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Comment by chasil | Hacker News Reader

Graphene will strongly discourage you from retaining root over your device, while all LineageOS releases present rooted ADB.

I understand that you can forego the final relock of the bootloader and install Magisk into Graphene. How that fares with future OTAs I do not know.

There are other differences that might impact you. The eBay app does not work on Graphene but is functional on Lineage. Graphene's launcher and keyboard are poor compared to Lineage. The Vanadium browser's dark mode is not as good as browsers on Lineage. Pattern lock is not available on Graphene.

Try them both, if you can.

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Just tried it out with GrapheneOS on my Pixel 7 and the eBay app works fine.

Generally I think the marketing of GraphenOS is interesting. They are usually positioned as the "Absolute security. No compromises." ROM, but in my personal experience, they are the "It must work. No compromises. Then make the rest as safe as possible"-option, given aspects like using the "real" Google Play Services (if desired), but sandboxed, instead of MicroG or unrestricted Google Play, which pretty much all other ROMs roll with.

Well, eBay does not work on my Pixel 6a.

I don't have it with me, by Play store says that it is incompatible with my device.

Google searches indicated that this is a common problem.

I've used the eBay app on various Pixels running GrapheneOS since the Pixel 6 without issue. In the Owner profile, in a secondary profile, in a Private Space in the Owner profile, installed via Play, installed via Aurora.

I'm not saying yours works when it doesn't, but there may be something else going on.

you can easily change the launcher & keyboard to whatever you want on GrapheneOS. About ebay, check https://github.com/GrapheneOS/grapheneos.org/issues/1351

I am aware that the launcher can be changed.

I am aware that the keyboard can be changed.

The question is why I have to change them, when the Lineage versions are open source?

Your question doesn't make sense, GrapheneOS said that they prefer spending their time implementing and fixing security issues rather than things that can be easily changed from open source offerings. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47247778.

So let's rephrase this:

"We want to be ugly because we are too busy!"

Said no one ever.

I also don't understand this question. The default launcher is like twm on Linux. It's only goal is to give you some initial GUI so that you could install something you actually like.

I've never rooted my phone for LineageOS (and I have installed it on at least a dozen phones now). The only thing you need to do is unlock the bootloader (which you cannot relock, like with Graphene).

A stock OS never presents root. Finding an exploit or unlocking the bootloader will allow you to install Magisk.

Lineage always presents rooted ADB in the developer options; it is "pre-rooted" for you.

>The only thing you need to do is unlock the bootloader (which you cannot relock, like with Graphene).

GrapheneOS not only permits relocking, it prompts the user to do so immediately after installation.

Any idea why any app that works on Lineage would not also work on Graphene, provided you are okay enabling the exploit compatibility toggles where necessary?

Play store says the app is not compatible with the device.

Thanks for the answer!

Interesting that this stops people. It could be correct of course, I just can't think of anything that would cause it to work on Lineage but not Graphene. They're very fast about upgrading to the latest version, that can't be it, so then... on identical hardware... what could possibly be incompatible all of a sudden? I'd just ignore the warning and try it out!

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