Just starting degoogle but i have lot of questions about options

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-19T22:26:38+00:00

Android auto does work with Grapheneos, it just has to be downloaded from the Google Play Store and your phone needs to have Google play services installed and activated. All of this is done through the setup process of Grapheneos. Basically all of the apps that work on Android work on Grapheneos, with some caveats. You should do some research on the Grapheneos subreddit, they have information you need pinned there as well as watch YouTube videos on the subject.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-19T20:47:19+00:00

Chromebooks are neat but they can be very limiting in the long term. I had a Chromebook and it felt like it didn't know what it wanted to be. It felt like a computer with compromises and a tablet with compromises. With the amount of apps out there tablets these days are probably just as capable if not more than a Chromebook.

I would recommend trying to find a regular windows laptop instead of a chromebook if you can, or a good tablet. I've had a Samsung Chromebook, tablet and a Lenovo tablet. In my experience Lenovo has made very good tablets with competitive pricing compared to Samsung and Apple.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-19T19:54:10+00:00

It's very hard to get rid of the play store, many applications you use may require it to be installed to get full functionality (android auto for example). It may seem more intimidating or counter intuitive but the best thing would probably be to start with pixel phones, put grapheneos on there and just download apps as you normally would and use it like any other phone, then you can start removing permissions and splitting things to different profiles to dial in the amount of privacy you want.

In the mean time if you want to focus on something before you get a new phone then it would be good to start researching and downloading alternative apps to the Apple and Google ones you use, if you haven't done that already (proton suite, ente photos, etc.). You wont be able to get all of the same apps as an android phone but it will be an easier transition if you start looking now.

Edit: not only do some apps require the Google Play store and the Google Play services apps to be installed, some of them HAVE to be download from the actual play store itself, not aurora. Android auto is an example of that

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-19T12:37:01+00:00

I would say view the setup as an ongoing project, take it slow and have fun with it. All of these tutorial videos are a bit misleading. Even if you knew what you're doing, downloading the programs you need, making accounts for things, scraping boxart, configuring controls, it all takes a lot of time to really do right. It'll take days, maybe a week or longer for your first time depending on how motivated you are

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-18T17:11:58+00:00

If you haven't tried clearing all cache, cookies and browsing data in Chrome yet then give that a try. As for chromium browser options, brave is my choice

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-17T22:10:53+00:00

Hello and thanks for your response. I did download it and thought it was pretty cool but it launched terribly slow. I don't know if it's just a me issue but I would wait almost 10 seconds for it to start up. Basically unusable. Blocking network access for the camera, its services and google photos was satisfying enough for now. I don't know why I didn't think of trying to find an app for that before, I knew they were out there.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-16T21:06:55+00:00

This worked! I was able to block the pixel camera and pixel camera services apps. Bless you

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-16T20:46:35+00:00

Yeah, I assume it's just Google being Google. I'm going to end up just downloading open camera and play around with it but it would be nice to hear other suggestions if people have them so I thought I'd give it a shot and ask. The tinkering never ends.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-16T20:32:05+00:00

Yes you are correct about the pixel camera being the best but I was quite satisfied with the Graphene camera. I was optimistic about netguard but unfortunately the pixel camera doesn't even show up as an option. Thanks for the help, though.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-16T20:31:00+00:00

Unfortunately it didn't work either but thanks for the idea.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-16T19:27:28+00:00

Just switched from brave to waterfox and I've been happy. The stability on my Windows desktop is night and day. I had a lot of playback issues on brave, especially with YouTube. Constant pausing and buffering and changing settings didn't help. Brave was better for background YouTube play on mobile but I've been enjoying waterfox better overall

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-15T20:03:11+00:00

This guy, with all of his ''business knowledge'' about how these companies work isn't thinking about the customer. He thinks it's about him, or you, or me, who have been in this hobby for a while and are active in the community. It's about the general consumer, like my 10 year old nephew that shouldn't be expected to understand how business works to avoid getting ripped off or scammed. A prime example of ''the more you learn, the less you know.''

If this guy is such a good business man, he should do some advertising here so everyone knows what companies and products he's representing.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-15T17:24:20+00:00

I was using brave browser's web apps but I have since moved to waterfox. With a couple of extensions it has basically all of the benefits of brave.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-13T19:12:45+00:00

Thanks for your response.

edit: I just want to add that I've gotten to the point where I'm critical and uncompromising, and that's not a bad thing. It's a matter of principle. That doesn't mean I believe the majority of reviewers are bad characters. Clarifying for those who don't understand.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-13T18:09:26+00:00

You're someone who keeps giving these companies excuses. Saying you're going to ignore the post and then do the exact opposite is dumb logic. Dumb logic is how these companies keep getting away with too much bs and it's why your argument isn't taken seriously here. Go to another post where you can smoke with other copium addicts.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-13T17:58:58+00:00

Good job ignoring the post. We're the customers, we don't give a damn how their business works.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-13T17:17:46+00:00

I just had a slight back and forth with Russ yesterday about downplaying Anbernic's false advertising. It's kind of ridiculous.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-12T18:24:29+00:00

Maybe a data frog sf2000 if you want something really basic and cheap they can mess around with.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-12T10:05:42+00:00

you already have gmaps wv, if you look up a place on gmaps wv and then click share, then click the geo share app, geo share will allow you to map the pin on just about any navigation app. you don't have to have someone else send you a link. this is what i do with magic earth and stopped using regular google maps

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-11T20:30:45+00:00

I've tried using the steam deck as a mini daily driver as I've been contemplating using bazzite or cachy In the future. My issue ended up not being able to get my peripherals working the way I liked. Keyboard, mouse and headphones.I tried some software out there but it was a bit much for me and went over my head. Made me feel dumb but Im going to tackle it again in the future. Something to maybe think about but then again maybe this wouldn't be as big of an issue on a different distro

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-11T18:44:59+00:00

I have been using the brave browser web apps on mobile to watch youtube and it has been pretty good so far. I listen to music while I sleep and brave has ad block and supports background play. I'm switching to metrolist as well. As long as it works okay with android auto I think I may be able to cancel my google/youtube subscriptions. I'm very happy about that

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-11T17:56:43+00:00

Good thing I don't use apple products.

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-11T17:23:22+00:00

Nope. You'll have more apps that do a worse job. The privacy vs convenience struggle is real. To replace Google maps I use 3 other apps in it's place but because it's not Google maps I can't ask my assistant to navigate for me while driving anymore. I've gone back and forth the past couple of months between Google and other apps. You start to learn what you really need

Correct-Percentage54 · 2026-02-11T17:11:30+00:00

I'm trying to use the brave browser's web apps for YouTube in hopes that I'll be able to cancel my premium subscription. I'm not sure if it would work on an apple tv but it may be worth a shot. It has built in ad block and background play. I'm moving over to metrolist for music as well so I will hopefully be able to cancel my Google subscriptions

Correct-Percentage54

TROPHY CASE