Does anyone use custom android roms anymore?

Forums › Android › Does anyone use custom android roms anymore?

Shaddow798

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#306717 16-Aug-2023 10:11

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone here still uses a custom rom on there primary or secondary devices and what the expericnce of that is.

I have been running GrapheneOS on my imported Pixel 6a for a while and on the whole it was quite pleastent and before that I was running LineageOS. Allthough unfortuantly the practiace seems to be slowly dieing as google makes more and more of the compontents of android disconinued and replaced with proproitery ones; Which is quite unfortuanite. There have been suprisingly few instances of things blocking me for running a rooted/rommed device and the only 2 things I can think of that cared are maccas rewards and TVNZ on demand which seems quite random like do they think im going to download a buger.

So I was wondering what other peoples thoughts on it are.

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#3116625 16-Aug-2023 10:35

I've always used custom ROMs on all my smartphones (even back in the WinMo days), until I got my Galaxy Fold 4. Ignoring the lack of ROMs, the main thing that's stopping me from rooting this device is KNOX, I don't want to void the warranty on such an expensive device. Now that the Pixel Fold is out though, I could potentially switch to it and use a custom ROM, but I'd hate to lose all the multitasking features Samsung has implemented, such as being able to open any app in a floating window and have a desktop-like user experience. If/when Google implements floating windows into AOSP, I would consider switching back to a custom ROM, but that also depends on what the SafetyNet / Play Integrity scene is like at that stage.

Last I checked, Google was planning to enforce hardware attestation, so the future of root/ROMs looked bleak, I'm not sure if any progress has been made on that front.

timmmay

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#3116636 16-Aug-2023 11:01

I did back in the S4 days, but my Pixel 4a had support for so long there was no need to. Even now the Pixel 4a is just out of support 4 years later a lot of the updates come through Google play, so it will be fairly secure for years to come. It will turn into my backup phone anyway as I'll replace it soon with a Pixelate most likely. There's a small chance I might put LineageOS on it if I find a really good reason to, but as a backup phone the stock Android ROM is probably good enough.

robjg63

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#3116666 16-Aug-2023 11:27

I had a Galaxy Note 2 that I stopped using as my daily phone.

I tried a few Lineage releases on it - there were always issues with calls not working , GPS frequently failing, Bluetooth issues and other substantial functional bugs.

I was amazed when I looked on the forums , just how many people seemed happy running these ROMs even with what I thought were pretty major faults.

I have a Sony xperia tablet X wifi tablet that I bought around 2014. It didnt get past android 5 officially.

The battery isn't great (it's old), but I did manage to install Lineage (android 8.0) and it goes ok - occasional crashes.

Looking at the Lineage forums, it seemed that there were a hardcore bunch of people just wanted 'the latest' android on their old devices at any cost - regardless of bugs etc. I dont really understand that.

My current Samsung phone has 4 years (versions) of android updates - I'm unlikely to ever want to go near a custom ROM.

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DeepBlueSky

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#3116870 16-Aug-2023 18:03

I used to love adding ROMs to phones, started with a Motorola Razer Flip phone pre android days then progressed. But these days getting to old phones are good enough. Anyway I moved to Apple this time around so I could support them if needed and for a change.

I think ROMs will be around for awhile still a community that likes customise their phones

networkn

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#3116873 16-Aug-2023 18:13

Once upon a time ROMing a phone was a 3 time a week thing for me, for my primary device. These days, I have neither the time, no inclination given the cost of my phones, and how critical it is for me day to day to have it operational. In many many years of doing it, I never bricked a phone, but occasionally very annoying bugs came up.

wonderferret

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#3131618 25-Sep-2023 10:29

Just installed lineage 20.0 and nikgapps on my Xiaomi mi 10t as it goes out of support in October. Works really well and havent found any issues as yet

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Batwing

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#3131624 25-Sep-2023 10:43

Yeah still a thing, nowhere near the several times a week flashing I was doing.

Been a tester on evolutionX for my device before that reached EOL.

Jumped ship to crDroid these days, only has monthly releases to not much impetus to flash too regularly. No reason to update the hardware, 8GB RAM, snapdragon 865 (5g), 256GB storage, no front camera cutout - but it was dropped ages ago by Xiaomi.

The extension of lifespan of devices years beyond their official EOL, also consistency of experience across devices from different manufacturers is a major draw for me. MIUI is horrible, for example.

d3Xt3r

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#3131632 25-Sep-2023 11:18

I'd love to use one (on my main phone) if there's a ROM/mod out there with floating window support. My main is a Fold 4, and whilst I'm not a fan of Samsung's bloatware (which I mostly got rid of), I do find their multitasking features very useful. Now back in the day, there used to be an Xposed module called XHaloFloatingWindow, but sadly this has long been adandoned. In fact, most of my favorite mods from back in the day no longer work, and custom ROMs themselves have become a mere shadow of their former selves. We no longer have any innovative ROMs doing cool things like Paranoid Android did back in the day, with their Halo, Per-App DPI/tablet mode etc. Xposed later filled in some of these gaps, but with most of the modules from the good ol' days now being dead, plus the never ending fight with SafteyNet, gives me very few reasons to use a custom ROM.

Check out how cool my Nexus 4 was running crDroid, a decade ago:

SpartanVXL

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#3131636 25-Sep-2023 11:58

I used to but am in the same boat of needing it to just work and not have to deal with issues. I swapped to iphone for that but I used to have custom rom on my htc one back in the day.

I’d love to get a oneplus or similar and have fun tweaking it but not as a daily driver. Roms and their support are too fragmented, was hoping something like android one would cover it better, but critical stuff like bank apps etc. tend to not play well with them.

kradnz

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#3136996 30-Sep-2023 13:01

I enjoy custom ROMs for my mobile devices. Its a significant factor when selecting a device.

Currently, running LineageOS on my now old Xiaomi MiA2. Easy enough to work around issues with google pay etc. No issues with bank apps etc, but you do need to jump through some hoops to get things working.

Andib

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#3137002 30-Sep-2023 13:24

IMO a lot of the reasons to run a custom OS (or root / jailbreak) disappeared overtime as Google, Apple & the manufactures stated to build in the features that people were rooting & running custom roms for into their native OS.
I would frequently swap between various phones, custom roms & jailbreak my iPhones but a combination of bugs and phone makers releasing the features I was rooting/jail breaking for meant sticking with stock was good enough and only improved over the years.

The final straw for me going back to stock devices was being late for a uni exam because my S3 (running Cyanogenmod from memory) locked up overnight causing the alarm to not go off.

I now use iPhone because I need my phone to just work.

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#3145341 11-Oct-2023 13:10

I used Lineage on my old Samsung Tablet, worked brilliantly, even the camera app worked. It did eventually have issues and stop loading however I think it's hardware related and not CustomROM related.

MyFriendAutism

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#3145350 11-Oct-2023 13:21

Only for older devices that benefit from a slimed down OS. Otherwise it's kid of point for most users.

robjg63

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#3150053 19-Oct-2023 10:09

robjg63:

I have a Sony xperia tablet X wifi tablet that I bought around 2014. It didnt get past android 5 officially.

The battery isn't great (it's old), but I did manage to install Lineage (android 8.0) and it goes ok - occasional crashes.

Hmm - quoting myself - that's a first for me I think!

Just discovered that someone has recetly compiled Lineage 20 (Android 13) for this ancient device.

I installed it and its running better that ever - no crashes - really solid.

Yes its a bit slow - but the hardware is specs from 9 years ago!

Bluetooth and the FM radio dont work - I only use this tablet occasionally so I dont actually care about those features.

The developer has decided that maybe Android 14 is worth looking at after investigating the 'bugs' above.

Really quite amazing what you can find for some older hardware.

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muppet

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#3150080 19-Oct-2023 11:45

Not anymore, no.

If anything custom ROMs these days seem like a downgrade. There's very few features that they offer that isn't in stock (I've got a Pixel 1, Pixel 4XL and 7Pro) and mostly they make the experience worse I feel. The camera usually is worse, you get random crashes/bugs. You've got to find some rando version of GApps to flash etc. What benefit does "Root" provide these days, other than an easy path for 3rd parties to exploit your device undetected?

Given how critical my devices are these days (password managers on them, VPNs into work etc) it's not worth the risk or the hassle.

There was certainly a time when custom ROMs could breath new life into a phone. These days most of the "clever" stuff is in Google Play Services or the many Google Apps that are all closed/proprietary. And most of those don't work properly/at all on Custom ROMs. Android is still "Open Source" but man it's one bare bones skeleton these days. For anything useful to be added to it, well, Google have closed all that up.

That's why Fragmentation isn't really a big deal anymore - Google can push out API updates etc etc via Google Play Services/Google System Updates. The reliance on AndroidOS itself is becoming less and less as they move more and more bits to being modular that can be upated via OTA individually with each Android release.

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