Since we don’t yet have a specific community for custom phone ROMs, let’s discuss them here. Are you running a custom ROM? Which one? On what hardware? How is it?
None sadly because fuck samsung
Locked bootloaders should be illegal if the phone is paid off.
Rip :(
I hate how they blow fuses to permanently disable security features when the bootloader is unlocked.
GrapheneOS on a Pixel 5. It is very nice and I would recommend it.
Same setup. Love it.
GrapheneOS. I love it. I migrated from the Apple ecosystem about two years ago into the FOSS and Linux world and haven’t looked back.
I use this little niche OS called iOS, made by some fruit company.
Oh that. I heard the project leader died of a perfectly curable form of cancer because he was going to heal himself with food or something. Crazy story, but the OS works well.
Guy who ran a fruit company tried to cure cancer with fruit. It’s like poetry, it rhymes.
GrapheneOS on a Pixel 4a, bit I’m looking to upgrade to a 6a vor 7a depending in the next good sale price
Are these sales directly from google?
Last time I checked pixel phones the performance and “freshness” Vs price ratio was really bad compared to something like Xiaomi with working xda ROMs.
Man I remember the days of xda and custom Roma holy shit. Nexus 5 was the one, slimrom was the way. Ahh memories.
I recently flashed LineageOS on my old Note 4 that had previously ran a few custom ROMs but other than that haven’t used one in years since I haven’t had a need with my last LG or current Samsung phone.
These days there’s more of a need for custom hardware like a headphone jack or SD card slot but unfortunately those can’t just be flashed to a phone like a ROM can. The software/firmware side of things has been fine for me.
*custom roms oops
The Nexus 5 was my favorite phone ever. Perfect form factor. I still miss it. I ran LOS on it. Also tried SlimRom and a couple of others.
LineageOS with microg on a s10+. It works great, no issues with apps not working but still have minimal google dipping it’s fingers into my life.
I only buy phones now that will support a custom ROM, I can’t go back now.
Unfortunately none. I have an S10e with a locked bootloader. This is the first android phone I’ve owned that I hadn’t used a custom ROM on. The last Samsung phone I owned was an S4 and I hadn’t kept up with the custom ROM scene, so I hadn’t known the locked bootloader nonsense when I got the S10e.
It sucks because there are no note security updates for the phone even though the hardware is still in good condition. I can’t justify replacing a working phone even if I could afford a new one. I’m hoping eventually a vulnerability will be uncovered that allows unlocking the bootloader. There was one a few years ago I think, but it got patched before I even knew about it.
That sucks. I also have never used a stock Android phone. I don’t know that I could. Because I’m in the USA, my choices for phones that will run a custom ROM and still make phone calls is very small. But that’s the subject of a different post.
I’m using GrapheneOS on a Pixel 6a, it’s great.
Man, got the 7a in May and the 1080p screen + 64 megapixel camera made me spend the extra $50 to not get the 6a. Blown away with both for the price. Regardless, Graphene here too.
LineageOS on a Fairphone 3. It works well for what I do on my phone.
IodeOS on FairPhone 4.
I’m only running FOSS application on it.
I must use a few apps unfortunately like WhatsApp or spotify
Pixel Experience
CalyxOS on a Pixel 5. Its nice and micro G works fine in most situations. When I have the time though, I’m probably going to try graphine os with sandboxed google play and see how that works for me.
None … yet. Hadn’t even looked into the possibility since my Pixel 2XL, and I have no idea what I dug up all those years ago.
I’m now on a Pixel 6 Pro and would love to move to a privacy-focused OS; I’m already on KDE Neon on desktop for both my production machines as of May. Rexxit has motivated me to at least dip my toes in on mobile, but as with desktop Linux, I fully expect my first attempt to bring into specific relief what I’m looking for and then go try things until I find what I like.
Graphene and Lineage seem like the best starting options at this point, but I’d love to hear from anyone else on my hardware on their experiences. My use cases are vanishingly small: Signal for text, voice and video; the local transit app; music app (still haven’t found one that makes be forswear any further experimentation) for my commute; mindless games (currently Royal Match) for my commute; 10-15 texts a week; and a phone call or two. I barely even use the camera except for work, and yes, I’m aware I purchased a phone utterly overpowered for my needs, but I’m picky about pixel size.
What recommendations do y’all have, either as a starting point or — perish the thought — an obvious daily driver?
LineageOS seems fine for your use case (and it has official support), but Pixel users are honestly spoilt for choice on custom ROMs so you could try out a few. Maybe Pixel Experience if you want to keep the Google “look”, or crdroid for another AOSP rom.
I’d actually like to move away from Google’s aesthetic. I took the demise of Windows Phone/Mobile pretty hard, specifically the live tiles that meant all I usually needed to do at any moment to get the info I wanted was wake my phone. The number of notifications I have on an app is never a question I’ve found myself asking; the content it denotes is what I’m interested in. Why give me irrelevant information and require further interaction to get that relevance?
Honestly AOSP (stock Android) isn’t that different to Google’s look, just more minimalistic and most roms will be based on AOSP with some minor tweaks. You could look into custom launchers, although not really an area I’m familiar with.
Agreed on notifications, I like to block the majority of them, which you can mostly do with modern Android versions. You might like to use F-Droid if you haven’t already, since all apps are open source and not monetary focused, so tend to have less obnoxiousness to them as well.
I’ve been through a lot of launchers, to the point where I’m not even certain what I’m currently using. It’s all cartoonish and absolutely against my design aesthetic. I turned notifications off months ago for anything but direct communication from my contacts and set the phone to go straight to voicemail for anyone else, and it’s been bliss. I have a few F-Droid apps, but I’ve found that I prefer the desktop experience for most use cases through that store … rarely do I have a pressing need to check my RSS feed where I can’t read links on a full monitor.
I get into work and back home in a far better mood by playing a casual game and listening to music on my commute, and there’s nothing I miss about slavishly checking my phone.
Stock android ROM(s) sound like a good fit since you seem to like a minimal experience.
GrapheneOS would probably suit you too and has improved privacy and security, but it’s Pixel only so I’ve never got to try it myself.
I have a Pixel 6a, not 6 Pro, but I am running GrapheneOS. I had it on my Pixel 4a before this phone. I like it a lot!
From all the responses, GrapheneOS seems the most popular. Worth a weekend gander.
But I’m really responding to say I love your user name.
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You sound like me. I don’t like large phones. The Nexus 5 was a perfect size. And I don’t use stock ROMs. I flash a phone as soon as I get it.
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