Andrew Melder

A few notes following on from my last post around the first 48 hours with GrapheneOS on my Pixel 9 Pro.

• I setup my work profile (using Shelter) successfully and logged into my work accounts without issues. Curiosity I have now is since I know the folks managing Intune for the company, to ask and find out exactly what information can they see from the phone on this OS compared to stock.

• MFA and banking apps didn’t have any issues either, although some of them are reaching out to the Play Integrity API (something not really needed by these apps but GrapheneOS detects and notifies you).

• I’ve gone back and forth on location settings. The GrapheneOS team are working on improvements to their system and understand it’s still not as accurate and quick as Google’s offerings. For myself, it is good enough but I’m yet to test it out on an active drive.

• Google Maps or Waze are still the best mapping options for Android by a LONG shot.

• I’ve still had those “what is the point of all this if I’m using Google services” moments over the past week. This interview with Signal’s Meredith Whittaker at SXSW this week reinforced why I’m looking to reduce my reliance on Google and reclaim some privacy; even if it is slowly.

• Been playing around with Key Mapper to have a hardware shortcut to ChatGPT (used for alt text for photos) mapped to a long press of the vol up + down buttons.

• The default Vanadium browser is very good, but I’m trying Vivaldi browser for my Firefox replacement. I miss extension support on the mobile though.

• I’m surprised at how much I’m using the GrapheneOS stock camera app over the Pixel Camera app. It’s my default on the double press power button shortcut; however it could use a better lens/zoom selection UI.

• There’s still occasional weirdness with my Pixel Watch; mainly sometimes after a reboot it will send calls to the watch even when I pick it up on the phone.

On a seperate note, I got a new case and matte screen protector during the week. I think it’s been a good distraction as I try and get used to the fingerprint quirks with the matte protector over my previous clear protector. As a result, I’ve been way more annoyed at the fingerprint issues than anything at the OS level.