> I'm not looking to fully de-Google but I want Google as apps and not my OS.

This is entirely possible as other posters have explained. But I think it kind of defeats the point of Graphene, at least somewhat. Google is already profiling every aspect of your life by reading your emails, files, calendar, location, etc? In that case, OS access becomes moot.

I think that GrapheneOS makes most sense as part of a broader move towards privacy-respecting alternatives. I see the sandboxed Play Services as something useful perhaps in a secondary user profile, for the odd commercial app required and only available from the Play Store.

I run a litany of Google (and other corporate/business apps) apps in Private Space under the owner's profile, which is only unlocked when I need it for something. That space's connection can go out over a WireGuard tunnel if I need those apps to be on any specific networks, while the rest of the phone's traffic is unaffected. The file systems stay functionally separate (although that's not a major concern given how file encryption is handled, plus the dream that is Storage Scopes), and that space has its own camera app and such.

The Owner profile itself doesn't run Google Play Services, so when that Private Space is locked and dormant it's effectively a degoogled stack.

Some will invariably argue that an old pocket-sized Linux PC with a cellular modem is a superior experience, and for some specific things it may well be, but GrapheneOS is the only viable option for someone looking for a user-respecting modern phone with very few limitations.

I believe one of Graphene OS's main features is that they allow you to run google play services in a sandboxed environment, so you can run your standard google apps but without the standard android deal where google play services has unfetteted access to all your phone's location/data/etc info

Yes, you install the Google Play store via the GrapheneOS App Store. The OS comes with like 5 apps out of the box. The rest is up to you.

Biggest caveats that I've encountered: tap to pay via Google Wallet is a no go, Android Auto can be flaky, MDM managed work profiles don't work at the moment, and some apps that use the Google Play integrity API fail to validate and refuse to work (I've only encountered one app that fails, and plenty others that work.)

In general, I'm moving towards a de-Googled life and GrapheneOS is a great entrypoint towards that.

Yes absolutely.

You can install nonprivileged google stuff on the main account.

Alternatively you can setup a private space (accessible to the main user but mostly separate from the main system) with a few clicks in the settings.

If you prefer more friction / isolation you can setup a separate user where you can install the google stuff.

Yes, you can have sandboxed Google apps: https://grapheneos.org/usage#sandboxed-google-play