I’m thinking of migrating to grapheneos from ios, what are some things that I should be aware of? Keep in mind, I haven’t used android in about 3 or 4 years and have basically been using an iPhone since the 3GS. Any heads up or tips would be helpful. I’m just really tired of apples new business model and current executives, and am trying to move to all free software. Thanks in advanced.
In my experience moving to Graphene OS on its own was easy. The UI was refreshingly simple with no bloat at all, and I got used to it quickly.
Entirely ditching Google services is a different matter that I found much more difficult. I ended up installing Google Play Store/Services since some of my apps relied on it to work properly (usually because they rely on Google’s Notification service). Depending on what apps you use this might be easier or harder. There are good open-source alternatives for many things in F-Droid, and its possible to get everything else via the Aurora Store without using your Google credentials. You could also set up a separate profile for apps that require Google services so they’re in their own sandbox.
In the end I did none of that, and just logged into the Play Store with my Google credentials on my main profile. Everything just worked with little effort, and if I’m ever feeling particularly paranoid at least I have the option to revoke permissions and/or uninstall, Google services.
TLDR: Moving to GrapheneOS = Easy. Going full FOSS with no Google = hard (at least for me).