Lawnchair Launcher. I don’t grant any permissions.
I used to use Nova Launcher. Then I heard they shut down and then I heard they started supporting it again, but now I use Lawnchair so I don’t have to worry about any of that.
1 Like
Seconded. A no non-sense FOSS launcher. And pretty stable software.
Just a note, “Inter-Process Communication” is not an Android thing. It is a method which exists on OSes that implement process isolation (which is, all mainstream ones).
Technically, what does “family” here mean?
Apps on Android can “communicate” with each other over OS-supported channels (there exists several, ex: Services & Content Providers, with varying degrees of permission / identity guarantees)… For instance, WhatsApp can “communicate” with Google Sheets to open a XLS or a CSV document (hopefully, acting on user request), which otherwise is typically only visible to WhatsApp.
I get where GrapheneOS is coming from. They have locked down AOSP considerably more and so their stance on “Scopes” makes sense. Otherwise, I’d say it is a bit of a stretch to claim that the Android app sandbox itself is “leaky” when the purpose of the sandbox is not total isolation, and AOSP, due to its customisability & extensibility, has had to balance being a more open platform which supports a wide variety of OEMs & devices (a “shared responsibility” model with both OEMs and app developers for end-user security / privacy) with other considerations.
4 Likes
I tried minimalist launcher to combat my distractions, it didnt work, but pie launcher did it and this is why it’s my go to launcher now for my main phone, it’s foss too and no network permission, I like that I can hide something like browsers and actually force myself a few clicks to get into the app stores and browser on it. That last one helped more than the minimalist launcher with network cut
1 Like
I have used the term “family” to refer to the set of applications that give their consent to share information. I am not a native English speaker nor do I have technical knowledge.
I understand, thank you for the information. But it is my understanding that the user cannot control the data that is shared, which is why there are people asking developers to be able to disable this feature. Obviously, it is something that takes time, but would we agree that it would be useful for our privacy and usability?
It may be an exaggeration, but I believe this term can be used when we talk about information that goes beyond the user’s control.
Would you say it is not risky, despite disabling the network connection, to install Nova Launcher / Google Keyboard / etc. given the existence of this IPC feature in Android (which is the OS we are talking about) for a person who is concerned about privacy?
I use the one that comes with GrapheneOS, why would I use anything else?
Haven’t tried third-party launchers since I was playing with CyanogenMod 15 years ago.
See others like mine for examples of use cases of third party launchers. It is otherwise fine to stick to the default if you like it…
As I understand it, Google is a “family” of apps here. They can communicate/IPC with the Google play services to do whatever. Personally I removed play services completely to fully degoogle, but it’s a hard-mode life challenge that you need to figure out how to work around.
My personal opinion is that it’s best to use as few apps, services, system packages, etc.. as possible. Any new app is a new attack surface. I don’t think a custom launcher is worth it and the default GOS launcher is good enough for me.
1 Like
Not really. If you mean the planned app/permission scopes GrapheneOS feature, users are demanding more granularity on how much data is shared (users, to an extent but not completely, can control what apps can share what via “IPC” with AppManager etc); rather than rely wholesale on solutions like Private Space or Work Profile or User Profiles.
It is (for power users), but for others, such app-level compartmentalization is achievable with multiple Private Space etc (supported by ROMs like GrapheneOS).
If I am going to threat model at that level: I’d rather not install apps I do not trust. It is risky regardless of whatever sandboxing / permission management mechanism an OS / ROM may provide.
1 Like
I’ve been running NeoLauncher version 1 alpha 3 for over a year now, they’ve stalled out on development for it, I think because it’s “good enough" right now and they’re working on the other Neo apps. I’d love to switch at some point, but I heavily use the app lock and Lawnchair won’t implement it.
Edit: Still don’t have private spaces either since alpha 3 came out before them.