Comment by airhangerf15

Most people install GApps even on top of custom ROMs like Lineage and Graphene. I use to use Lineage+microG, but a few years back I switched to pure Lineage with no microG and just F-droid. I have a tiny bit stuff applications from the Auora store (sideloads Play apks).

The trouble is, I'm like a 5% of 1%. Most people don't run their own e-mail/calendar/contact servers. We're a tiny breed and there are very few Linux phone alternatives (e.g. PostmarketOS, PinePhone Pro .. Purism is a scam company that hasn't refunded hundreds of thousands of dollars and can go die in a fire; fucking scumbags!).

The Ubuntu Edge failed to get funding back in the early 2010s and very few devices run Ubuntu Touch.

The SoC/ARM model (no standard architecture, some DeviceTrees if companies fell like it, random pins soldered to random chips) makes it very difficult to get Linux adoption on mobile devices like what was possible on PCs.

It's a mess. The US failed by not forcing Alphabet to split Chrome or Android. The anti-trust suit results were a joke.