[vbsteven]

I’m thinking about buying a degoogled Android phone to replace my iPhone. The main things I want are:

* Spotify needs to work over Bluetooth in my car

* WhatsApp needs to work (preferably with push notifications)

* I need the Fitbit app to work so my watch can show push notifications from my personal apps

* a network-based location provider to be consumed by my personal apps (I’m working on a personal data and automation suite that relies on frequent smartphone location updates)

Is this something that can be done with CalyxOS on a Pixel? Can other Android flavours like GrapheneOS or LineageOS do this?

And aside from Android, how far along are other “mobile linux” smartphones for use as a daily driver with regards to the above points?

[brundolf]

> Can other Android flavours like GrapheneOS or LineageOS do this?

There's a separate question you're missing: what your Google Services situation is

Distros like Lineage come without Google Services; if you want them, you install them yourself

"gapps" is the official one. It's straight Google everything. Lineage OS + gapps will give you a very clean and nice Android experience if you don't care about Google collecting your data.

If you do care about that, you have two options:

1) go without Services entirely (most apps will have problems; if you're lucky they just won't send push notifications or be able to use your location, if you're unlucky they will be flat out broken or crash)

2) use microG, which is an unofficial non-Google replacement masquerading to the rest of the system as Google Services. I've heard mixed things about how well it works, but that appears to be what CalyxOS comes with. You can install it on Lineage, but I don't know what extra hoops may have to be jumped through. Note that it's also walking a fine line with Google and I could see them intentionally breaking it at any time down the road. Depend on it at your own risk.

I care about privacy and I would not buy a degoogled Android phone today. I switched to iPhone a few years ago after roughing it without Google Services for a year and a half. It was fairly awful.

I once had to return some headphones because the app that went with them simply wouldn't work.

I had to use a combination of the Google Maps web app and OSMAnd (which was just atrocious) for navigation, which basically meant I didn't really have navigation.

Slack wouldn't send me push notifications.

I couldn't use my banking app.

Even Signal struggled to run in the background/send me notifications.

It was basically back to the iPhone 1 days where your phone could text, call, web browse, take pictures and play (local) music. Though even the iPhone 1 had a functioning Maps app.

[kelnos]

Thanks for the frank details about the downsides.

If I can't use my banking apps, Lyft, Google Pay, Photos, Maps, etc. with a particular mobile OS (with all features working), then it's unfortunately not for me.

It seems like most of the Android alternatives throw the baby out with the bathwater. I get that making a trusted OS based on Android is hard, especially with Google having moved so much core functionality into Play Services, but the value I get out of my phone is mostly from mainstream apps, using mainstream features (like push notifications and location services). If those don't work, to me it's not really a useful device.

I get that a lot of these apps aren't particularly privacy-oriented, but to me, my main concern is that there are a lot of Google-owned core components to the OS and userland that actively subvert my privacy. I'd really like to think there's some middle ground on Android where I can trust the OS and userspace core, and still run the apps I usually run.

[nobodywasishere]

Currently been using LineageOS for three years now, latter half without GApps/Play services.

Google maps (from Aurora store) works perfectly fine on my phone without it.

Telegram notifications work perfectly fine.

My banking app works fine.

Apple Music and Jellyfin work great.

I use nextcloud for contacts/calendar/cloud/photo management.

[ineedasername]

I once had to return some headphones because the app that went with them simply wouldn't work.

Kind of awful when we're at a point where a pair of headphones requires a specialized app to use them.

[wintermutestwin]

X >will give you a very clean and nice Android experience if you don't care about Google collecting your data.

I must be confused here, but isn't the whole point of installing any OS besides Android on an Android device preventing google from collecting your data? Why else would anyone deal with a non-standard OS?

[alfiedotwtf]

Not sure why nobody was is here's comment is greyed, but yep I'm in the same boat - LineageOS works fine and am using Spotify and Audible without any issues. There are some apps that haven't worked, buy I'm fine with that.

[WorldPeas]

heres what i do and it works great: use the regular google build of android BUT on a fresh install, disable all google apps sans chrome, use it to install fdroid, then uninstall that, from there use TrackerControl to prevent google and others from phoning home, use the aurora store for apps, use organicmaps for maps, signal for sms florisboard for keyboard, etc. you'll have a google-free experience which you can exit for 10 minute periods using the button on the trackercontrol dialog, and things like google pay and notifications will still perform quite well. I've been using this for a year and loving it

[kemenaran]

Interesting setup.

Do you have any resources about how efficient TrackerControl is at preventing Google to collect data from the phone various system services?

[cdesai]

I can confirm that,

* Spotify over Blueooth in a car works.

* WhatsApp works, with notifications

* I'm not sure about FitBit, per https://plexus.techlore.tech/applications/fitbit it might not but things may have changed.

* We include some providers by default and you can install more from F-Droid.

[vbsteven]

Thank you, that sounds very promising.

Is there a specific device you would recommend for long-term CalyxOS support?

[jszymborski]

I don't use WhatsApp, but I bridge my other chat apps through the Matrix client Element.

It appears that WhatsApp does have a bridge for Matrix, though I've not used it.

https://matrix.org/docs/projects/bridge/mautrix-whatsapp

[neop1x]

I have been using LineageOS on Xperia XZ2 Compact for about a year with a smaller bundle of official Google Play Services.

Almost everything works fine! Some apps didn't like it or detected root but Magisk + MagiskHide helped to hide root for those specific apps. Even Google Pay works with basic SafeNet attestation - that required "MagiskHide Props Config" Magisk extension and selecting a proper fingerprint.

The only problem encountered was that I couldn't connect PS4 controller and use it as an input device. Probably a driver issue related to bluetooth but other bluetooth devices I use work normally.

Optional F-Droid privileged extension makes F-Droid able to install F-droid app updates automatically like Play Store does.

Overall a very positive experience.

[hadrien01]

For you first two questions: Spotify will work with Bluetooth, and WhatsApp will have eventual notifications (real-time if the app was recently opened, up to seven hours later otherwise, at least on my device)

[cdesai]

We're very close to getting the notification issues fixed.

We've sent some patches to microG to address them at https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/pull/1483

I'm running it on my device since a few weeks now and it has been quite reliable so far.

[prox]

If you degoogle yourself but then hook into FB whatsapp, isn’t that just defeating a bit of the point?

[corty]

I don't know about Fitbit stuff, but LineageOS can do everything else you named. Have been using it for years.

I guess other alternative Android distributions shouldn't be too different there.

[_1]

> * I need the Fitbit app to work so my watch can show push notifications from my personal apps

It's going to hard to degoogle your phone and stay attached to your Fitbit.

[vbsteven]

Is there a specific reason for this? Does the Fitbit app rely on Play Services?

I don’t care too much for on wrist calls or anything like that. I just want to use the Fitbit app to sync stats and mostly display notifications from WhatsApp and my personal apps.