FreshLight

So you’re saying not tech savvy people should not use devices? I think it’s nice being able to remove the mic.

I envy you! I am not in the position to have this…

Sorry for embarrassing you, OP, but I’m pretty sure that this isn’t a HP but a dy

This way one gets security updates the fastest, official OS releases tend to be the most stable and since the custom OS landscape either died out or because I got more picky, the choices don’t seem all too appealing. Debloating and -googling is also faster.

As to “Why not iodé?” It seems nice, if you have the time, give it a try! qol features like integrated ad-blocking seem really nice! I, for my part, would want to go all in. By that I mean when I flash a custom OS I’d go through the hassle of also rooting and installing XPosed Framework/LSposed whatever (if it’s not dead, yet) plus whatever packages I find intriguing. And even though this sounds quite fun, I just don’t have the time for all that.

I also have a FP5. I run the official OS. Deegoogled and debloated in general with adb. There are great “Android Debloater” programms if you don’t feel too comfortable with manually uninstalling system apps with adb. But take them with a grain of salt, it’s always a bit biased by the views of the devs.

My man person!

I struggle finding good OSs with my Fairphone 5. For now I just removed all Gapps

Can I simulate another OS environment for these kind of apps?

Yes but they asked anyway, so I posted a few options

exactly

If you do not have an LSposed framework or similar (formerly knows as Xposed Framework) you can either use Adaway for blocking the phone from reaching websites (keep in mind that this is globally, though) or e.g. AFWall+ for preventing single Apps to connect to the internet (Apps that don’t try to get internet access are not shown is the list provided by AFWall+).

If you have LSposed or similar I believe it is possible to install XprivacyLua. This was/is(?) a very powerful tool to manage every single access an app is trying to get. Why would a sketchy chinese calculator app need access to the contacts and the internet even though this was never allowed in the system settings?

This is depending on the OS one is using so I did not mention that it is possible on some operating systems

If your phone is rooted you can use any standalone keyboard app you like as long as you block it’s internet access