/e/os?

I used to use Lineage OS before without gapps and it worked flawlessly although it was few years ago. Give it a try.

Android Auto has a setting toggle to turn it on. "Unknown" apps or some bullshit.

Lineage and a fork, DivestOS are very close to Graphene, and run on far more devices.

The search for perfection is the enemy of good.

I've run Lineage for years on some spare devices. Battery life is so much better without Google Services.

My most recent device (Pixel 5 with DivestOS) is averaging 1.1% battery consumption per hour over the last day. That included an hour of navigation, using Google maps with microG services.

One old device runs longer with DivestOS than it ever did with stock, and the battery has lost 40% capacity. That's how bad Google Services eat battery.

Plus Lineage permits you to use a number of old devices, unlike Graphene. It's good, it gives you far more control than Google.

My final thought on Graphene - it needs to be taken over and lead by some professionals. Those folks act like stereotypical geeks of 30 years ago, arrogant, condescending (I worked with their type 30 years ago, and was a little like them then). They also denigrate anything less than what they deem "perfect". The very definition of hubris.

Their attitude is "if you have a problem you must've done something wrong, why did you do something wrong". Having that experience with them has put me off Graphene permanently.

Edit: I can re-lock the bootloader with Divest, so the condescending Graphene folks are just plain wrong about being the only OS that can do this. I don't lock it, because my threat model doesn't require it. The odds of my phone being grabbed by someone with state-actor-level skills being after me is non-existent, and there are easier ways to get the same data from me.

How did you install it on a Samsung device?

As someone who's used android literally since the first android phone was released, it's a massive disappointment how locked down and enshittified it's become.

I am surprised it took you this long.

The next step in this evolutionary thinking is simple. Buying hardware specs is a fool's folly. I don't compare hardware. Ads and marketing are totally nonsense and not worth even a slight glance. The ONLY thing that matters is what open source projects exist and what hardware do they support well. This is how I shop. Open Source or F.O.

I personally use GraphineOS on my phone and Alpine on my laptop

This is why I specifically pick phones that have custom ROM support. Then I don't need to install gapps and I just use fdroid

All in all my conclusion after experiencing the same: Samsung wants to replicate the same level of surveilance Google has. So with a Samsung phone I need to degoogle AND to desamsung ...

to respond to the title, I'm not sure about that. your problems are with the samsung system, not with all the custom roms. I think it's not only graphene that's the solution. It's even only available for a little subset of the phones.

I've always used Samsung phones but I'm not buying anymore.

That's only as long as you have money for a Pixel (and most people don't).