UPDATE
Thank you for your feedback! Based on what you all provided, I'm going to postpone installing any de-Googled Android OS for the time. It seems there's still a lot that needs to be worked on in terms of device and application support, and I don't have the time to work out the kinks and issues that might show up here and there.
That being said, it seems CalyxOS and GrapheneOS are both very good options. Maybe when Google ends support for the Pixel 6, I'll make the jump over to one of them.
ORIGINAL
Hi folks! I'm interested in trying out a de-Googled Android OS, and CalyxOS seems like a good one to start. I decided upon CalyxOS because it supports my current Pixel device, and it comes with MicroG, which allows some download of Google Play apps. However, before I make the jump, I'd like to hear if anyone else in this community has tried CalyxOS and how it has worked out for them, especially when it comes to Google Play apps.
For example, I need to have Android Auto because my car supports that app, and I use that for navigation when driving. I also need to have some of Microsoft's apps, like Outlook and Teams. And finally, although I don't game much on my phone, there is one game that I play a lot (Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe), and I want to be able to continue with that game after moving to CalyxOS.
Greatly appreciate your feedback on this topic!
If you've got a pixel why would you use calyx rather than GrapheneOS?
Perhaps you can tell me why you recommend GrapheneOS over Calyx.
There was a good discussion in the degoogle community last week which can give much more specific details, but the short version is that GrapheneOS's main focus is security (and you get a lot of privacy stuff too), whereas CalyxOS's main focus seems to be privacy but it lacks on the security side. For instance CalyxOS uses MicroG instead of Google Play Services, which keeps you private from Google but is still a black box that you have to give privileged access, whereas GrapheneOS has nothing by default (and that can work fine for some users), but you can install real Google Play Services within a sandbox where it has no privileged access.
I'm looking to buy a new phone soon, can you use GrapheneOS without a google account? because playservices is generally account locked right?
Yes, by default it has no Google stuff in it at all. Adding in a sandboxed (i.e. without the normal privileged access to everything) version of Google Play Services is covered in the Features section on their website.
so in other words you need the sandbox if you want access to what microg would normally provide for you, with the caveat that an account is "optional" for things that "require" one, which in a normal google environment is almost everything and with mirog is pretty much nothing
sounds like microg is the better deal then, if I want to avoid google accounts and Google's snooping
It depends entirely what you use your phone for, there's no one-size-fits-all answer for everyone's threat model. The sandbox means Google Pay Services can't do most of the things we'd normally be worried about it doing, MicroG still has the power to do all those things it's just not Google doing them.
this is useful and good to know, thank you
will help me decide what to go for
CalyxOS supports Pixel devices far longer than GrapheneOS does (they drop them once Google drops support too)
From https://grapheneos.org/faq#legacy-devices
Basically they don't want to support devices if they can't make them secure, which is something that requires at least some input from the manufacturer. I imagine a GrapheneOS dev would say that CalyxOS's updates to a device where the manufacturer isn't providing kernel updates isn't a worthwhile update.
for someones who values security above everything else thats totally fine
but for someone who wants to reduce e-waste by prolonging the life of a phone with at least some updates this might be not the best solution
True, different use cases, that said GrapheneOS does still provide security updates for a year longer than they claimed they would on my last phone. I think DivestOS is the best choice otherwise, I've not got round to actually installing it on anything though so I can't really offer much more on it.