I have been running GOS for 5 years now on my pixel 4a. Planning to snag a new 9a during black friday sales. Hardware is fine, but I want security updates.

I run my banking through vanadium browser with non-foss 2fa app in a separate profile.

Facebook messenger works, but whatsapp nevers works properly for me. Trying to migrate friends and family to signal.

I mostly use LocalSend to transfer files between my computer and phone. Photos and folders are synced with my synology nas.

Summary: I’m happy with GOS, great battery life and no distracting ad-bloated apps. Can run most apps with google play in separated profiles.

Our family runs Debian + gnome on all our desktop clients. The kids love minecraft and java version works perfect for their needs. Wife needs Libreoffice, Brave and printing.

Exactly my idea aswell. Take your time to optimize and strip down your base install, then it’s easy to just clone your base in virt-manager.