I'm sure the enthusiasm is appreciated but Graphene is very different even from ...

palata · 2026-03-02T23:46:38 1772495198

> It's not simple enough for mainstream, and UI is odd.

It's exactly the same UI as Stock Android on a Google Pixel. If you find GrapheneOS' UI odd, then Android is just not for you, I guess?

burner420042 · 2026-03-03T10:06:42 1772532402

This response lacks thought and is argumentative.

The UI is not the same nor are the app defaults. Combined they create a different UX from stock Android.

The default graphene App Store, and expected apps found there are different than Google Play or what you'd find on Google Play.

The default permissions of each app are restrictive, most notable when you start mixing App Stores.

F-Droid culture, and the app options, are their own thing.

Vanadium, the graphene messaging app, the lack of forced updates and nag buttons.

Exploit protection compat mode for banking apps.

Motorola isn't selling to you or the other person that responded. For that market graphene will have an unexpected learning curve.

palata · 2026-03-03T10:53:54 1772535234

I don't know how to answer to this, other than you seemingly don't know Android so much.

Everything you describe here is normal on all Android (e.g. differences of UI or differences of default apps). F-Droid has nothing to do with GrapheneOS.

> Exploit protection compat mode for banking apps.

This is the only caveat: some (not all) banking apps are annoying.

yellowapple · 2026-03-03T07:46:41 1772524001

> I'm sure the enthusiasm is appreciated but Graphene is very different even from stock Android.

I'm daily driving a Pixel 9a with GrapheneOS and I strongly disagree, at least from an ordinary usage perspective. Yes, you can make it very different (by not installing Google Play), but with the sandboxed Google Play it's exceedingly rare for me to notice any differences; it feels very close to any other stock-ish Android. The only big differences were RCS chats failing w/ T-Mobile (but that's been fixed) and some apps being mean about Play Integrity or whatever (but that's gonna be true of any custom ROM, even if it's entirely unmodified from AOSP).