google framework on the phone in order to run google camera on my pixel 3. I still could restrict permissions on both the sandboxed framework and the camera app which is really what it’s all about - not just toggling meaningless switches, but actually controlling what permissions a particular app has.
I was running a second sim card in the pixel, so that i wouldn’t have to explain to half my contact list that they have to toggle ‘verify’ in signal conversation. Carrying two phones felt really stupid, although the iphone i was using only for work messages and calls.
Because my iphone is less then two years and is in very good condition - I will keep using it for now, however even after only two weeks of usage I realise that that next time I’m shopping for a phone first stop would be GrapheneOS web site and their device compatibility list. Hopefully they can integrate or rework the google camera so that it runs natively or can be installed without the additional framework app. Also would be cool if the can implement natively work profile so that I don’t have to trust external apps like shelter. Running a separate profile just for google maps and camera doesn’t seem practical long-term.
P.S. I don’t find myself dependent on imessage or any native ios app, however I realised that many apps that I use like note taking, calendar and reminders are ios only, so in the near future I’ll try to find more OS agnostic software and switch over to that. I have a proxmox box running at home, and have heard good things about next cloud, so will look into that at first.
If anyone has recommendations on good ios or android clients for notes, reminders and calendar I would really appreciate if you’d share those.
I use and would recommend Etar as a Calendar App.
Because I host my own Nextcloud Instance I synchronize it using CalDAV and also have my Tasks / Reminders integrated into the Calendar.
For Notes I use Standard Notes, which is pretty feature-rich and I’ve never really missed anything.
Happy to see another User breaking free from the Duopoly
Android-based phones need to ramp up the number of years of OS updates. Otherwise, it’s still a big no-no for me and I certainly won’t recommend to others.
Using iPhone doesn’t mean you’re trapped in Apple’s walled garden. I certainly don’t consider myself being trapped. But it’s a rational and assessed decision. A few big reasons iPhone is the way to go:
5-6 years of OS updates; plus a couple more years of security updates (if serious bugs found)
quality replacement parts (especially the battery) are easy to source
So I might own and use the phone for 4 yrs. Then trade in or resell it in 2nd markets around the globe. I’m fairly sure the phone will be put to good use by the next owner for a couple more years. I believe the life-span of an iPhone could be as long as up to 10 years. It helps to reduce eWaste, and promote reuse of quality goods.
I have a gcam service provider that I add to my rom so that gcam is working without google. In you case, I’m not sure you can mix them since google framework would be providing the same thing. Graphene’s sandbox is much more versatile since you do have control over permissions.
Good luck on the journey. It’s sounds like you have made a lot of progress.
thanks for the response - will have a look at them, first will need to set up next cloud - the laziness overcame me and I haven’t touched the server for two months straight after the last set up xdd
yea, i simply wasn’t even aware of that option so I’m really happy that smbd pointed me in the right direction, where there is at least a chance to break out:)
the support year on the pixel if you look at them are similar to that of the iphone.
Using iPhone doesn’t mean you’re trapped in Apple’s walled garden. I certainly don’t consider myself being trapped. But it’s a rational and assessed decision. A few big reasons iPhone is the way to go
personally - the last three phones I’ve had were all ios, and when choosing them i went for the iphone without any hesitancy and second thought - and for me this is a trap
a trap because you of how used I am to the ios and how unlikely it makes me to switch to a different one.
and how i don’t want to look for app alternatives for the apps that i have gotten used to over the years and at least half of them aren’t present on android at all.
how the main reason for choosing ios is the fact that they don’t openly sell my info to 3rd party (for now at least).
I was using blackberry 10 devices - the passport was one of the best phones that i’ve had, not because it had a great camera for selfies (even the main camera was awful), not because it was x25 times faster than anything (it was smooth and wasn’t laggy which is the only important thing for me day-to-day, it was the simple fact that it was amazing at writing any type of content, talking over the phone worked as expected and the battery was awesome.
You make an unbeatable argument about the resale value and I wanted to emphasis one thing - nobody has to consider themselves trapped in the eco system, and we all have our reasons for our purchase decisions, for me the fact that we have only two major OS is a trap already, and GrapheneOS whilst giving us the commodity and usability of modern android gives people like me who aren’t savvy enough to make their own rom a really good 3rd option where you can choose what info you want to give any one about you.
So for me it is a way out of the ‘trap’ and i intend to support the project as soon as I get my hands on fresh hardware.
