Hello, people. Maybe i get a new phone soon, and i may be able to choose it. I want it to be better than the one i have now, which has closed source limitations (it is a Motorola Moto G - second generation) i really dislike. For example, call record applications cannot record my calls.

So, there is Lineage OS, completely opensource, and seems to have a good number of devices compartible with it. Great. But there is something i cannot forget: it must be compartible with Android apps I want to use, closed source. The university where i study demands them for remote classes. The financial bank where i have an account is another needed application.

So, will it be possible to install all i need? I found some information in

https://wiki.lineageos.org/gapps.html

but i am not sure what it all means. Being able to install App Store (basically the only "gapp" i may use, in the end) means i will be able to install and run any application it provides? Or, in another path to use, will i be able to install raw .apk files?

If you have trouble understanding that link, then getting lineageos to an acceptable state will be quite a trial for you.
Also nothing is guaranteed in this world - especially trying to shoe-horn proprietary code into FOSS. The devs do the best they can, but you have to take what you get.

FWIW, I don't install lineage to my latest phone, I use the one I just replaced. If that doesn't work, no loss. Yes, the app store will allow you to install from your google account. I only installed it once, as I use lineage to avoid googles tracking, so I reflashed that device and now avoid google where I can.

But you did not say something very important to me, syg00. To have clear examples, I need "Santander Brasil", "Microsoft Teams". Will i be able to install them? And to have Telegram installed from the official page (the apk file, i mean) would be practical - although it is open source, right?

And if i want to install other .apk files, assuming risks for its contents, will it work the same way it does now?

Is there a table to tell equivalence of minimal requirements of Android versions and Lineage?

I'd get a test phone and try it. If all works then we can say it will work.

I guess they will work "as usual", but as it was told: "nothing is guaranteed in this world".
lineage OS is an android compatible release, the android version is documented in every release. In general yes, it will work exactly the same way, but as it was told ....

On lineage site you will see the answers.


And finally it does [obviously] depend on your device and twrp and some other things.
You can find a lot of information about it on xda-developers - look for forums related to your device.

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A quick primer:

Android is mostly opensource.
LineageOS is mostly made from the opensource parts of Android - it is not a separate operating system. It is Android.
The closed source parts of Android are sometimes refeed to as Gapps. You might need some or all of those to run some apps.
If I were you I'd consider using migroG or OpenGapps instead of actual Gapps, although I'm not entirely sure how they differ (I never used either, and always just F-droid for the app store).
You need to consider that the more Google stuff you install, the more your LineageOS phone will resemble a normal Android phone with all its privacy concerns.
A LineageOS prebuilt with microG exists for your device: https://download.lineage.microg.org/osprey/ (wiki: https://lineage.microg.org/#instructions).

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