Sure it does. But at the same time GrapheneOS is one of the very options where you can run a modern Android smartphone with precautions, and use the Play Store only for selected apps (banking, government auth, and in the Netherlands, WhatsApp (unfortunately)), and just use F-Droid for everything else.

I don't mind paying Google for a piece of hardware quite as much as I do running their OS without anyone looking out for the user's privacy. The hardware transaction is much more straightforward and transparent (although by no means perfect).

Before this I used a Ubuntu Phone, and that was fine, but like a dumbphone, you can't use any 'official app store sanctioned' apps with it, which has become really cumbersome these past few years. If using PureOS means I can't install banking apps and government auth apps, then that is a non-starter. I wish that wasn't the case, but it is.

(The article threw this error on my Linux desktop in Firefox by the way.)

Some (but not all) Android apps I can run in Waydroid. I could open the article thanks to NoScript, i.e., with JS switched off.

Just made the switch here to /e/OS on Fairphone: https://willem.com/blog/2025-03-05_durable-smartphone/

except now for the Firefox part