Hello everyone!
A lot has happened since my last post, specifically talking about my LineageOS inquiries. I had a string of bad luck and broke the digitizer but no cracks to my Pixel 7 Pro.
So I ended up "upgrading" to the Pixel 8 Pro because the store I went to only had the 8 Pro and not the 7 Pro in stock and it was dire that I have a phone.
So this leads me to my next questions:
What is your favorite Android spin for your Pixel Device?
I have used GrapheneOS, LineageOS, and Stock Android (of various versions on my Pro 7)
This leads me down the rabbit hole of deciding which experience I want on my Pixel 8 Pro.
I have GrapheneOS on my 8 Pro right now because I wanted to see if I could make it fit my needs, and I am leaning towards it not working for me. Since I switched, android auto is not connecting even following the instructions GrapheneOS has to offer.
AdAway (nonroot) is not working on GrapheneOS, as it just kills any internet connection to everything on GrapheneOS. So that's another point against me wanting to stick with GrapheneOS.
No AFwall+. Another point against it.
It appears that CalyxOS is going to give me a similar experience with issues related to the ones I mentioned with GrapheneOS.
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I had considered trying out LineageOS for microG but unsure if this is the route I want to go because I am unsure if some of the apps I will rely on will work for various reasons. (Mainly unsure if MicroG will suffice for them.)
I am open to other options to, and would love to hear what you are using!
Thank you!
Maybe try some more troubleshooting on GrapheneOS? Also, I'm sure that the folks in the GrapheneOS Matrix channel are ready to help you out. You should be able to get Android Auto to work somehow.
Regarding AFWall+, do you actually need it? GrapheneOS has a built-in firewall, doesn't that work well enough for you? And can't you use something like NextDNS instead of AdAway? Also, the Graphene folks might be able to help troubleshoot the AdAway problem.
If you are going to switch to another OS, I recommend DivestOS. It's the only thing that even comes close to Graphene in terms of security. It's based on LineageOS, but has some significant security improvements, and for example allows for bootloader relocking. It's the only other OS recommended by the Graphene devs.
I did end up getting Android Auto to work luckily. However, other things just went sort of south from there. My use case for GrapheneOS wasn't quite fit.
The built in firewall did work well enough for my usecase. However, I didn't want a DNS based adblocking solution as that took away from my ability to connect to my home VPN. I should reach out to see if they can help. However, I did end up switching back to LineageOS since I could use a custom kernel which significantly lowered the running temps of my phone.
I wanted to try DivestOS, but there isn't a Pixel 8 Pro build yet.
Huge fan of what GrapheneOS and the team/community have done to make it better. I am sure going to keep my eye on it going forward.