Tap to pay is not there. But you can install the Play Store and install all your paid applications, that's what I did.

This... Except for contactless payment.
I used graphene for a month. It was lovely. Even things like banking apps worked.
I don't care about absolute privacy, but I do care about controlling my privacy. Grapheme gave me that.

I had only 1 issue.
Contactless payment.
It's extremely convenient to me, from public transport to groceries. I just bop my phone.

The fact that Google has that locked down surely violates some EU laws. But I'm sure they wave away the laws because of "financial security" or some other bullshit.
As if bank card NFC/contactless doesn't suffer exactly the same issues.
I looked into some "graphene contactless payment" type systems or workarounds, and I couldn't find anything that would fill the gap.

This may seem like a silly solution but maybe pop your debit card inside your phone case. It should bop through it.

Try Curve Pay. Just learned about it yesterday.
I added my credit card and it just works.
Couldn't be happier.

You can sandbox play store apps right?

Anyone know if this is happening outside the US and if it is whether it's happening inside the EU?

Yup, true.

But contactless via a phone can have no limit.
Adding a debit card to phone case means the upper limit is £100. Which is actually fine, and is the limit I have normally set for phone contactless. But I can instantly remove that limit via my banking app.

And the phone needs to be unlocked to make a payment.
Do if I lose my phone anyone can charge £100 to the debit card.

Narrator: And users did not in fact, take action.

It'll just be one more thing for them to complain and do nothing about. That is all.

Remember when iPhone was the bad guy amongst these kids? But I guess as long as it has more options, surely it’s better!

Doesnt Apple also do this with Siri and basically every app unless the user untoggles it?

My experience with Gemini:

Hey Google, set a timer for 5 minutes.

Gemini: I'm sorry, I don't understand.

WTF is the point of it then?

Imagine taking away the only useful feature of a voice assistant

I just removed gemini from my phone.

I believe /e/OS supports a broader range of devices, and it's also pretty great in my experience. The focus is on getting rid of google (replacing all services with MicroG and nextcloud integration) and blocking trackers while providing a smooth user experience, so it's security features are not as over the top as Graphene. It's still a huge freaking improvement over stock Android though, and I find it to be a joy to use.

On devices supported by the online installer it can be up an running in like 30 minutes, no technical skills required.

What? Apple is the bad guy, Google is the bad guy. They are both bad guys!