I know that Graphene OS is the best OS for privacy/security on a Pixel, but I have both a non-Pixel phone. What is the second best ROM in this case? I know that Lineage still has some Google telemetry since it’s meant to be as close to AOSP as possible and not actually de-Googled. Maybe /e/ OS then?
Nothing dodgy about it. /e/OS uses microG which handles the push notifications. The deGoogling is in the ROM itself. Big difference. I have/had numerous ROMs with microG. On some I just don’t enable Google device registration nor Cloud Messaging. Folks can do the same on /e/OS. I don’t use/need push messaging anyway. I do believe they’re looking into the other push systems.
One thing you may notice, if ever reading their forum, a majority of the users are regular Joes/Janes wanting to use general apps that don’t support FOSS push systems anyway.
/e/ doesn’t seem to be targeting the hardcore privacy crowd but provide an alternative to the Google ecosystem. As mentioned previously, an intermediary.