Graphene is not for everyday casual users. It really only works well if you don't rely on any apps that depend on Google play, like steam or discord. If you're on AT&T, you don't get caller ID or voicemail.
This is an OS for people who care more about privacy and security than having an everyday usable phone. It is very much not for normal people.
> It really only works well if you don't rely on any apps that depend on Google play, like steam or discord.
Steam, Discord and the vast majority of Android apps work perfectly on GrapheneOS. Sandboxed Google Play is a robust feature which works very well. If you're choosing to completely avoid using Google Play, that's your choice. Steam and Discord both still likely work without it, but without push notifications since they have no alternative to FCM as certain other apps do.
> If you're on AT&T, you don't get caller ID or voicemail.
You do get caller ID and voicemail on AT&T. Visual voicemail doesn't work with AT&T with the built-in Dialer app because it uses a protocol not supported by AOSP. It does work with Google Dialer based on user feedback on our forum.
> This is an OS for people who care more about privacy and security than having an everyday usable phone. It is very much not for normal people.
GrapheneOS is very usable as an every day usage phone for regular people. Nearly every Android app can be used on it. It sounds like you were choosing to use it without sandboxed Google Play, which is a choice to have a more limited app and service ecosystem. That's not the same as a choice to use GrapheneOS. It can be used like a regular Android phone with 1 profile containing sandboxed Google Play, or people can use sandboxed Google Play in a specific profile with most of their apps in another profile. Using it without sandboxed Google Play in a secondary profile is something many GrapheneOS users do successfully but it's in no way required or expected. We wouldn't have made that huge feature if we didn't want it to be used by a lot of people.
Steam app crashes unless Play services are active. Discord doesn't deliver push notifications without play services running. A good fraction of play store apps fail to work properly unless you let play services run in the background forever, which defeats the purpose.
You do not get caller id on AT&T, and you do not get voicemail notifications until sometimes hours or days after the fact. I ran this on my pixel 8 for months. I had to actively call into my voicemail number like it's 2005.
The secondary profile stuff is just about useless. It's one step above having multiple independent devices. I did try having a Google profile, but you can't get notifications between profiles. You get a notification that there is a notification, so you then have to go through the entire 30 second process of switching profiles, which disconnects your Bluetooth headphones to check the other profile.
If you think regular users and normal people want to put up with this, you should really re-evaluate what you think an average user is. This is for hyper nerds who care more about security ideals than functionality. Graphene is not for the average person who wants caller id, voicemail, camera, and a web browser.
Not sure if you've used GrapheneOS recently? If apps are heavily tied to Google Play Services you can install that and, in the vast majority of cases, get very good compatibility.
Compatibility with carriers also improved a lot a few years ago. Configurations for most carriers are pulled in from the stock Pixel OS. Some US carriers do weird things that depend upon having highly privileged apps bundled into the OS which, for security reasons, GrapheneOS doesnt include. I dont recall AT&T being one of them.
GrapheneOS is very usable and fine as a everyday phone for normal people.
This is an OS for people who care more about privacy and security than having an everyday usable phone. It is very much not for normal people.