Can it be a full-time phone?

I would research if your bank’s app is working properly on /e/ or not. My bank’s app is working fine, and my phone with /e/ has been my only phone since September.

Hi @p2kle have been using /e/ on my primary phone for the last one year without any issues. Only issue you may face is as @dotcoma mentioned if you have or are using Banking or paid apps check if they work with MicroG before making the switch. You can check on issues reported by other users here … not all may be relevant to you but you will get an idea.

I’ve been using it since January, and for me it is very weird using “normal” android on other phones.

Actually it depends on your use. If you use an app that needs to pass Google SafetyNet, it won’t work in /e/. Same thing with DRM.

Everything else is quite good, I use /e/ on my primary (and only) phone. Even if you will probably face one or two little complications.

@p2kle, before purchasing a phone in order to run /e/ on it, please check here https://doc.e.foundation/devices/ and make sure that /e/ is already supporting your favoured phone model.

@p2kle - Yes can - but not must!.

A lot of apps work, but microG does not guarantee 100% compatibility with G°°gle Play services Android. Ultimately, the user only has certainty when he installs his desired applications on his device and tries out the functionality. This is the same with other Custom ROMs.

Note: Galaxy S10 is currently not supported by /e/ OS.

These S9 models are (currently) supported by /e/ OS: Samsung Galaxy S9 - " starlte" : SM-G960 F / F/DS / N [Exynos].

These S9 models are not compatible with /e/ OS: SM-G960 0/DS (Dual-sim) / U (USA) / W (Canada) [Snapdragon]

I am using /e/ on my full-time and only phone since June. However, I also do not use banking apps (this is evidently easier to avoid in the US), and I do not watch any streaming services on it except YouTube. I find it to be very stable and very clean compared to the stock Android on my last phone.

So… mobile banking is not popular in the US?

Thanks all for the contributions here.

I am in Canada so it looks like neither the S9 model commonly sold here nor the S10 are currently supported. Is this just because no one has built a ROM for such a device: https://doc.e.foundation/how-tos/build-e or is there more work that needs to be done here to support these?

Thank you.

I can only speak for myself, honestly – I have no idea how popular it may be here, just that between cash and credit cards, I don’t need a lot of other payment methods. I remember that when I lived in Germany (before smart phones), I needed a German bank account to pay many of my bills, so I’m guessing it’s just a different system there than in the US (more direct transfers required?). I find that any online-banking I need to do can be done on my laptop or on the /e/ browser in “Desktop” mode.

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@ecs Ditto for me. I think most people that use the apps here use it mostly for mobile check deposits (take a picture of the check), or for approving credit card transactions that may get blocked at a retail store due to looking like a suspicious transaction, which often happens around the holidays. For the most part though, I’ve been able to avoid having a banking app on my device.

Huh, my bank (usually) approves the charge, then calls me, Of course, it knows that I haven’t downloaded the app, so maybe they have to :wink: Of course, they always beg me to download the app, but…

Yeah, I have to admit that if I had to do a lot more mobile check deposit I might want a slightly better system that my current one, which is snap picture with phone, send to laptop, upload to bank account on laptop.

@p2kle There are a variety of factors that determine whether a phone can run an aftermarket ROM. Some phones have locked bootloaders that can’t unlocked, others have no known way of being rooted, and others don’t have kernel source available, which means you can’t run an AOSP ROM. In the US (and Canada), all Retail Samsung phones have the Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU in them, and the US S7 and S9 models are not compatible with AOSP ROMs due to the kernel source not being available for the Snapdragon CPU. The only models of the Samsung S7 and S9 phones that are compatible with AOSP (/e/), are those based on the Samsung Exnyos CPU, which is used on the S7 and S9 International models. Namely, those ending with an F at the end of the model number, like SM-G940F (S7) or SM-G960F (S9). You can find these on Amazon, eBay, and other places. I have been using /e/ on my S9 for several months with no issues. I’m assuming that the S10 is not currently compatible due to one of the other factors I mentioned.

I’ve been using /e/ on my phone for months without any problem!! (some things are even better)

App not working with /e/:

  • Most of app using location services (Uber, train, bus, bike sharing, flat search)
  • Line Messenger (Text ok, but no audio and no icones)
  • Google Trad (can’t take photo of text)
  • The mail client offered in standard with /e/ is not working well (sync issues).
  • Bliss Launcher used to be buggy, getting more stable lately.

Overall I am very happy with /e/ but yes, it has some limits.

I’ve been using /e/ as my primary phone for a few months now. I approach it as part of a virtual detox, so I don’t have much to say on whether there’s some limitation when it comes to timewasting and/or unethical apps. I really like it, and the impulse to check the phone all the time is way down.

Location services work fine for me, but I mostly use maps, OSM+ and the preinstalled one.

I also use Bliss Launcher and it keeps crapping out when I use the camera, but recovers quickly enough to not be a huge bother.

I do think the battery is draining fairly quickly and the stats aren’t giving me a lot of insight into why, not sure what’s up with that. Battery is fine in flight mode, which means I put it in flight mode more often and have even less distraction, so there’s that.

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I’ve been using it as a full time phone for a few months and it works perfectly, only have a few minor issues, for example with the Uber app, which is not so problematic because it can be used via their webpage.

I recommend making a list of the apps you really need and search if they work, or if you have an additional phone where you can install /e/ and play with it see if everything works before switching it could be a good thing to.

I have an S9+ with it and it is pretty stable, you shouldn’t have a problem.

About the S10 I am not sure they are already supported.

[update]: I got the latest version of Uber through Aurora store instead of the default /e/ app store and it worked perfectly now, so really for me everything I need now works! \m/

I’ve been using /e/ for quite a lot of time in Motorola Moto G 2014 and now on a Xianomi MI A1. Works great for my needs and when I need special features can use apps for the app store, F-Droid or, sadly, Aptoide. I’m using Blockada 4 and it works great.

Its hard to de-google but it values the effort

Hello @Manoj, I’m trying to find information on this site about using MicroG, to find apps, but am finding it very difficult to find. Can you point me to some documentation on how to use it? Is this different than the Apps program on the desktop?

Much appreciated.

Hi @novacane MicroG is a ‘replacement’ for Google Play store. Some apps require Google play service to work on Android phones. Since ours is a ‘Google-free’ phone we do not install GAPPS. MicroG helps mimic the Google Play store and gets most apps to work. There are some limitations though…Not all Banking Apps will work with MicroG there are some workarounds but as mentioned before not all Banking apps will work. Similarly a number of paid apps have issues with MicroG.
We do not have documentation on MicroG on our site or on the wiki. You can check their website for details.