Considering switching to nostr:npub1c9d95evcdeatgy6dacats5j5mfw96jcyu79579kg9qm3jtf42xzs07sqfm from iOS.
Will I be able to load regular Google Play apps on the phone?
Thanks 🙏 #grapheneOS
Discussion
Yes. If you mean Google Play apps as in the play store and services, they are handled by the Sandboxed Google Play compatibility layer and they can be installed optionally from the Apps app. The Google play apps run in an unprivileged state and so you can control permissions of those apps like location and network access.
You can also get your apps from the Play Store if you choose. It's your choice.
Only apps that won't work are apps blocked completely from running on anything but a Google certified OS but they are very few and far between.
When it's not possible for me to install an app directly from source (e.g. through obtainium), I'm using the aurora store (all the play store apps are there as well, but the store itself - the front end - is FOSS, the backend is downloading the apks from the google servers like the play store). All apps so far worked perfectly well. I didn't touch the play store for a long time now. Never regretted the switch to #grapheneOS
Thanks! How do you check the integrity of the packages downloaded from the aurora store?
It's a valid concern I don't have a solition for. In theory you could be man-in-the-middle attacked without noticing or the apk provided to the Google back end could be malicous. I only download apps I "know" and use anonymous Aurora Store Sessions - I'm not aware that Aurora Store ever pointed someone somewhere else than to the Google back end.
FAQ can be found here:
Is there an app for maps that works well in #grapheneos ?
You can try and search for "OsmAnd".
I'm using https://organicmaps.app/ works pretty awesome I've found it to be more reliable than osmand