No, they don't have the same privileges as root permissions. this is easily demonstrated by the camera app built into LineageOS when you enable ignore mode for camera in App Ops and it crashes. and google services also start making very untypical requests for access to stuff.
Yes, but there aren't many apps that respect privacy on my phone compared to the usual ones).
I had this when I used microG, it started in the last month, official google services are fine so far)
I've been using microG for about a year, but there have been problems here and there with games and apps. and accordingly, I realize how many apps need Google services (especially notifications). so for now, through Root rights and App Ops, I've just restricted Google services access to the camera/microphone etc. this is an acceptable compromise for me.
I still want to communicate with normal, normal people, play normal games. i don't want to put myself in complete isolation from the world, so i can't throw away google services yet).
Too radical a solution for me, I used microG for a long time, but the notification problems made me go back to Google services. i've banned them from accessing camera/microphone/geolocation via App Ops (put them on ignore mode), so I'm pretty calm. but notifications are still a problem).
I don't agree with you. so far Signal is the most mature and feature-rich messenger of the rest. yes, it provides privacy, not anonymity. but all new people are used to the algorithm of adding people, unlike SimpleX, Matrix, etc.
@FarLine99
@lemmy.world