I’ve been using a de-Googled Android setup and found myself running into the same issue a lot of people probably do: the privacy-first option is great right up until the everyday stuff stops working properly.
In my case, banking apps and Android Auto were the sticking points. GrapheneOS was excellent in principle, but iodéOS ended up being the more practical fit for my actual use case.
I’d be interested to hear where other people draw that line between privacy, convenience, and reliability.
I’m not saying privacy and convenience are the same thing, or that the situation is somehow natural or benign.
I agree that the real issue is power, distribution control, and the way mobile software has been turned into a duopoly.
What I meant was more practical, for ordinary users, the choice often ends up being between an ideal setup and one that still lets them do necessary day-to-day things like banking and navigation.
That doesn’t make the underlying problem any less political, it just means people are forced to make compromises inside a system they didn’t choose.