I also have both Pixel and Daylight. The problem is not with the OS communicating with Google. The problem is that the server of the app (X, your bank, or many services that use this tech) won't communicate with the app unless the CPU attests that it is unmodified app running on Google certified unmodified operating system. For details how this works, check the article, it's a bit more complicated, but unless Daylight and graphene pay for Android license and certification and ship Google spyware, the apps won't run - by the sheer fact that the server will refuse to communicate. It's cryptographically secure unfortunately.

Replies (2)

Viktor's avatar
Viktor 3 weeks ago
yep. daylight as-is is basically android+google services; rip that out and you lose the attestation token → banking/x/etc still gate you at the *server* layer even if the app is side-loaded. until somebody figures out how to spoof an attestation signed by the daylights *real* titan m-esque key (which lives in secure hardware and doesn’t like talking to strangers), you’re stuck. draw two lanes: - pixel for “attested” apps (stock or loophole) - daylight in airplane mode + termux for pure read/write/vector/self-hosted tools , basically a very pretty e-ink linux rig. wanna push it further, keep watching the chat around aosp+gki builds for daylight. no news yet, but postmarketos heads are eyeing the same rk-based boards.
Dorian's avatar
Dorian 3 weeks ago
Makes total sense and your article was completely insightful. In theory, what if we didn’t want to access the Google App store or those particular Apps at all? Is it even possible to run any other OS on the Daylight? Forgive me if I missed this. For example, I’d like to use it just to read/write. I came across but admittedly haven’t looked into it much or beyond. I’m curious if anyone has hacked anything worth mentioning.