Is there a reason LineageOS doesn't support recent Pixel hardware? I was planning to buy a Pixel to run Lineage, but the newest supported Pixels (5/5a) only have a support window of 3 years instead of 5 years for Pixel 6/7. And Pixel 5 is already close to 3 years old. I don't want to switch now if in a year I'll get hit with EOL and have to buy new hardware and switch to another OS.
LineageOS will keep providing OS updates long after Google stops providing updates for those Pixel devices, so you wouldn't have to buy new hardware or switch to another OS in a year.
As a matter of fact, there have been unofficial builds [1], so it's not like the newer Pixel hardware isn't supported at all. Although being Exynos-based likely doesn't help.
Besides Graphene, there's also CalyxOS [2], which is basically like LineageOS with MicroG [3].
And for those who want GApps, they might like their Pixels on stock OS. In fact one of the more popular custom Android flavors these days is Pixel Experience, [4] trying to port these features to other devices.
I looked at GrapheneOS too, but the author is philosophically opposed to letting users root their device.[1] I understand the security argument, I really do, but root is too useful to give up, and I don't want to be locked out of my own hardware. I'm informed of the risks and willing to accept the power/responsibility tradeoff.
I think the same, that's why I settled on LineageOS+MicroG. No google spyware with near-perfect compatibility with the few non-Free apps I need to use. Slap an OS-wide content blocker for trackers and ads (AdAway) and a firewall in whitelist mode (AfWall+), and you're good to go! Great battery life and no spyware.
Magisk (root app) has options to hide itself to selected apps. I had one app complain abouy beinh rooted and I added it to the hidelist. It worked. After that, I just added all my apps that don't need root to the hidelist. There is also sanboxing that creates separate environments (personal/work). I've used Island and I'm now using Shelter sandboxing after reading privacyguides. I mainly used it to run two instances of a voip phone app so I can have 2 phone numbers.
There's probably an Xposed module that may or may not work. For my local cities bus app, I used to patch the APK manually because the Xposed module didn't work (but this was many moons ago).
Your best bet is to just search for how to setup Xposed on your phone+ROM then try the different modules to see if one works for. Ideally build it yourself from source since you don't want to trust random code being injected into your trusted apps.
