New but the guy had opened the box so I snagged it off him for $500. More than I wanted but it’s hopefully going to be my daily driver soon. This iPhone is going to spend most of its time in a faraday bag and only get used occasionally as a bare bones wifi unit once I get rolling.
If any apps demand Google services, sandboxed Google Play runs with zero system level privileges and can live in a separate profile, so only that profile's apps touch Play while your main profile stays free of Google code.
Welcome! Consider creating one user account for everyday apps and another for “sensitive” apps, and set up a private space on the latter account.
Use F-Droid and Aurora for your apps, and enjoy! :)
Yeah there was a moment after entering dev mode and seeing OEM unlocking still greyed out when I thought my investment was for nought. I was sweating. But overall the process was super smooth.