cross-posted from: 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.
I ran GrapheneOS (and CalyxOS) on a Pixel 5 for a while and quite liked the experience. It's remarkably polished and get's the job done quite well for the most part, with some caveats like you mentioned. The biggest bummer is when Google EOLs the devices, so the Graphene team also has to (last I checked). So, I installed /e/OS on my P5 and stuck it in a drawer.
The ROM has come a long way in recent years, and I'm glad that Android Auto works now. (Now that I have a car that has AA/CarPlay functionality!) Good on you for making the plunge and I hope it continues to work out well for you. I am not surprised that your NFC car key doesn't work, based on what I know about the trusted key system on Android when Google announced it not too long ago. That may be hard to find a workaround for, but I am not a developer by any means, so who knows!
FYI the Pixel 5 is in "extended support", which I think means they are still supporting it but they might stop at any point. From their actual doc:
Good to know! I should have clarified in my comment, I think the language they used the last time I checked was basically something like, "We no longer guarantee that we'll support these devices once they go EOL from Google." I don't recall anything about extended support, so that's awesome!
Huh, that's not a very long support window. Looks like Google's support ended in Oct 2023
I think it was three years from launch, though I believe newer Pixels offer at least 5 now
How was CalyxOS overall? Are there some things that CalyxOS does better than GrapheneOS?