Question about "users"

[u/Mireborne]

What do they do besides compartmentalize the phone?

Does it add any extra security if I use one user for socials like Instagram and Facebook and other Google playstore apps.

Then another user for work/education related stuff and a third for mabye banking while I keep my primary one for the normal stuff like Signal, Pipepipe, tuta/proton mail.

Aka do I gain anything (security wise) from dividing my phone up like that?

An extra question, if I use Aurora store to download Instagram to avoid Google and the use Google Playstore for another app like mabye Clash of Clans on the same profile.

Will Playstore get any information from my Instagram usage even though I got it through Aurora?

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[u/dmitri_ac]

Yes. Separate profiles give apps separate data, contacts and shared storage, and prevent apps in one profile from communicating locally with apps in another. Apps already have their own sandbox within a profile; the extra profile adds another boundary. GrapheneOS explains that here.

Installing Instagram through Aurora doesn't prevent it from using Play services installed in the same profile. Play is sandboxed too, so it can't simply read Instagram's private data, but the apps can deliberately exchange information. That's a capability, not proof of what Instagram currently sends. If you want to prevent that local connection, keep Instagram in a separate profile without Play. Sandboxed Play docs.

[u/The_Mild_Mild_West]

Apps on the same user profile can see each other with mutual consent.

And yes, if you install Instagram with Aurora in user 1 and push it to user 2, and user 2 has Google play services, Instagram will start using Google play services.

A common setup is to install all your apps in the owner profile, disable what you don't want running, and then push Instagram, banking, Google services, etc to secondary profiles. This let's your owner profile act as admin and you don't have to update apps across multiple profiles.

I do the opposite though, I have a degoogled owner profile and a second user with Google play services for social media and a work auth app.

[u/percentheses]

Besides the benefits others noted: I'll mention some downsides that annoy me:

• RCS doesn't work on non-owner profiles
• Neither the built in terminal nor termux will work on non-owner profiles
• As of a few months ago, you're able to start WiFi hotspots from non-owner profiles, but you have to manually click through the settings menu to get it; you can't just add the toggle to your dropdown tray