Hello.
I am new to /e/. I wanted to try it out and just bought a second-hand Samsung S8 that was sold with /e/ installed already. It runs A12 , /e/ 3.6.
As many people around, although I try, I cannot get rid of all of the spyware-ridden apps. Namely, my social life condemns me to keep using Whatsapp. So I try to isolate it.
I had used Shelter on a previous phone for the purpose.
This is how I started to research the topic and I found out there are several concepts that seem similar in purpose :
- dual apps
- work profile
- multiple users
- sandboxing
I am trying to understand the differences between them and how to set them up. Here is what I understand. Your contributions are welcome.
My ultimate aim would be to be able to isolate certain apps from the rest of the system and from each others (Whatsapp, Google Maps, ….).
Multiple users :
Android allows to have several users installed on the same device. Each user data is separated from the others. As with a PC, one must log out of a user account to log in with another one. It serves sharing the same device with other users but isn’t very practical if you only want to isolate certain apps from the rest of the system.
To enable this feature, one must go to Settings > System > Multiple users.
(Work) profile :
A user may have more than one profile. Each profile isolates most of the user data (not all. e.g. : connections are shared). That seems
Apparently, weirdly and regrettably , it seems that only one secondary profile can be created (the “work profile”). So that means you may isolate a group of apps together in that workspace but not from each other.
Is there a way of having more than 2 profiles with /e/ ?
To enable this feature, you need to use specific apps (Shelter, Island, Insular, …). Island did not work on my phone, exactly like in this post.
Does anybody know what are the conditions to be able to set up a work profile with /e/ and how to make it work ?
Dual apps :
Dual apps is basically cloning an app so you can connect with more than one account to it. It does not seem to isolate the data from the rest of the system. I have no idea how to do it.
Sandboxing :
That seems to be the generic name of isolating an app from the rest of the system. I have not found another way to achieve this than using multiple users or the work profile.