if u rely on GMS so much, have u tried replacing it with microG?

I use Shelter to enable the work profile. It permits to copy apps between standard and work profile. So it is possible to have google services (with an account set I mean) in the work profile.

Apps like for Banks can't be copied though. But most of the others can.

What will it take to make a phone that comes with GrapheneOS directly? I have access to some good connections in China, what phone spec could we prototype to have a phone coming with GrapheneOS? I am ready to throw my savings at starting this business. Or should I reach out to GrapheneOS people directly? (Lineage works also)

Le Chat is just a frontend for Mistral. There are a ton of free web UIs one can use for chat instead, like (ironically) Google AI Studio, Deepseek, Z AI. Or openrouter if you’re willing to pay for a bit of privacy. Or kobold lite. Or your own self hosted Open Web UI instance.

Linux phones won't go anywhere, so you should probably donate to GrapheneOS and hope they have enough in the bank to fork android by the time it's completely discontinued.

I'm not sure what the point of the post is? Is it to share frustration? Searching for a solution? Sorry, I may be not good at inferring this, but I don't get it.

IF you are in solution-finding mode, then there are a few things that you can do.

1. You can use those banks that work without google. I've found 2 in the Netherlands, for example. One of them stopped working a while ago, I've wrote about that to their support and had to discontinue, withdrawing all my funds using a Dutch procedure for full withdrawal from a bank. After half a year or so I've noticed they've fixed it and work without google again. I've returned as well (it's convenient for me to have 2 banks). I'm sure as hell banks watch for their usage statistics and wouldn't like seeing people leave their bank if it can be fixed with a simple reversal of whatever the dev team did lately.
2. You could try Linux phones such as PinePhone to see which use cases can it already cover. 30%? 70%? 90%? You'll know what to even wait for in the Linux landscape to be able to switch. You'll get a bit of power or mental control if you acquire this knowledge.
3. Funnily, you can expect some good news coming from all those fights between US and China, because that makes a LOT of devices ship without google services. And some people in your county (I assume it's not China, otherwise you wouldn't have these problems) may have phones bought there, so you won't be alone when pushing for such changes.