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Have you thought about GrapheneOS? Pixel hardware, No Google, but android app compatibility?

They lost me with their article "Why I’m Ditching Android" which is a switch from Google to Apple. Just like switching from Coke to Pepsi is not going to help you lose weight. You have to make a real change to be private.

https://kevquirk.com/why-im-ditching-android

How practical is it in daily life? Does it allow you to just install apps and not have to tinker too much like a "regular" phone?

It does, either via AuroraStore (complete Google Play Store replacement without google account) or Sandboxed Google Play [1]. My banking apps works, and everything else I can think of.

Hard to say what a "normal" level of tinkering is with Android, as I have switched directly from iOS to Graphene and have never used Stock Android. I am sure some things are a little bit more cumbersome, but for me the tradeoff is worth it.

Also the stock g-cam (with internet access disabled) and g-photos (with internet access disabled) make a pretty amazing photo and photo editing experience.

[1] https://grapheneos.org/usage#sandboxed-google-play

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