this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2025
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The state of Android ROMs (lemmy.ml)
submitted 6 months ago by interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml to c/android@lemmy.world
32 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I am greatly displeased at the smartphone industry. I think it's time for a heavy handed crackdown about all the spying they're doing. The smartphone industry and in particular the company qualcomm I find an intolerable company in their practice, I believe they should be smashed, their equiment liquidated and their intellectual property destroyed.

The smartphone industry is a festering cancer on general computing, a persistent and pernicious assault on human rights. An invasion of our private spaces. A colonization of our lives.

I think it is past the point of reform, not that there are any regulator with to intelligence figure out what is wrong let alone the wherewithal to do anything about.

For those reasons, I think global thermonuclear war is our only realistic option for setting back the clock on this travesty.

I am willing to hear your alternative, I don't believe anything short of that has a snowball's chance in hell to change anything about this.

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[–] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 106 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

There's a reason pixels are preferred, it's not some kind of malicious conspiracy. The most common sense reason being that there's a lot of overlap and cross-pollination of devs in the android world. between Google and graphene os in particular.

Pixels are also targeted because it's a mass-produced flagship with decent specs that is the closest thing to being already rooted off the shelf. It's the path of least resistance. Plus the used market is robust. A used carrier unlocked pixel 1 or 2 models behind the latest one can be obtained for several hundred dollars cheaper than it originally retailed for.

It takes effort to support additional brands/models.

Most brands lock their bootloaders and make "owning" the device difficult.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 48 points 6 months ago (3 children)

That answer is at best only partially right.

The real answer is that Pixels were, until very recently, Google's officially supported reference hardware in AOSP while everything else is a community port of some GPL compliance source code dump.

Community ROMs are Pixel first because Pixels just work.

It'll change now that Google decided to no longer release Pixel adaptions directly as AOSP and the community will have to port that the same way as for any other vendor, especially if a vendor decides to maintain their adaptions in LineageOS.

[–] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Hey, that makes total sense. And thanks for filling in what I missed! Really too bad about those changes, too. Google set out to create an open mobile ecosystem in opposition to Apple (and, at the time, and to a lesser extent, M$oft). It was such an incredible success at the start. Lately though, it seems they want to run in the opposite direction by tightening their grip - not the best thing for the community of Android users at all.

Of course, the minority group of nerdy, early adopting users who are a dedicated bunch will bear the brunt of it (as always). It's no surprise they'll be facing backlash from those groups, which in part explains the surges in demand for better (yet somewhat adjacent) alternatives. I was all in when Google said "don't be evil". Now they seem to have abandoned that ethos. I'm still stuck in their ecosystem, have started looking for the exits and I'm definitely not alone in feeling that way.

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Question: what happens when, inevitably, every manufacturer locks down locks out etc. everything so not a single smartphone made can be modified in the slightest? Because I figure we’re only a few years away from that at best :-(

Better yet, what happens when the oligarchs make it a felony to modify your spy-device smartphone? Because we aren’t far from that either.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

There will probably always be a manufacturer that looks at that niche.

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I sincerely hope that that is true. Then again my second concern that I mentioned is how long before it becomes a felony?

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

This answer isn't even right, it's due to hardware security requirements. Other phones are supported when their hardware is secure enough.

[–] Gwagwa@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

And Graphene OS is looking for manufacturers to makes phones which respect their hardware security requirements, there should be one in 2026 IIRC.

[–] Object@sh.itjust.works 35 points 6 months ago (1 children)

To add to this, the phones are consistent. With many other brands, it is common for two phones with the same advertised name (like "Galaxy Note 7") to be actually different depending on where you bought them. This makes supporting each model challenging. Also it is closest to AOSP.

[–] DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 2 points 6 months ago

I have a bunch of old Samsung tablets that are all the same model, but they're all running slightly different hardware. As a result a couple are running Lineage while a couple are stuck on the stock Samsung/Android because I just can't root them.

[–] Resplendent606@piefed.social 19 points 6 months ago

I bought a used Pixel 6 (for about $120 on Swappa) and installed GrapheneOS. I understand the irony of deGoogling and using a Pixel phone. From what I understand, the core reason GrapheneOS relies on Pixel phones is because they offer hardware security features (like the Titan M chip), an unlockable and re-lockable bootloader, and guaranteed long-term updates.

My favorite part of my phone (besides the ultimate security and privacy) is that my only "app store" (besides the GrapheneOS store) is Obtainium. There is nothing on F-Droid or Google Play that I can't find (that I use/need) with Obtainium and IronFox. If I absolutely need to access something that requires proprietary or unwanted applications, I use IronFox to browse the website (my bank for instance). I have complete control over what my phone does and I only have FOSS software installed. It is a lot more work than I think most people would be willing to do, but it is important to me, and I think it is the only way (for me, this is subjective) to be truly free of Google or Apple and still use a smart phone.

Other "privacy" ROMS still communicate with Google in some way. The other ROMS are moving in the right direction, though. /e/OS, for instance, switched to AOSP instead of LineageOS, but it uses microG. By its very nature, microG communicates with Google, so that is not something I am interested in using. Some of the GNU/Linux mobile projects are showing promise (check out postmarketOS ), but they are a ways away from actually being reasonably usable on a newer everyday main device.

In conclusion, yes, just end it all. The best I can come up with is to deGoogle and reject all big-tech.

[–] Geodad@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago

So OP doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. Yes, I see...

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I feel like I should just learn how to fuck around with the OS/bootloader myself because this has been a bit of an issue for a while. Lots of custom ROMs, but not the ability to get them on every piece of hardware. And not even always because the hardware is locked down; just because it needs to be tweaked to work for a specific device and if the device you wanna put it on isn't super popular, no one would have made a thing to work for that device.

[–] firipu@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago

It's not hard at all. The real problem is that like 90% of hardware makers don't allow you to unlock your bootloader. And every year it becomes less and less common. Chinese phones used to be amazing, because you could just slap a good clean rom on amazing hardware. Nowadays (due to pressure by the ccp from what I gather) most of them do not allow bootloader unlocking anymore. Or they allow it only using insane requirements (100+ day active user in good standing on their Chinese support forum, only 100 unlocks/day, first come first served at 1am Beijing time, etc etc...)

And without an unlocked bootloader, you can do jack shit with your phone. Hence why pixel phones are so liked for custom roms. They unlock straight out of the box, no questions asked, no weird hoops to jump through.

[–] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The spying, as you call it, at the OS level is one thing, the data leakage at an App level is a different thing entirely. The lengths that the Google Play store goes to hide permissions and the poor level of granularity, let alone the wholesale outsourcing of service critical applications and their "required" permissions is beyond the pale and not regulated, let alone enforced, in any way.

For shits and giggles, you should check the permissions associated with your bank, telco, government, medical and other life essential applications, never mind the ones you use for entertainment.

[–] CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

None of my apps have any permissions other than location when the app is open, camera, and file access.

What apps and permissions are you specifically talking about? Can you provide any specific examples?

[–] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I recently explored the android app permissions for Telstra which requires so you can manage your phone. Then I checked Optus, Boost, CBA, NAB, ANZ, gmail, chrome and Tesla to name a few.

Privacy should not be optional.

Here's what I found:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTl3_RWZmVNPmMYKF7Go2eHgvT6e1expOkbkXzjnRYY72L3RADKS-NaEX2eoDwN-ig0mWAmOogws3bx/pubhtml

[–] CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

A long list without context is entirely unhelpful. The permissions need to be enabled and are likely to have features associated with them.

So your correct privacy shouldn't be optional. So which of these apps have features turned on that don't require a user accepting them or wanting the feature?

Frankly, almost all of these permissions are initiated my a user at first sight making some assumptions.

[–] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 1 points 6 months ago

The long list is the permissions as the Google Play store presents it.

Below each app column shows empty if that permission is not required, or shows the permission if it is.

I'm not sure how else you feel that this information should be presented.

As far as vague goes, that's my point. We grant permissions to launch an app with often little or no thought as to their interactions, like calender contacts and internet, or files and internet, or system permissions.

[–] sainiabx@lemmy.ml 6 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Im out of the loop, did something happen with GrapheneOS?

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 19 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

I think it's related to this

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-not-killing-aosp-3566882/

  • Google has made it harder to build custom Android ROMs for Pixel phones by omitting their device trees and driver binaries from the latest AOSP release.
  • The company says this is because it’s shifting its AOSP reference target from Pixel hardware to a virtual device called “Cuttlefish” to be more neutral.
  • While Google insists AOSP isn’t going away, developers must now reverse-engineer changes, making the process for supporting Pixel devices more difficult.

GrapheneOS says it won't be a big deal:

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/21315-explanation-of-recent-changes-to-aosp-and-the-lack-of-major-impact-on-grapheneos

Fairphone also recently released Fairphone 6, and so people are talking about having to pick between privacy (GrapheneOS) and ethical manufacturing (Fairphone)

https://www.howtogeek.com/fairphone-6-announcement/

[–] Ilandar@lemmy.today 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

people are talking about having to pick between privacy (GrapheneOS) and ethical manufacturing (Fairphone)

GrapheneOS is far from the only ROM that can improve the user's privacy. Many other projects support Fairphone, and whilst they may not pass the Lemmy purity tests, they are objectively better in many ways than the default operating system. It frustrates me that people in the privacy space constantly frame decisions as binary trade-offs when in reality you can always take smaller steps to improve your privacy without giving up everything else you care about.

[–] waddle_dee@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

I really love GrapheneOS and I wish it was in Fair phone so bad

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

There's a bunch of boneheads around here that equate the janky behaviour of the (now departed) founder of GOS with Graphene=Bad

[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

A crackdown by whom?

The people who have the power to change it are the people who want it the way that it is.

Protests don't matter. Boycotts don't matter. For one simple reason.

You're not their customer. The people buying the data they collect from you are. There will never be enough people willing to do away with their precious smartphones and tablets to make a dent in ithat.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml -2 points 6 months ago

If there is no one willing to step up and protect the interest and wellbeing of common people, it means democracy is dead and it can't be denied anymore. If there's going to be no effort made to force the hand of device manufacturer and carriers to provide a privacy respecting full featured smartphone at the regular price of any other phone while also constructing a society that demands everyone to have one. Then it must mean that society intends to spy on everyone in a way that would make Big Brother blush.

I don't see any solution other than "a vigorous nuclear exchange" as the last hope we have for a reset button before our feat is sealed as human cattle of the oligarchy. And yes, this is far from the only sign that this is happening, it's just the one undeniable smartphone aspect of this upcoming horror.

[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I feel your frustration... though a decent phone w/o locked Android shouldn't require global thermonuclear war I hope!

I stress about what phone, if any, I'll be able to install a non-bloatware, rooted, vanila OS on once the models my wife & I have become too 'obsolete'. (OnePlus 5T with LineageOS).

[–] SheeEttin@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 months ago

It's still a Pixel with an AOSP distro. Lineage is fine.

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Here’s the alternative: only use a device that allows a custom rom that is stripped down. If those are also not secure or private then stop using a smartphone.