I’m definitely not an expert here and it sounds like you probably know more about this than I do. In my experience, android phones I’ve bought come with google play already installed and cell carrier bloatware. When you turn on the phone for the first time, one of the first steps is setting up your Google account.

If your point is that you can get around all this with stock android and you don’t specifically need grapheneOS, you’re probably right.

I think the point was that its an issue on phones with a standard android setup.

I think the problem is that once your phone knows its location from GPS, google and apps can access this data. The data is then shared with advertisers and also, you know, government agencies.

Unfortunately, even just the names of nearby WiFi networks and Bluetooth connections can be used to determine location. If apps and google services have access to this info, they still have location data on you, even with your cell and GPS radios disabled.

Supposedly GOS doesn’t allow google or apps to access the location data unless you allow it, which is nice.

Knives, cutting boards, measuring devices, mixing bowls. Are you just having scrambled eggs for every meal?