Ask Slashdot: Are Custom Android ROMs Still a Thing?

Thelasko writes: Reading Kashmir Hill's series Goodby Big Five on Gizmodo made me consider switching to a custom Android ROM like LineageOS again. The Gizmodo articles make it seem that most phones are so locked down it is almost impossible to do. My last experience with custom ROMs confirmed that to be true for me. Is anyone having success? Why is LineageOS making builds for 185 devices if no one can use them?

Comments

One possible reason...

[Penguinisto]

Just because you (the average consumer) can't use it on a phone you got from $carrier, doesn't mean that others can't put it to use.

That's not meant to be an insult, by the way... unlocked phones (that are truly unlocked, not just 'unlocked' to allow a different carrier w/ the same tech) can be loaded with the ROM and taken to town.

PS: If you're gonna talk about it, then be kind and provide a link to LineageOS, mm'kay? :)

Re:One possible reason...

[nnull]

The problem is, Samsung and now LG are selling phones to the US market that can't be rooted, making these roms useless. Sony lets you root but they gimp the camera so much that it negates the benefits of rooting their phones.

And by the way, I love lineage, but when more unrootable and unlockable bootloader phones flood the US market, it's making it very difficult to find a device that lets you load up lineage on your phone. Just look on the XDA forums. There's an ongoing attempt to root the LG40 with massive failure. The US Version of the Samsung S9 can't be rooted. And of course you get the whole "You don't need to root your phone anymore, trust in Samsung and LG guys, they know what they're doing *wink*" posters all over the place.

And yes, I know I can buy international phones from Ebay easily, but the point is, US devices are being gimped on purpose.

Unlocked Bootloader

[thevirtualcat]

It's not impossible. It just requires doing your research before you buy. There are two things you need to look for.

1. Unlockable Bootloader

This is challenging because many OEMs will require you to go through a bunch of steps intended to make doing so as difficult as possible (beyond what is needed for data security.) There have been instances of OEMs just outright lying when it comes to bootloader unlockability. And of course, even phones that are to be unlockable have that disabled from some carriers. (Verizon, especially. Even Pixel devices can't easily have their bootloaders unlocked when purchased through Verizon.)

2. Community Support

LineageOS and xda-developers are good place to start. Popular flagship phones are more likely to have good community support around them if they're unlockable. Of course, you can always try to build AOSP for your own device, but community support will still be invaluable as most OEMs play pretty fast and loose with releasing their GPL code. (It's often difficult to get a fully working AOSP build with that the OEM gives you.)

PixelExperience

[Anonymous Coward]

I bought the midrange Moto X4 last fall when my Nexus 5X died. Motorola's website allowed me to unlock the bootloader (with the caveat that this voided the warranty). After that, I have installed different variants of Pie roms. I found Lineage 16 to be OK but my on-screen buttons would disappear, especially when I switched users. I now enjoy the PixelExperience Pie rom which gives me a lot of flexibility with settings like dark mode which are coming to regular Android but are not there yet. I also was able to find some great Magisk (rooted) modules, including one that significantly improves the sound of my cheap bluetooth audio headset. I even used root mode to use my microsd card as adoptable storage which is not enabled by Motorola.

So, yes, Android roms are alive and well, despite what some "expert" at Gizmodo says. xda-developers website has a plethora of information.

Phone Rooting Info

[Anonymous Coward]

Many phones can be rooted still.

One of the places to look is the XDA Developers website https://www.xda-developers.com/root/

Re:Moto phones are unlocked

[Anonymous Coward]

Newer Motos are locked unfortunately. If you contact Motorola for an unlock code, they'll give it to you and then void your warranty in their system.

Re:Locked bootloaders killed them

[SIGBUS]

Not only that, but even if your bootloader is unlockable, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will find any ROMS, and even if you do you might find things not working, such as VoLTE. That latter issue makes a custom ROM a non-starter for my three-year-old LG.

Project Treble

[Namarrgon]

In some ways we're now entering a golden age for Android roms, with the advent of Project Treble.

All phones shipping with Android 8.0+ are required to support Treble's platform abstraction layer, making life dramatically easier for custom rom bakers, going forward. Older phones benefit too; once their idiosyncratic hardware support is adapted to Treble, they can also expect easier and more stable updates. Generic System Images (GSIs) are now the norm, and will more or less run on any compatible platform.

Re:It's not about new features

[postbigbang]

Google is not the only one that tracks you.

Your carrier tracks you. Sorry. They do it in different ways, but your location-based services are all ready and waiting for you.

Your DNS tracks you. Maybe you use CloudFront 1.1.1. but ask CloudFront what THEY do with the data. If you use Google's DNS, you're insane if you don't think they're tracking you.

Your IP address is going to come from somewhere, bubba. Hmmm. Wonder what CIDR bock that address comes from. Oh.

It's really tough to not be "uniqued". True anonymity sadly has to consider all of the most paranoid possibilities. Why? Who has more computing power, you or them?