One of the only big downsides I've noticed with GrapheneOS is that several banking apps don't work with it at all thanks to being tied to Google's verification ecosystem.

Luckily I have hardware 2FA keys from my bank so I can authenticate using that. It also slightly decreases the suck-factor from whenever the phone decides to fly off down a drain. This may not be the case for you, so do your research on what you need for daily living.

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rcMgD2BwE72F 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I contacted my bank, insisting that GrapheneOS is one of the most secure OS on the market and therefore should be supported if they actually care about users' security (it's actually far more secure than all the old, far less secure but Google-approved devices out there). They acknowledged an fixed their app, one of the most popular in France.

Still missing Android Pay but that's due to Android Pay being closed. I wish banks would do something and support NFC payment systems that don't require the device to be controlled by Google (how can we be okay with this?!)

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estherney an hour ago | parent | next [-]

German bank Comdirect / Commerzbank did this as well, whitelisting GrapheneOS signing keys for their 2FA app. https://github.com/PrivSec-dev/banking-apps-compat-report/is...

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palata 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I wish banks would do something and support NFC payment systems that don't require the device to be controlled by Google

There are countries where it's possible to pay everywhere with the banking app scanning a QR code. No need for NFC :-).

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stephenr 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I use qr based payments regularly where I live, and in my home country I use nfc payments (watch/phone/card) essentially always, when we visit.

NFC is by far more convenient and reliable.

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palata an hour ago | parent [-]

I can't say about "convenient" because I don't use it, but I have been using QR codes for years and I haven't had a single issue. I don't know anyone who has.

QR codes are reliable.

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landgenoot 41 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

You need an active internet connection to pay via QR.

NFC (EMV) works offline.

	▲	palata 16 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Got it, that's a good point! It's so much not an issue where I live that I hadn't realised :-). But it is an issue nonetheless.

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stephenr an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

It's regularly unreliable here, because it's reliant on a bank app which in turn is reliant on an internet connection, and banks here are kind of shit.

It's pretty common here that people will be told they need to turn off an otherwise working Wifi connection when facing problems because bank apps will often just not work properly on wifi.

But as I said, even without that, the convenience level is ridiculously different. It's arguably quicker to open your wallet and use a debit card with an NFC chip than it is to use QR codes, before we even talk about the convenience of watch/phone payments using NFC.

	▲	palata 12 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> It's regularly unreliable here, because it's reliant on a bank app which in turn is reliant on an internet connection Got it, that's a fair point! > But as I said, even without that, the convenience level is ridiculously different. It's arguably quicker to open your wallet and use a debit card with an NFC chip than it is to use QR codes This part sounds like those people who use a different unit system than I do and explain to me how my unit system is objectively more inconvenient than theirs. To which I answer: "I think I know better than you what is more convenient for me, given that I use it everyday" :-). I use QR codes instead of opening my wallet, which kind of hints towards the former being more convenient than the latter for me. And for the millions of people who also do that.

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jackhalford 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I’m interested which french bank is this?

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mentalgear 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"Banking Applications Compatibility with GrapheneOS" https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa...

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joebe89 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What about the small matter of having to purchase a Google phone in the first place?

	▲	backscratches an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Most anti-google move: buy a second hand pixel, they receive no revenue on the device which is (assumed) already highly subsidized by google so that they can profit off users' data, then you use their subsidized hardware without running their spyware OS. Google only loses money in this scenario, it is a great protest.
	▲	palata an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I see it as a necessity, because the Google phone is the only one worth it if you care about security. The problem is not GrapheneOS, but rather that phone manufacturers other than Google don't care. Now if there were millions of GrapheneOS users, it would start becoming interesting for other phone manufacturers to care. My point being that I buy Pixel in order to give more weight to GrapheneOS, in the hope that other manufacturers will eventually realise that.
	▲	direwolf20 an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Google makes high quality hardware and untrustworthy software. Graphene's approach is to take the hardware and leave the software.

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adezxc 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yup, also Google Pay doesn't work, though there are other providers which work fine (Curve Pay I think works in all of EU), but it just made me carry my wallet everywhere and I understood I don't mind that at all.

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stinos 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Author is installing Google Play Services it seems, wouldn't that work around this?

In any case, for me this also sort of defeats the purpose: I'd rather break free from Google and Apple, not just (stock) Android and iOS.

	▲	UnreachableCode 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		No, because most banking apps call upon the Google Play Integrity API, which GrapheneOS doesn't (or can't?) use. There's a decent list kicking around of which ones work (Monzo, for instance). https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa...
	▲	palata 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> this also sort of defeats the purpose Not really. On GrapheneOS, the Play Services/Play Store run as sandboxed apps, i.e. they are not system apps like on Android. They just run like a normal, unprivileged app. That's a lot better than on Android. > I'd rather break free from Google and Apple, not just (stock) Android and iOS If you want to break free, you don't have to install the Play Services / Play Store on GrapheneOS, just like you don't have to install microG on LineageOS. There is a misconception that microG is better than sandboxed Play, but I disagree. With microG, your apps still connect to the Google servers, so you're not "breaking free".

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dgxyz 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Does anyone know if HSBC's UK app works on it? I've seen inconsistent reports that it does and doesn't.

Edit: ignore this - there's a list elsewhere in this thread!

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zhouzhao 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Of course that is highly depdendet on the bank used, but so far none of my banking apps didn't work!

If you are using a rather popular banking app, chances are high that it has been discussed in the GrapheneOS forum.

Anyway, with google play services installed, mine have worked out of the box.